Flying from IN to FL to buy Class C and drive home. What should I pack?

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Hi there! If you can, please post a follow up either here or in a new thread. It would be amazing to hear what you did, what worked/what didn't, and how the entire process turned out for you. Even if you don't end up finalizing purchase it would be nice to know why. If it is more dreamy than anticipated, please post that, too!

I think many like learning from others' experiences :).

Best of luck to you!
 
I have another suggestion. Why not drive your car/truck to Orlando? 2 day drive? You have never had an RV before, so your learning curve may be steep. Why not take a few days to "settle in" with your new "toy" and leave Disney for another time? You really need to become acquainted with your rig before you take off. It's a 2009 unit, so you may very well need new tires before you even leave the parking lot. There may be other problems you encounter on the trip home when another vehicle would come in handy. If you were by yourself, problems on the road or other delays would probably be easier to handle. But with 2 small kids? You don't know for sure if the appliances work....stove, water heater, fridge, coach heater. Is it going to need basic service, such as an oil change before you leave? I think you should seriously leave Disney out this time and concentrate on getting the coach home. Once you get it home and equipped and fully checked out and you learn how things work there will be plenty of time for enjoyable, stressfree trips back to Orlando and other places.
 
Good luck with your new RV!

Once that you have this RV reviewed by a competent RV mechanic, get operating training and close the deal, it will be later in the day.  It takes far longer to do this than you might imagine.  At that point I would drive it a relatively short distance to a full service RV park with 50A hookup and set up to camp as you would normally do.  In the process of doing so you will soon discover many of the things that you don't have, e.g. the right sewer fittings, pressure reducer for your water supply hose, etc.  After you break camp and prepare to leave make a list of all of those things you are deficient then go buy them at the nearest Walmart or Camping World to take with you on the rest of the trip.  Given that this is the first time for you to own an RV it is not likely you have these things to send ahead, and you may be surprised at how much the current owner is planning to include in the way of these accessories, especially if he/she is getting out of RV'ing.  I also found that in the final negotiation I was able to get the previous owner to throw in things like the Roadmaster Towbar and the winter cover that he bought for the rig.  They may have no further use for these and may have more latitude on that than on the selling price.  Make sure that you bill of sale reflects the amount that you paid for the rig and not such add ons to avoid paying unnecessary sales tax when you register this at home.

Have fun!

Joel
 
You can probably get a few kitchen utensils or appliances at a Good Will store too.  Maybe even some sheets and blankets.  I wouldn't haul too much down there.
 
I may be too late to add my two cents, but I strongly recommend you buy the RV toilet paper.  It is designed to dissolve quickly and easily.  We have known people who have poo pooed (no pun intended) this suggestion and found they had a badly clogged black water tank.  I hope you are told that you should keep the black water tank closed until it needs to be emptied.  If you leave it open assuming it will drain as you use it, your clog will become huge and difficult to clear.  My husband learned this the hard way, even after I suggested that this may not be a wise option.  The dumb little fat blonde was right.  So please purchase RV toilet paper and keep the black water valve closed until it is time to empty it. 

Enjoy your RV and have a wonderful time at Disney World
 
Circe said:
I may be too late to add my two cents, but I strongly recommend you buy the RV toilet paper.  It is designed to dissolve quickly and easily.  We have known people who have poo pooed (no pun intended) this suggestion and found they had a badly clogged black water tank.

Black tanks do not get clogged by using standard household toilet paper... they get clogged from using not enough water, which includes leaving the valve closed as long as possible (as you mentioned) to promote bacteria growth which is what liquefies the tank contents.

There have been many past discussions here on toilet paper usage in RV's, including a classic experiment running several brands through a blender to see how they "stood up" to water and vibration.  ;) 

If you want to be conservative, you can use a quality single ply TP like Scott's.  But the overwhelming conclusion among our veteran RV'ers and the industry is that any septic-safe toilet paper (which is nearly all of them these days) is fine for use in RV's.  I send down about an extra half-bowl of water with any solids getting flushed, and have never had any problems.
 
RV To issue aside. We just did the same thing in April. Flew from WA State to S.C. What an amazing adventure! Make sure you tell you credit card/debit card company you will be traveling. AMEX froze my card less than 1/2 way into the trip.  Load your bags with everything from paper plates & plastic ware to games & coloring books. Like has been mentioned, Wally World will have just about everything you need. If the new unit doesn't have leveling jacks don't buy light weight Lego style blocks, the MH will bust them. MOST OF ALL,try not to stress and "snap" at your spouse when things go wrong.
Oh, make sure you have finances figured out with the institution the sellers prefer.
Good Luck!
 
Love to hear it went well for you 99dart! Unfortunately our deal fell through as the seller sold it yesterday. We were unwilling to put a deposit down sight unseen but man if it's a good deal it goes fast! Oh well, on to the next one :) Luckily we still get a trip to Disney out of it  ;D Trying to find one with under 50k miles for under 40K$ is tough. We would love to be around 30k$. 24 foot or less. Queen sleeper. Anyone want to sell?LOL
 
Lisapaxton1 said:
Love to hear it went well for you 99dart! Unfortunately our deal fell through as the seller sold it yesterday. We were unwilling to put a deposit down sight unseen but man if it's a good deal it goes fast! Oh well, on to the next one :) Luckily we still get a trip to Disney out of it  ;D Trying to find one with under 50k miles for under 40K$ is tough. We would love to be around 30k$. 24 foot or less. Queen sleeper. Anyone want to sell?LOL

There WILL be another one... keep on looking!  ;)  And that budget should not be too hard to match, depending on what  model year range(s) you are considering.  I paid $12k for our first motorhome (13 years old at the time), which met all of our wants/needs and was great for our family for several years.  Sold for $8k about 5.5 years later.  A newer rig that costs you $40k might be worth $15k over that same time period, so just something to consider.  There are gently-used gems out there.

Enjoy Disney!  We just came from an Florida vacation last week, but skipped the mouse ears this time and opted for beach/pool trips with family in the area.
 
2kGeorgieBoy said:
Are you traveling from Indiana or Kentucky? You say IN in the title but mention Louisville.

Hi 2kGeorgieBoy and all,

I believe they live in southern Indiana and Louisville is the closest airport for them to fly out of. I did a double take on that at first also.
 
Lisapaxton1 said:
Love to hear it went well for you 99dart! Unfortunately our deal fell through as the seller sold it yesterday. We were unwilling to put a deposit down sight unseen but man if it's a good deal it goes fast! Oh well, on to the next one :) Luckily we still get a trip to Disney out of it  ;D Trying to find one with under 50k miles for under 40K$ is tough. We would love to be around 30k$. 24 foot or less. Queen sleeper. Anyone want to sell?LOL

There's a bunch of scams out there. Be careful.

Just keep checking Craigslist. One will come up local.
 
So sorry that it was sold out from under you. How disappointing!  I spent a lot of time convincing my seller that I was the real deal.  He also asked for a prepayment which I refused.  Part of my success was to show my finances and explain thoroughly why this RV was the one for us.  As I recall we had a purchase agreement in place which either of us could exit only for a narrow set of reasons.  Perhaps you find another on RV Trader even closer to home. Have fun at DisneyWorld.

BTW for those who say that standard toilet paper won't clog the black water outlet, could you tell if the past testing also proved that std toilet paper didn't have any adverse affect upon the level sensor?
 
JoelP said:
BTW for those who say that standard toilet paper won't clog the black water outlet, could you tell if the past testing also proved that std toilet paper didn't have any adverse affect upon the level sensor?

Black tank level sensors (at least the standard ones installed from the factory) are rarely accurate, and most of us don't rely on them.  There's a whole lot of other "crud" that can get stuck on them!  The are aftermarket sensors you can install if desired, that are advertised to be more accurate and prevent gunk from giving false high readings.

It doesn't take long with regular use of your RV, to get used to how it takes for your black tank to fill before needing to be dumped.  And/or if it has a straight drop from the toilet, you can hold the toilet valve open and shine a flashlight into the tank to see where the level is at.  Sounds horrifying to some, but all you'll generally see is the top liquid layer and the odor should not be bad with the way the tanks vent (through a pipe out the roof).
 
Lisapaxton1 said:
Love to hear it went well for you 99dart! Unfortunately our deal fell through as the seller sold it yesterday. We were unwilling to put a deposit down sight unseen but man if it's a good deal it goes fast! Oh well, on to the next one :) Luckily we still get a trip to Disney out of it  ;D Trying to find one with under 50k miles for under 40K$ is tough. We would love to be around 30k$. 24 foot or less. Queen sleeper. Anyone want to sell?LOL

I'm sorry to hear you lost out on the deal. Keep watching rvtrader & vet.com. for a unit that fits your needs. It's out there!
 
There are a lot down in Florida....especially in that stretch form Orlando over to Tampa.  Lots of retirees in that areas...snowbirds and the like.  I often figured that would be a great place to shop for used RV's....except a good many would be class A's...  Could take a break form disney and do some shopping while you are here!
 
Maybe while you're at Disney you could spend an afternoon at Ft Wilderness looking around at the different rigs parked there.  If the owners are outside and don't appear to be busy, I expect they would be happy to discuss the pros and cons of their setups. It's a very popular park for families so you should be able to gain a lot of insight into RVing with children.
 
So I know this thread is ancient now but I wanted to let everyone know I appreciate all your advice. We finally got a motorhome!! It was so difficult to find a reliable used one that we went ahead and bought new. Being that we are going to be living in it and traveling so far away from home we wanted the peace of mind. We flew to Wisconsin and bought a 2018 Coachmen Freelander 26RS and drove it home. It is perfect for our family. We leave Decemmber 27th and should return early March. Again, thank you all for your advice!! Hopefully in a few years I will be seasoned and can contribute as well :)
 

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