Eek, I done it

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We are hauling it home where we will fit it up for living. We need to add bedding, our pillows etc. Also, i wanted to simplify as much as possible the adventure of picking it up. We did originally plan on camping last night but no campground up here are open for at least another month. By the way, it tows really nice. As I have said elsewhere, I went with the “rails mounted” Andersen hitch with a Reese rails to pucks system. I can remove the hitch part in a few minutes. It would be 1 minute but I replaced one pin with a locking pin so I gotta unlock it. I have the hitch ball now at the lowest setting but the trailer is still a little nose high (28” ground to bottom at front and 24” at rear). Any lower and the pin box may encounter the side rails. The hitch position is allowing a 90 degree jackknife on level ground.

Big learning curve. More as I encounter things.
 
Congratulations. It is exciting to start getting it ready and then to actually get out camping! Keep us posted.
 
Ok we can let you off this time on the hotel thing but never again lol
Enjoy the new 5er
Its always fun getting a new toy , we got ours 2 weeks ago already did a 5 night stay in it.
 

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We had to bring it home a week sooner than planned as the tech prepping from storage will be on vacation when we wanted it.
It is now in our secondary driveway blocking it. We do plan to spend a few nights sleeping in it before moving it to a campground.
 
Writing this from the rv. Second night in the driveway. Cats are settled though last night was stressful for them. We move to a campground tomorrow (Monday). So far, except for the flakey thermostat, things are going well. We haven’t cooked a meal in the rv yet (why not use the mega kitchen that is right there?).
I am pretty emotional after cooking a maybe last meal in a home I have lived in for 46 years. Sigh…

Off to a new life adventure …
 
@Rob&Deryl I think once you are on the road and enjoying your beautiful country you will be thinking why didn't we do this sooner!

I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures!

Safe travels.
 
We moved the trailer to a campground today. Only a 30 min drive on back roads. Was fun hooking up all the water bits (90 degree fitting to the city water port, new hose, water filter, short hose & pressure regulator) and then getting the slip joint pliers to rid us of all the leaks 😁
First problem… could not get the lid off the sewer pipe. Had to get the owner to come do it.
Then, our adapter was too big. Off to Wally World. No decent right angle adapter. Ended up with a 15’ Rhino flex with built in stepped adapter. It fit but loosely. Duct tape to the rescue.
DW cooked up a nice dinner while I was gone (20 min each way). Dumped black, closed valve, then each grey tank and left those open (We used some water from the fresh tank over the past 2 weeks in the driveway.
Now, fed, a glass of wine in hand, kitty snuggled up an reading. Sigh…
 
I have been delinquent in my updates and was totally lame over the past few weeks with chat.
The past few weeks were mostly uneventful while we commuted each day to the house To work on it for someone else. We are told our work will result in a higher sales price. I hope so.
Deryl retired as a full time employee last Thursday (staying on part time so she can help - HIPPA laws and such).
This morning we moved campgrounds. Our commute went from 20 min to 1.5 hr. Sigh… 2 more weeks of this.
The move went pretty well. It was an 80 mile trek north. Funny story… while we we breaking camp (more on that), our neighbor for one night (3 axel DP with pickup truck toad) in a pull through site attempted to leave 😳. They first spent 20 minutes apparently trying to figure out reverse and fuel pedal and then tried to back out with the toad still attached. Didn’t work so good. After several attempts, they figured out detaching the toad. This was a young couple with the dad of of one of them along. 3/4 million rig. Didn’t move the toad far enough but managed to sorta turn the rig around to go out the way they came in. I guess they didn’t appreciate the pull through site they were given… Well, they managed to ground the rig bottomed out in rear with the drive wheels spinning. Sigh. Oh, the left the tow rig for the toad dragging on the ground. Guess what happened when they decided to back up 😁
Well, the campground owner showed up and with some finess, a bungee cord for the tow bar and directions, they got it up on pavement to the relief of everyone. A few minutes later we were ready to pull out. No issues except for a couple of bonehead mistakes (this was our first time breaking camp). I forgot to hook up the break away cable and the safety chains (Andersen hitch). Oops, we stopped and fixed. It took 2 hrs to decamp because we checked each other each task. Oh, we also finally sanitized the water system. We figured on a 3 hr traverse, then flushing when we arrived a Twin Tamerack in New Hampton NH.
As we are here for a month, we spent quite a bit of time positioning the rig just right. After flushing, we extended the slides and brought the kitties back in.
Nice steak on the grill, some red wine and watching an episode of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Fest. Sleep soon.
 
Tip: I have had problems with hand strength because of carpel tunnel syndrome. Also back problems, so I carry a small stool and a pair of channellock pliers. Stool is so I don't have to sit or kneel on dirty or wet ground, and pliers are for removing the lids on sewer openings, which seem to be stuck at least half the time! Also handy for unscrewing stuck hoses.

And everyone makes dumb mistakes at first. Wait until you back into your first tree!
 
Rob, glad to hear that you and Deryl are settling into your RV life. An hour & half commute is a PITA, hopefully you won't need to be doing it for very long. We do miss you in chat, but fully understand and will welcome you back when you are able to return.

Ed
 
Short update… things are good.
We are up in NH now and still working on the house. 200 mile round trips, restaurant food and just sleeping in the trailer. Today is our first real day off since March. House is being shown yesterday and today. There is light at the end of the tunnel and we don’t think it is an oncoming train 😁

Happy Father’s Day
 
Well, we moved house yesterday. Only a few hours travel.
Decamping went well. We packed most outdoor stuff the night before and topped off all the tires.
In the morning, we were not exactly stellar in our efficiency though we made no errors, moved the kitties to the car and hit the road. We were surprised at how little the galley gray tank had accumulated in a few days. Of course, we should not have been, as we have not been eating at home (the trailer) much. We got new tires on the trailer on the way to our current campsite (where we will be through August), Goodyear Endurance 235/80R16. My initial observation is that there is much less sidewall bulge than the old tires. The scales (next door to the tire place) said I had 10,400 on the axels. Trailer GVWR is 13,995 (ok 14,000). Seems ok. Setting up at new place was uneventful. We met the downhill neighbor (ok, the whole campground is downhill from us) and look forward to some time at camp. The kitties weathered the traverse fine.
The house has sold. One more month and we are free.

More to come …
 
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