Greetings, (Part 1)
Thought I would outline our RV trip we just took. My Dad and Mom were RV'ers and my wife and I had a chance to do several trips with them to Michigan, Knoxville Worlds Fair, and Oregon. This took place in the 1970's though 1980's. I have always been an avid camper and have camped in tents at many locations. I have also lived out of my mini van in various locations that I have traveled to, mainly out in wilderness areas.
However this was the first practical trip to attempt to see if we like this lifestyle, get an idea if we like the Class C's or if a bigger unit is in order. Also see if the features that were in the C were what we wanted.
We started out by renting a unit at the Elkhart, Indiana Cruse America for 8 days and left August 18th and finished on Aug. 26th. We decided that the local state parks would be a good choice as they have a lot to do.
The day of pick up went smooth and they gave us a detailed walk through with the unit. We choose a mid size class C unit about 25 feet in length. These units are pretty basic but there still are things to know before heading out on a trip. My extensive RV Forum reading help me out a great deal on knowing a number of things ahead of time. It made the jump from reading to doing a better experience.
We left our van at the rental location as it had a security fence and cameras. This allowed us to load our items into the van after we got back from the trip. We didn't load the RV at the rental location but rather took it to our house in north central Indiana. We planned ahead and had everything we wanted to take mostly in a single location with the exception of the perishables which were located in the refrigerator. The drive home in the RV was not a bad one. Control of the unit was not as easy as driving my van but still manageable. Wondering how it will be with the unit loaded.
We slowly loaded the RV up the day before departure to the Chain O Lakes State Park, finding places for everything. I was a bit worried about the RV being over weight. They listed the gross vehicle weight but not the weight of the unit. Back storage compartment listed a top weight of 200 lbs which I am sure we are about at that limit. When I got back I asked about the weight limit. The Cruise America representative said the units are built light and felt it would be hard to overload them but suggested a 1000 LBS limit.
Our first night we camped at home and we try to use the facilities to figure out if we might be needing anything for use in the Class C and on our trip. I plugged the RV into 110 to run mainly the AC. I had to use a converter plug as I don't have the regular shoreline plug in at our house. We were able to use lights in the RV and avoided running both the AC and microwave at the same time. I could have used the generator but decided the 110 power supply was enough for one day.
Both my oldest son and my daughter came over for a look at the unit. We showed them around.
Thought I would outline our RV trip we just took. My Dad and Mom were RV'ers and my wife and I had a chance to do several trips with them to Michigan, Knoxville Worlds Fair, and Oregon. This took place in the 1970's though 1980's. I have always been an avid camper and have camped in tents at many locations. I have also lived out of my mini van in various locations that I have traveled to, mainly out in wilderness areas.
However this was the first practical trip to attempt to see if we like this lifestyle, get an idea if we like the Class C's or if a bigger unit is in order. Also see if the features that were in the C were what we wanted.
We started out by renting a unit at the Elkhart, Indiana Cruse America for 8 days and left August 18th and finished on Aug. 26th. We decided that the local state parks would be a good choice as they have a lot to do.
The day of pick up went smooth and they gave us a detailed walk through with the unit. We choose a mid size class C unit about 25 feet in length. These units are pretty basic but there still are things to know before heading out on a trip. My extensive RV Forum reading help me out a great deal on knowing a number of things ahead of time. It made the jump from reading to doing a better experience.
We left our van at the rental location as it had a security fence and cameras. This allowed us to load our items into the van after we got back from the trip. We didn't load the RV at the rental location but rather took it to our house in north central Indiana. We planned ahead and had everything we wanted to take mostly in a single location with the exception of the perishables which were located in the refrigerator. The drive home in the RV was not a bad one. Control of the unit was not as easy as driving my van but still manageable. Wondering how it will be with the unit loaded.
We slowly loaded the RV up the day before departure to the Chain O Lakes State Park, finding places for everything. I was a bit worried about the RV being over weight. They listed the gross vehicle weight but not the weight of the unit. Back storage compartment listed a top weight of 200 lbs which I am sure we are about at that limit. When I got back I asked about the weight limit. The Cruise America representative said the units are built light and felt it would be hard to overload them but suggested a 1000 LBS limit.
Our first night we camped at home and we try to use the facilities to figure out if we might be needing anything for use in the Class C and on our trip. I plugged the RV into 110 to run mainly the AC. I had to use a converter plug as I don't have the regular shoreline plug in at our house. We were able to use lights in the RV and avoided running both the AC and microwave at the same time. I could have used the generator but decided the 110 power supply was enough for one day.
Both my oldest son and my daughter came over for a look at the unit. We showed them around.