1st Timer

[NorthCarolinaDawg]

Thank You All for the Great advice, Comments and Information. Yes 1st trip down. 5 miles from the house! Cool.. Its all about "eating the elephant", one bite at a time. Lots of lessons learned and many new uses for the "f'word.. Anyway Steak was eaten, beer was enjoyed and walks were taken. Enjoy Ya'll and if you see "North Carolina Country Dawg" cut us a little slack and remember back when you got your first TT. Enjoy and Travel Safe

[NorthCarolinaDawg]

Alright since the last time I posted... Just got back from a trip to Maine.. Yes from not being able to get out of my yard and 1 real trip 150 miles or so to Ashville, NC. To a multi state, little town, back roads, high ways, little gas stations, parades, backing up thru parking lots, blinding rain, traffic jams and detours, bridges, 1200 mile 1 way, 2400 miles round trip ROAD TRIP. So if any one want to see pic's of this FB or Instagram "NotrhCarolinaCountryDAWG". ( yes I am slowly coming around to this "Life Style". Like always. Enjoy and Travel Safe.

[Captn]

Sounds like a great trip! Nothing like jumping right in the water!

We are off again this weekend for a short trip to Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, VA. We have had so much going on the past couple of months that we haven't been able to camp. Looking forward to some down time!

[Jmkjr72]

Sounds like your having a blast
We picked up or new to use 25rb back in march.
We have 10 weekends and 1 full week trip in it this year with at least one more pland weekend
We haven left the state yet but it will happen when I have some more vacation time and after we get a new engine trans and fix the ac in our 99 suburban (she is a 300000 mile champ pulls like no tomorrow )

[NorthCarolinaDawg]

Thank you.. Yes "jumping in" is an understatement. 2400 mile round trip. Traffic. rain, parades, little towns, backing up in parking lots and gas stations. I was in the real deep end. Anyway Good to hear your getting back out and traveling. Enjoy yourselves! Be safe on your Travels.

[NorthCarolinaDawg]

@jmkjr72 that's approximately 27 days sine March! 5 Months! Wow I am impressed. I'm pushing it with 14 days in the TT. But we do have a couple more long weekends planned.

Enjoy and wish you safe Travels

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by NorthCarolinaDawg

@jmkjr72 that's approximately 27 days sine March! 5 Months! Wow I am impressed. I'm pushing it with 14 days in the TT. But we do have a couple more long weekends planned.

Enjoy and wish you safe Travels

NCD,
We bought out new TT in February and did the PDI. Found some issues and wouldn't pick it up till most were fixed.
When it was ready, we picked it up and went home to load it.
In the morning we left for a 7 week 3,000 mile trip.

[NorthCarolinaDawg]

7 weeks....3,000 miles! That is AWESOME! We are looking Forward to cross country life style and life changing trips. But for now (until we retire) we'll be limiting it to work life TT vacations. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy and Have a safe Journey

[WannaBcamping]

Originally Posted by rockfordroo

Replace the crappy analog thermostat with a digital one. Buy a sewer hose and appropriate connections. Get some leveling blocks or an Anderson leveler. Jack and tools to swap tires if you have a flat.

We are looking to do this with our 2507S. What one did you use? Any other suggestions or advice?

[JCDMeyer]

There are hours and hours of youtube videos for first timers. Full timers are always reviewing and recommending...

There is a guy who built a see through black tank and made artificial poop to test which cleaning gadget works best.

If you have a lot of money there are guys who review gadgets for their RV that I would never own for my house much less my TT.

My first recommendation is to get a quality serge protector. There are full timers who review and recommend these.

2nd recommendation. Is get a decent waste hose 20' with a see through elbow.

You'll need water hoses, trash cans, and leveling blocks in quality that fits your budget. A stack of 1x6 and 2x6 wood will work just as well as the $35 giant legos.

I found a RV bubble level app for my smartphone. It was free and works great.

I also recommend a water pressure regulator. Walmart sells them for less than $5.

If you don't have a regulator you can always fill your fresh water tank with the hose and use your pump. The KOA in Niagara Falls had 120psi water pressure. Not safe for the plumbing in a RV. The choice was either use a regulator or fill the tank.

Most everything else is personal preference. We bought a 4" gel/memory foam topper for the mattress and love it. We prefer it to the mattress at home.

We use a lot of paper plates especially when we don't have full hook-ups.

I think I have listed some of the must haves. Obvious things you wish you had on your first trip.

There are a lot of great ideas out there, some you'll come up with yourself. However I recommend starting with the basic things then add the personal touch over time. Which for us is part of the fun.

[kltk1]

"There are a lot of great ideas out there, some you'll come up with yourself. However I recommend starting with the basic things then add the personal touch over time. Which for us is part of the fun."

This is excellent advice and will save you a lot of money buying things you think you can't live without only to find out you've never used it and never needed it.

Also noted by JCDMeyer, there's LOTS of good RV video folks out there on YouTube. Long Long Honeymoon is a favorite as well as, I think it's called, Don't Give Up Your Daydream. The don't give up folks are first timers and have a lot of good advice. The LLH folks are seasoned and also have great advice.

In the end, the idea is to get out there, have fun, experience RV'ing and make your RV you're own. We pick up our new to us 2014 Flagstaff 23LB in two weeks and are excited to be back in the RV game.