Congratulations Raven, it beautiful and you deserve it. Have fun. I hope it's okay to ask, what part of Oklahoma. I was born there about 20 miles south of Muskogee, a small town called Checotah.

His mother lives in the Ardmore area. We used to live in Norman for many years. I am familiar with Checotah.

Thanks!!

well Jasdip come on down and put yourself in the picture LOL.

Since we live near Galveston and the entire Texas and Louisiana Gulf coast we will likely do some travels there and there are several nice lakes near by with good RV spaces. But at this time we have no plans other than Oklahoma. But my husbands son and his family live in the Memphis area, we lived there also for several years and have a lot of friends there, so that is a likely candidate. But he has a while to go before he retires and we can do any kind of extended trips.

It's beautiful, Raven. That's my dream,also. Something that we can take the pets in when we travel. You'll have to keep us updated about the things you learn on your OK trip, sort of a tutorial for newbies. Have a great trip!

Nice!

Raven, it's beautiful! I have never owned one, but have friends who do. Their advice is: when you aren't using it, leave a couple of windows slightly cranked open, so air can circulate - otherwise, it will smell funky when you open it up the next time.

Beautiful! You will love it, Raven! Tip #1: When you shower, turn on the water, get wet, turn off water (there is probably a push button on the shower head for this), soap, shampoo, then rinse, don't leave water running. You will run out of water and holding tank space real fast if you don't!

#2: You can cook anything in there that you do in your kitchen at home, it's only in a smaller space.

We have a Honda EU3000 generator that works well for camping. Anything smaller is pretty much too small, anything bigger too heavy and uses too much gas. Not promoting them, not affiliated with them, just happy with it. We also have an on board generator in the motor home. We carry the Honda in the back of the pick up and use it. We seldom use the on board unit.

Ask any questions you want! I have emailed back and forth with Lynn_D many times since they got theirs this spring. I'll be happy to answer any questions I can, and there are many others here who have the campers and motor homes that will be happy to help also.

Tami

Your new "home away from home" is awesome! I hope you and your DH have many "awesome" trips in it, too. Congratulations on a beautiful and VERY comfortable-looking rig.

Nita travels all over the states in hers - maybe she will stop in and offer her thoughts.

Raven, I live in Gainesville, are you coming up 35? I can tell you a few places around the area with camping :) but by the time you get this close you will be nearly to Ardmore (about 30-35 minutes further on north) and DH & I would like to meet up with y'all if you want to, so a break here would be nice too :)

Along with Tami's suggestion on the shower, you can take a longer one with full hook-ups, but your hot water tank will run out of hot water quicker than you think so it's good to get used to the lick and spit method lol.

When you pack up for your first trip, make a list and put check antenna in #1 spot and for the second item, check steps. These are the two most forgotten items most people do, and I'm not kidding here, even some people who have camped all their lives have been the victim in a scrape the curb, or mash the antenna under an gas station awning accident. It kind of takes the fun out of a trip when you have to replace either of those things lol.

Take an old fashioned can opener, cooking utensils, and a frying pan or dutch oven type pan, you can cook most things in either one of those and everything you take should do double duty if you can manage it.

And the last thing, camp in your driveway the first time. You will quickly learn what you need out there and what you don't and it's easier to sort when you are still at home.

And my all time favorite rule (DH always groans here lol): Buy one for the house and one for the Trailer :D - Go to camping world and look it over and then go to walmart or the dollar store and see if you can find it cheaper before you buy. Sometimes you can some times CW is the only place to get something that you really want....just saying.

Now for the really fun part.........I love love love your new trailer, it's so pretty and I love the colors in it. You did good getting them to throw in the decor and dishes!!!! Way to Go!

It is beautiful! You will have a wonderful time with it, and hopefully your travels will bring you to northwestern Virginia!

It is beautiful! The first thing I looked at was the flooring. It is good that you have tile and can just sweep it out with a broom. I had a small trailer for several years and had carpet that was not secured. After every camping trip, I took the carpet outside and vacuumed it and cleaned the spots and then swept the tile also. The carpet was warm for high altitude camping but sure got dirty.

Excellent! Back in my married camping days, we had a 24 foot, slept 6, but nothing like they are today.

Enjoy!

ohhh good tips!! I will be making us a notebook with laminated pages and those items will all be in there! They did warn us about the antenna but no one mentioned the steps! I can see that happening! I am glad to know of the lick and spit shower method LOL that is hilarious! Luckily I have a lot of doubles of stuff so some stuff I can easily put in there. Plus they also gave me that crock with all the cooking utensils and the canister jars which is nice.

Thanks for the tip on the Honda generator I have that written down. Is is really loud? I know some are just crazy loud and would keep the dead awake.

We had to go to Walmart yesterday and checked out the RV supplies area and hubby had to pick up some stuff! With the outdoor kitchen as well as the indoor one plus his little smoker we can put in the pickup I think we should be well taken care of LOL. I have tons of extra pots that I had been thinking of giving away so good thing I had not.

The owners manual did suggest the weekend in the driveway too and that makes a lot of sense. We don't have a plug here at the house that can take the 30amp plug in so it would have to be on generator for the AC.

When we were at walmarts there were so many types of chemicals for the various tanks and we have no clue about that can someone give some ideas on what to get and how to use? We have the hoses.

Plus someone had told my husband he needed to get some kind of device that would allow to flush back the tank to get everything out and we have no idea what that is called or where to get it???

Oh now I have to find a Camping World!oh dear he will go nuts in there!

zipper we do go up 35 through Gainsville, I would love to take a break and visit, I will check with him, he is one of those that does not want to stop unless you are turning purple from holding everything in however LOL We are planning to go on Friday Sept 21 and head home on the Monday 24th, he is taking Friday and Monday off, a friend of mine wants to stay at my house which works for us. His son and the grand kids will be coming in from Memphis so we get to see them too which is great we don't see them very often.

I think his plan is to have the generator by then and just park there on the family farm rather than a camping spot. Of course this is all up in the air since we don't even have the trailer delivered yet!

but we are excited! It has taken a while to register in our brains that we really just went and bought a trailer! But being able to take the dog with us was a big plus.

My husband wants to make a no bathroom rule but hey sometimes you just have to and well that is what it is in there for!! I think he is really worried about the emptying part and by the way where the heck can you go to empty one? Like if we did stay on the farm or in the drive way etc and not in a park facility?

Congratulations, Raven. It's a beauty! First thing I noticed was the two doors. That's a very good feature. Our first camper had them and I missed that second door when we got the 5th wheel. I also noticed there wasn't carpet. I guess those camper manufacturers have finally wised up.

I guess your manual told you that you need special toilet paper or you'll clog the black tank. If you're at a campground, I highly suggest using the bathhouse for that and showering. Our campground was bleached and hosed down every day, but I wore flip-flops. Oh, campgrounds have dump stations where you clean out the tank before heading home.

A crockpot comes in handy for days you want to go sight-seeing, or for cooking side dishes if you're cooking outside. I used mine a lot. Those campers get pretty warm if you cook in them much.

You could take a short trip to a campground close by so you can see how it handles on the road, practice backing into a space, etc. Plus you can enjoy a weekend away from home and the distraction of too many things that need to be done.

Have a great time--I know you will!!

Dumping is pretty easy, there should be instructions in your owner's manual, but just in case there isn't:

Dump the black water tank first, then the grey water tank to "wash" out the hose.

Your new trailer should come with a kit for the toilet. I think aqua-kem is the brand of chemical they usually put in the kits. Gardenweb isn't letting me give you a link to the aqua-kem. :(

And you can dump @ Safety Rest Areas, most of them have put dump stations in, Loves Truck Stops, Some gas stations, and Rumpy's out on 35 when you get to Gainesville lol.

Who ever delivers your trailer should show you these things, but you never know...and it never hurts to ask them questions.

My step sister who is in her mid-50's already has the RV bug. Right now she owns an older model but is saving for a nice big fancy one - the type you drive, not tow. She and her granddaughter and friends are constantly on the go.

Raven, that is just beautiful. I always wanted to do that, but sadly life intervened and changed plans for me.

I hope y'all enjoy your travels tremendously. And, congratulations!

That is sooo nice! Congratulations....I know you will enjoy it so much!

Congratulations!!!! Your trailer is just gorgeous. I am jealous of your tile as we have mostly carpeting. We are planning on replacing the carpet with tile soon.

You have gotten some very good advice. We are out traveling all the time, or as often as I can get Mike on the road. LOL There is a Camping World at 27905 A Katy Freeway, Katy, TX where you can have fun looking around. Their prices are pretty inflated so as Zipper said go check out other stores to see if you can get things cheaper.

We also belong to Good Sam, which has come in real handy when you have a breakdown. You also get a discount at Camping World.

I know you guys are going to have a blast with your rig. We will have to get together in Glaveston sometime.

Hey Nita! I know you are the RV expert LOL Thank you I think we will enjoy it too. I have already found a fabulous RV Park right near my family place on a lake(my families house is just 5 miles down on that same lake they can sail to meet us) with huge old oak trees just the kind of place I would love. Maybe some of you guys can check it out too. Very very much in true Cajun country and wonderful food and good times.
Here is the link
Myers Landing

Plus they rent out nice cabins for those with out an RV! I can see a family get together there some day. LOL

We will definitely check out Camper World and look into Good Sam is that the best one of all the memberships? I know nothing about that of course.

That is one retirement plan extraordinaire! Congratulations. Wishing you many memorable trips.

That looks gorgeous and comfy. I hope you get many years of enjoyment and traveling all over out of it!

Congratulations on your new RV, RC. It's beautiful. Happy traveling.

don't dare for dh to see this! enjoy...so where is your maiden voyage going to be?

Oh, my golly! That is just great!

Hope you have many happy, healthy years of retirement to enjoy it (and each other)! :)

That is great. SO and I went to Port Aransas a couple of weeks ago. I thought something like that would be ideal to live in for hurricane country. No boarding up, just drive away.

Congratulations, good retirement plan.

Kim that was in our minds also since we are prone to the Hurricane weather and Houston floods very bad, our house has flooded in the past before we owned it and we are in a flood plain as is most of Houston. So it is also a sense of security in those cases that we could just hitch on to it and head to higher ground plus if we had another extended period of no power we could take it somewhere there is power around here and at least be cool.

I keep telling everyone this is in case something horrendous happens in our old age and I would have to be living under a bridge in a box well this is much better than a box LOL Since I have no children of my own to take care of me!

They are going to be delivering it here is just a little while, I am excited! I hope he can get it down our driveway.

I don't have any real good pictures of the bedroom yet this one shows it partially, I even like the bedding which matches the rest of the interior colors. But it is a Queen we normally sleep on a King so this will take some adjustment.

Woo hoo it is here!!

We are late comers to the RV world but are having loads of fun. We are getting ready to travel out west...heading to places like Yellowstone and that sort of thing.....We plan to ge gone about 6 weeks. Most of the things about rv travel we learned the hard way and our sales people told us, just get in it and go and we did.....The first trip was a terrible experience but not enough so that we didn't head for Ohio a couple of months later.

Enjoy..

Raven, the H generator is one of the quietest available for that much power. Send me an email thru my page with your name in it or something refering to this post and I will give you some more info. I don't want to post names of camp clubs, ect that will get your post pulled!!

Tami...who is excited that another friend is joining the RV world!

Congratulations, a beautiful trailer and know you will have an enjoyable time in it seeing the country.

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

I love your camper. Congrats! Here's a little thing my DH does - before he disconnecs the water, he puts some water in the holding tank - not a lot though. Once he emptys the tanks, I turn on the pump and run water down the toilet for a couple of minutes - this is also when I put the chemicals in the tank. (don't worry, your battery will handle this). When we drive down the road, any left over solids will break lose from the sloshing as it's going down the road.

oh thanks scissors that sound like a good idea, he needs to get around some folks that have real experience and learn those kinds of tricks that you only learn from real experience.
See I have no idea how you turn on the pump and run water down the toilet LOL Oh I have so much to learn!!
I have been googling like crazy the past few days!
I did buy the special toilet paper holy smokes it is expensive and the smallest rolls I have ever seen!
I found some packets that you can drop into the toilet and it goes into the tank and supposedly then you can use regular toilet paper.
Called walex bio pak natural holding tank deodorizer and waste digester
anyone heard of those pros cons?

I almost forgot about this website, but there is a wealth of information on it--and forums, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: RV Stuff

Raven you can also use single ply toilet paper like Scott's. They sell that in the RV section of Walmart and also in the regular tp isle. I wouldn't use two ply toilet paper in your RV.

Hey Raven, the bus tour company I use has a no bathroom policy as they stop every 2 hours and they figure that is enough. They just don't want to empty it, one of them even admitted that was the reason. I think you could Google the areas you are visiting and find places. If it was me I would make it a last resort rule. I would think most camp grounds would have restrooms.

Wow--this is exciting! It looks more comfortable than a lot of houses I've been in. :-)

Are those water glasses or wine? I say they're for wine. A couple of glasses, and then tuck yourselves into those swivel rockers. LOL

You two (three) will have a blast, Raven!

Congratulations on your new toy!
You are going to have so much fun. Your rv is very very similar to ours.
Ditto on the Honda generator. They are quiet and reliable.
The first couple of times you dump the tanks you will be nervous but it really isn't hard.
It's nice to have everything you need loaded in and ready to go.
As far as using the restrooms at the campground, well, we figure we didn't spend all that money to buy this rig with nice facilities to not be used. My dh will sometimes use the park showers if he wants a nice long shower. Some charge so we keep a bag of quarters handy.
We almost always have Grant with us and it sure is nice to let him shower and go to bed nice and clean.
Use it and enjoy it!!

If you get by any Cabelas, you can park there overnight as well as dump.

It sure is a beauty!

All of you are being so helpful and nice I so appreciate that.
I would really like to get my husband a really good book that covers the basics like how to do the hookups and dump and water pumps and all that stuff you have to know and we don't know. I am seeing so many on amazon but no idea which one would be the best. Many are guides to buying well to late for that LOL I want the guide to now I have it what the heck do I do with it LOL.

Oh I wonder if Gander mountain has a dump there is one of those near his work.

My task for today was to find out about insurance. I figured we just add it to our car and home insurance but thankfully Tami told me to consider Good Sam for those needs. See I need help LOL!

I found a top ten rated RV park right here in my town, I think maybe we should do our test one there instead of the driveway and maybe my husband can talk to some of the others there for help and tips, you know how men are they love to give tips and help out and Lord knows we need it.

Looks lovely! Wow, can't imagine what the big ones are like if you consider this small! LOL

Raven, that trip to the local campground for talking to others is a great idea, and close to home if you forget the really important things (like meds! My dad forgot his needles and test kit for his insulin one time! and he has camped for years!) Make sure you at least try to familiarize yourselves with things like the pump switch, hoses, ect before you go, and remember the manuals! Seems like there is one for everything!

Our Gander Mountain does not have any where to dump, it's in a strip mall.

When you bought it, before it was delivered, or when it was delivered, the salesman should have gone over all the how-to's just like with a new car. The pump switch should be on a panel either on the wall or maybe over the stove with rocker switches on it. Each switch should be labeled. Turn the pump on to run water if you are not hooked up to an outside source. You don't need to run the pump if you are hooked up out side. Also, use the guage for the holding tanks only as a guide! It is inevitable that the black water tank (toilet) will read full or partly full when you KNOW it is empty! It's the nature of the beasts. I will keep thinking for things to tell you about! Remember, any questions, ask here or email me!!

Tami

They did show us those things briefly but I don't always remember and retain! I am sure my husband understood that more than I did. I do remember now that you mentioned it those panels and switches.
Oh yes forgetting meds would be bad. I have a packing list I keep handy just for things like that.

As for the hot water, when we want to take a shower, we switch it to gas from electric. We do this because the water will get hot quicker for the next person that wants to shower. The water tank is very small and if we leave it on electric, it will take some time before the next one can shower. We also turn off the water while lathering up.

Don't worry about using the toilet. It takes two of us a week before we have to dump the black tank. The gray tank fills up much quicker. If you have an outside faucet, you could do your dishes that way. I have seen people do that to conserve their gray tank. (I haven't needed to try it though.)

If you use your awning (sp?), make sure you put one side lower so the rain water can run off. Otherwise, it'll pool and sag your awning.

Finally, relax and enjoy. I think going somewhere to camp close to home is a great idea. There was a woman camping by us over the 4th and it was their first time also. The couple asked lots of questions of us and others. You will find that people like to talk about it. So don't be afraid to ask.

The thing I am finding lots of discussion on on various RV forums is whether or not to get liability insurance? some say not needed that the truck that tows it has liability some say yes but what happens when you are disconnected and have no liability on the RV.
We were doing the insurance quote deal on Good Sams and it does not mention liability.
My husband was thinking it had to have a dedicated liability???
Some mentioned that your Home owners policy would kick in and take care of the instances when it was not being towed.
I are cornfused!

I'm certainly not an expert on insurance but to play it safe I would contact the agents for both my car insurance and homeowner's. Is there someone at Good Sams that you can contact?

Now back to the main topic - congrats on your new RV and retirement plan. It is beautiful and I hope you have many, many miles of comfortable RV-ing in your future.

As our resident computer guru - which of your many devices will you take with you on your expeditions?

Well Maire_cate, I just ordered a portable router that allows me to have a wireless connection from wired, any wifi hotspot, and using my 3G cellular air card, all with the security built into a router must be safe when using public wifi. So I am hoping I will at least be able to get a signal one of those ways.

I will definitely bring my Vizio tablet and one of the laptops (either my netbook or his laptop) and he will most definitely have his reader. All my books are on my Vizio.
I am more concerned about having an internet connection than I am about the tv connections LOL. And of course my smart phone goes everywhere.

Yes I think we need to do the phone number instead of the online deal with Good Sam, I tried to tell him that last night but he just had to try it. (see me rolling my eyes?)

He had me order some fancy pants break controller thing to put on his truck, he was going to buy the cheap one at walmart till he discovered all the youtube videos about all things RV. I kid you not he was up till 2am watching RV instructions on youtube. But he apparently learned a lot. He was giving me lessons on it at the crack of dawn this morning when he got up to get ready for work, I was a lot more interested in sleeping.LOL

I am really glad however that I had found some of those youtubes for him, seeing is always a big help when learning something new. And some of those guys on those videos were hilarious.

Don't forget to look into solar power panels, they are so reasonably priced now, easy to set up and keep your batteries full. Enough for lights and anything you need at night, and less noisy. Very rarely do we ever have to use the generator during the summer, for fall and winter camping when we needed the furnace on of course we used it at night beause it used too much juice. I guess if you have to have your ac on all the time you would also need the generator going but we rarely used it opting for fans instead.