First Trips

We headed off with Mom and Dad to a local RV sale today. There were several dealers gathered together at the racetrack/casino which makes it really convenient to see many different types of campers. First we had breakfast at the casino – $1.99 with the coupon for a full breakfast with coffee – what a deal eh! When we signed up for the coupon we also got $5.00 to use in the slot machines. Carm won $4.50 which paid for over 1/2 our breakfast! What a deal :-)

Then it was off to the sale. Mom is thinking she might want a wee little travel trailer or class C, Dad is not so sure… But this was a great place for them to see a whole pile of options. We had lots of fun looking at the giant class A’s and huge 5th wheels as well. And yes, one of the Bighorn models that we like was there too, I just kept repeating my mantra – I love my camper, I love my camper… Anyway we all made it out of there empty handed!

I wonder if Mom and Dad will be taking a first trip sometime soon?

Merikay (one of the blogs I read) is talking about taking her first trip in their first RV (see her blog http://merika-merika.blogspot.com/2011/10/preparations.html). What an exciting time – I remember our first trip well – I was almost out of my head with excitement. Since we purchased the camper in the fall we had to wait till the following spring for our first trip. It was agonizing… So I spent the winter sewing stuff, making checklists and preparation lists. Since I’m a big time computer junkie, I created the one below in Excel. I’ve tailored over the last few years and now I’m pretty happy with it. I do a page for each trip, keeping it up-to-date online and then printing that page out for the last day or so. I make notes on it including anything else to pack, and also notes about the trip. Then I save it in my book. I do look back at them and use it to build the next months list.

Anyway, I promised that I would give a peak at my organizing spreadsheet (sick eh!):

Our first trip was in April of 2007. I was crazy with excitement. We went to a little park not too far from home in case we needed anything, plus it was the only one open that early. And as an added bonus it has an indoor pool (only slightly scuzzy). It was a perfect shake down trip. Close enough to town to run in for some shopping on Saturday (we needed a vacuum), but still somewhere not in our laneway (we had camped in the laneway a few times already). It was fun playing house in our new little camper. Here are a few of the photos – I had somehow lost the photos from our first and second trips. But at least for the first one I had added them onto my website so have a copy, but the second trip – gone.

Our First RV Trip (away from the laneway!)

Here we are hitched and ready to go.	Almost at the campground. You can see that the trees are still bare.
Bella and Kabira weren’t too sure what was going on. They adapted quickly and now love going camping.	Warm enough for shirtsleeves! We didn’t have our Pseudo Lafuma’s yet (knockoff recliners – I think we had them for the next trip out though).
Carm relaxing on the sofa. It was a funky material but I made a washable slipcover in denim. What is it about RV designers that make them decorate with unwashable fabrics – we are CAMPING!	I recovered the banquette cushions as well.
Carm making coffee.	Our little living room.

 

What fun we had (and are still having)!