Newby's First Trip

We are new owner's of a 2014 Canyon Star.  Here is our first attempt RVing. 

We heeded the advice of friends and took the RV out on a trial run to a nearby campsite...Airport Park in Concordia, KS. It was very close to Walmart enabling us to pick up items we had forgotten to stock.

We started the day out early, arriving at the storage facility at 7:30 a.m. We learned our first lesson. Always check to ensure the plugins at the storage facility actually are providing power. Our battery was dead. Now we learned lesson number 2...if pulling in front first, allow enough room to pop the hood. Better yet, in the future back in. Lesson number three, when playing around with the RV always remember to raise the leveling jacks, because if you have no power in the battery, and can't get to the battery to jump start it, you might have to have someone hook onto you and pull you back a few feet. The storage facility loaned us a 100' extension cord and we plugged into a different outlet and eventually the RV started and the leveling jacks were retracted...we were ready to go. A few minutes after the RV started, we learned lesson number 4. When playing around with the RV be aware of your gas tank. Even if your wife gripes and complains about the heat and humidity, do not run the generator to power the AC to keep her happy. The RV ran out of gas before leaving the storage space. Never park an RV without at least a half a tank of gas. I ran to Walmart to buy a 5 gallon gas can, but alas, only 2 gallon cans were available. I bought 3 of them and I was off to QuickTrip to purchase 6 gallons of gas. I was back to the storage facility in no time. We gave her all 6 gallons and Rick turned the key...click, click, click. The battery was dead again. Nothing was going to ruffle our feathers on this 101 degree day. A nearby RV service facility was able to pull us back and hook up a charger. We waited on the white rock lot with the glistening sun reflecting all around us. The sweat pouring from our faces just added to our glow from the pride of ownership of this new home on wheels. We left Wichita at 1:08 pm.

The trip to Concordia was uneventful and the Airport Park is a beautiful place to spend a few days. Rick got the electric and water hooked up and we were set. We had a lovely visit with my mother and a wonderful lunch with my Aunt Lois. My son (with severe disabilities, hence, the wheelchair lift equipped Canyon Star) was happy and the cats were adjusting to their new surroundings. As all good things come to an end, it was time to leave Concordia and head back to Wichita.

We were loaded up and I noticed Pistol, the young and enthusiastic feline was missing. I was concerned she had gotten under the bed and couldn't get out. I tried everything to garner some response from her but to no avail. I went outside to ask Rick to help in my search when what to my wondering eyes should appear, a small, delicate black cat snooping around the nearby culvert. I was exuberant to have found her so easily, or so I thought. As I approached her she ran into the culvert and out of my sight. We spent the next 3 hours coaxing her to no avail. I was off to the conveniently located Walmart buying canned Tuna when Rick called. Pistol, as the loved kitty was previously known, was sitting in the bedroom window peering out of the RV. We had spent 3 hours trying to retrieve someone else's cat! Pistol is not the name I am currently using when referring to her.

We left Concordia at 11:15. All in all, we had a great time and are looking forward to future trips and I finally have fodder for a Christmas letter!

Great story and we greatly admire your attitude and sense of humor!

And as cat owners,  the "where's kitty?" part of your tale had a quite familiar ring! Been there, done that!

Gary RV Roamer said:

Great story and we greatly admire your attitude and sense of humor!

And as cat owners,  the "where's kitty?" part of your tale had a quite familiar ring! Been there, done that!

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Reminds me of a story about my sister in law. One day, she heard a knock on the door. The person asked if they had a black and white cat.  My SIL said yes, why? He said it had been hit by a car just down the road a ways. My brother didn't want to have anything to do with it. He hated that cat. My SIN went to get the cat. It was really all mangled because it had been hit several times before she got there. She picked up the cat and brought it home and had a funeral in the back yard. A short time later, guess who showed up. Yup. She buried some else's cat.  :'( :-[ ;D

Wayyyy Too Funny!  I am LOL!!  Thanks for such great stories!

Welcome to the RVing life! I think all of us on here have some rendition of the movie "RV" that we could tell! I know I learned my lesson about replacing sewer hoses on an annual basis and not waiting until they break... with black water in them

bopbottle said:

Even if your wife gripes and complains about the heat and humidity, do not run the generator to power the AC to keep her happy. The RV ran out of gas before leaving the storage space.

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Those are all great stories and they reminded me of some of the horrors of our early RV days, but I was surprised at the above comment.

Our RV taps the generator gas line off about 2/3 of the way into the tank so even if we run the generator full time until it runs out of gas we still have about 1/3 of a tank left. When I mentioned this to our RV mechanic he told me that it was standard to tap the generator gas higher than the bottom of the gas tank just so the RV does not run out of gas, based on generator usage alone.

I guess not all RVs work that way. In any case, welcome to the wonderful world of RVing and have many pleasant trips in the future.

Rene T said:

My SIN went to get the cat. It was really all mangled because it had been hit several times before she got there. She picked up the cat and brought it home and had a funeral in the back yard. A short time later, guess who showed up. Yup. She buried some else's cat.  :'( :-[ ;D

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Oh my! Can I ever relate to that! Many years ago my husband and I lived in a "mother-in-law's quarters" that was made into 2 apartments. Our neighbors were a young couple and they had a young cat. He used to come and hang on our screen door like the cartoon cat Garfield. Long story short - neighbors split up, moving back to the city, offered us the cat. We already loved him and took him. He was 9 months old and was raised as an indoor/outdoor cat. He was a pretty generic-looking medium hair brown tabby.

One Saturday soon afterward we were going to a friend's house for the day in the city. As we pulled out of our dirt road onto the pavement we saw a brown tabby dead on the road! Oh, no, it was our "Garfield." We went back home, got gloves, a garbage bag and a shovel. My husband picked up the cat, put him in the bag in the trunk and proceeded to our friend's house. I cried the whole way there. Our friend let us bury him in his flower garden. (Have no idea why we didn't just bury him in our garden?)

Anyway, I spent most of the entire day at our friend's sobbing. I get easily attached. After a long day in the city we headed home. When we entered the gate at our driveway, you know who was sitting on the trunk of my MGB. I felt so stupid. I cried all day over someone else's cat. And whoever owned that cat never knew what happened to him.

By the way Garfield was my first cat and we had him for 16 short years. He's been gone 19 years and my husband joined him 17 years ago. And I still miss them both.

MikefromMesa, you may be right.  I don't know how all this works and we are still learning.  We are leaving tomorrow for a few days with another couple of long time RVers and will likely learn a lot for them.  Actually, I shouldn't say we, I should say he (my husband).  I am the manager in the family and take care of most everything, so this is one thing I have said I am leaving to him.  I want to get in and go, oh and turn on the air conditioner, and that is it.

The cat stories are great!

I want to get in and go, oh and turn on the air conditioner, and that is it.

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Let me suggest that for your own benefit you learn something about the RV, not with the intent of taking care of it under normal circumstances, but for occasions when your hubby is unable, either because he's not there or because of incapacitation or...

Could happen someday.

Our RV taps the generator gas line off about 2/3 of the way into the tank so even if we run the generator full time until it runs out of gas we still have about 1/3 of a tank left. When I mentioned this to our RV mechanic he told me that it was standard to tap the generator gas higher than the bottom of the gas tank just so the RV does not run out of gas, based on generator usage alone.

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It is indeed the usual practice to place the genset fuel feed somewhere above the 1/4 tank level, to prevent running the tank dry with the genset.  However, the actual installation relies on the assembly line guy to manually insert the fuel intake tube just so far into the tank and the results can be haphazard. Sometimes the installer gets distracted, or in a hurry, or maybe the fuel line slips down further before it gets tightened into place. Just another example of inconsistent build quality in the RV industry.

bopbottle said:

Now we learned lesson number 2...if pulling in front first, allow enough room to pop the hood. Better yet, in the future back in.

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Good story.  Now as for the backing in.  I am not famiiar with the Canyon Star or your storage facility but if it is a single stall storage unit you may want to forget about backing it in unless you have plenty of room to drive completely out before making any turn.  I have to pull my unit in head first as I must start a slight turn almost immediately when backing out and make a sharp turn as soon as the front clears the building.  If I did that when backed in, the back of the coach would swing right into the wall of the storage unit.  Hope that is clear.  Otherwise, you learned a lot of good lessons on one test hop.  Hope you enjoy your future travels.

Bill

NOW you are beginning to become experienced RVers!  Campfire chat is a lot more interesting once you have some stories of your own to tell.    Plus these instances are quite educational for you (obviously), and will make future trips more efficient as well as giving you the knowledge to help others along the way.