Ok So you get an RV where was your first trip to..

[bassoneman]

Ok.. I am newbie kind of sort of.. We just got the RV and are thinking about our first trip. Do we do a local trip to make sure all systems are go. Or do we take a 1000 mile trip to be christened by fire... What was your first trip. Hey does the drive way count... It has to be a sleep over. And PS I did win money in the mega millions tonight. I got $7.00 closer to my retirement...

[Fred1609]

We took our first 5er out for a weekend trip, about 3 hours from home. Nothing fancy and reserved a pullthru for security. Have a great trip where ever you go.

[rbracing60]

We decided to make sure that if things started going south with the RV we wanted to be someplace enjoyable to offset any malfunctions. As it turned out it was great, we were hooked, and haven't had a bad trip yet(knock on wood).

Safe travels

Richard

[Chickenman]

we went 45 minutes from home. Newbies in every sense of the word bu armed with lots of information from iRV2.

[chasfm11]

We actually had several first trips.

1. Just the MH - we drove about 200 miles to camp in a friend's driveway. Our goal was simply to learn how it handled and not have to worry about anything else. If had problems, we had lots of options. The only problem was that the dash heater didn't work and we learned that we could drive with the a furnace on. The problem was a bad thermostat in the engine.

2. MH and toad - we drove about an hour an a half and camped in a State park. The goal was simply to get used to hooking and hooking the toad and handling it in traffic. We had practiced with the toad in a mall parking lot but making turns on small roads is different.

3. First trip with passengers. We were planning a 5 day, 3,000 mile trip with 5 adults later so we did a dry run by driving 500 miles with 4 adults and baby, staying 3 nights. We wanted to figure out how best to have everyone seated and how difficult it would be on a longer trip

After that, we took off on a 12 day, several thousand mile trip to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, etc. As a result of our previous experiences, driver's mirror breaking the first day didn't deter us. Only only real problem that we had on that trip was dealing with the heavy, gusty cross winds on I-40 in NM. Nothing will prepare you for that.

As you can tell, we don't believe in "diving into the deep end of the pool" as a starting point. I guess it all comes down to how well you can handle adversity. We had done rental RVs and on each trip that we did, the rental broke down. That gave us a sense of the patience is often needed in difficult situations.

[Ottawa]

Two weeks after I bought it, I drove it across Canada, a total of 5,000 miles.

[j2m2]

Originally Posted by bassoneman

Ok.. I am newbie kind of sort of.. We just got the RV and are thinking about our first trip. Do we do a local trip to make sure all systems are go. Or do we take a 1000 mile trip to be christened by fire... What was your first trip. Hey does the drive way count... It has to be a sleep over. And PS I did win money in the mega millions tonight. I got $7.00 closer to my retirement...

We pulled our 5er into a campsite almost next door to the dealer when we bought it. We had it not quite a month when we hauled it 2 hours away. Then we waited almost another month & hauled HOWie from Manitoba to Vancouver Island where we currently live. We decided that we would do small trial runs, that way if something went wrong we were right there to get it fixed. Worked for us. Safe travels, this is a wonderful site with lots of info. Cheerio, Jeannine & Joe

[codgerbill]

My 2 cents.

We took our first trip close to home in order to familiarize ourselves with the coach systems. When we bought the coach we have now we did the same. We did get some surprises and because we were close to home had time to work things out. If you do a shakedown close to home, prior to your first big trip one of the advantages will be that you will have time to ask questions on the forum and get answers without being under a lot of pressure.

[ahicks]

First trip was an overnight stay in the driveway! Second was to a local state park - 5 miles away from the driveway. After that, we've never looked back....

[Pepper2]

We did a couple local (20-30mi.) trips to get the feel of it and learn the basic's. Then took it to a mechanic who also works on MH's. Had everything checked,lubed,greased,filters change,belt's replaced and headed to Dothan AL. Cost about $400+, but worth the piece of mind. Yes I did check most before buying the C. After the first summer we sold to a younger couple and bought an A. Love the view.

[campclan]

We did a shakedown within 30 mins from home. We then did 1200 mile trip.

[Ramblin]

Originally Posted by bassoneman

Ok.. I am newbie kind of sort of.. We just got the RV and are thinking about our first trip. Do we do a local trip to make sure all systems are go. Or do we take a 1000 mile trip to be christened by fire... What was your first trip. Hey does the drive way count... It has to be a sleep over. And PS I did win money in the mega millions tonight. I got $7.00 closer to my retirement...

My first trip was a week long stay in my driveway. I figured I'd try to live in it without going to the house for anything, and this would a) familiarize me with the RV systems and b) highlight anything I needed that I didn't think of initially.

[static]

I like the idea of an overnight stay in the driveway! I'm planning on going to a state park about 10 miles away for our trial.

[bsirby]

We went 10 miles down the road for our first trip. From then on we went wherever we felt like going. Good luck, have fun and drive safe.