Newbie in need... of so many things!

[Richter]

A year full-timing in a pop-up would beat a month living in Portland, these days. After 43 years there, I know that “It’s a nice place to be FROM!”

Good luck, and enjoy the new adventure.

[JCZhome]

A year full-timing in a pop-up would beat a month living in Portland, these days. After 43 years there, I know that “It’s a nice place to be FROM!”

Good luck, and enjoy the new adventure.

Apparently Texan's feel the same way......"a nice place to be from". We've been in Colorado since April and there's as many vehicles with Texas plates as there are with Colorado plates. Can't say as I blame them though......we spent several months exploring Texas and there's not a damn thing of interest there..

[Bradnailer]

Apparently Texan's feel the same way......"a nice place to be from". We've been in Colorado since April and there's as many vehicles with Texas plates as there are with Colorado plates. Can't say as I blame them though......we spent several months exploring Texas and there's not a damn thing of interest there..

Welp, that's not a very nice thing to say. I've found Texas most interesting.

[D2Reid]

Besides family I have enjoyed exploring Texas, it's a very diverse state with lots of interesting natural phenomena. But I do tend to avoid Texas in July and August.

[JCZhome]

Welp, that's not a very nice thing to say. I've found Texas most interesting.

Not a judgement, just an observation. Kind of like some people love the desert while others love the mountains. I'm with all those Texans that are in Colorado....I love the mountains.

[Bruce1sp]

Welcome to RVing. One bit of advice.. ALWAYS shut off your water hydrant or water pump when you leave your camper.
A leaking water fitting. ( they never leak. LOL. ). Or a toilet that did not completely shut off will leave a mess.
Have fun. !!

[SF-SGM]

Welcome to the life, we where were you are 8 years ago, haven't looked back once. There is no such thing as a question to small, I learned early in life that if I had a question then there are probably 10 other people that have the same question, so if I ask the question, then all of us get smarter.

Some things to know.

In moving out of the house you HAVE to get real about stuff. If you haven't used it in a year you don't need it. Ask the kids if they want the junk you have been saving for them, don't get your feelings hurt if they say no thank you. Mostly we save stuff because it has such great sentimental value to us. It's hard to let go of that stuff.

You will need basic tools to make minor rv repairs. Being a homeowner you probably have a whole bunch of them, get back to basics. Get Fredericks #2 bit screwdrivers and drill bits.

If offered a longer power cord get it. Plan on getting at least a 25' sewer hose, I use that as a main an have a 10' extension that will get used about 3 times a year. Get a 30' water hose, or keep the 25' one that comes with the rv and get a second 50' water hose. Get a gray or black 25' hose to use exclusively on the blank tank wash. (Not really necessary but I have minor germaphobea).

Get chocks for the wheels for parking. I carry about 8 4x4 one foot long pressure treated blocks. The fancy plastic ones they sell work good also.

Get a twist on wast valve for the sewer exit port.

Practice parking in a big empty lot, remember that when it starts to turn to far you need to pull forward a foot or two to correct. Study up on tail swing, good u tube videos available, but it can be fun to set up cones/sticks/rocks and study the effects of turning.

Schedule a warranty repair appointment with the RV dealer for a month or two after you pick it up. They will ask what needs to be fixed, you will tell them your not sure but you will keep in touch as things are found, if nothing is found you will cancel the appointment well in advance so they don't lose shop time. Then as you do find things, call the service manager and let him know, they can pre-order parts and have what they need when you come back. This can be really successful if there is good communication. It can totally fail if the service manager is non-cooperative.

Be sure you have more than one credit card company. And it doesn't hurt to have two different banks. New anti-terrorist policies at financial institutes may pose a problem for opening new accounts when you don't have a fixed address.

Sign up for the Goodsam/Pilot gas card. Take a look at Passport America, we finally just bought the lifetime membership.

TPMS - Tire Pressure Monitor System. This is one of my pet projects. I had bad tire and axle problems when I first started out in my SOB (some other brand). These devices allow you to monitor you tire pressure on your 5th wheel while driving down the road. IMHO (in my humble opinion) this is very important.

TV - dual meaning, good ole television, or tow vehicle.

DW, DH - Depending on the context it can mean darling wife, darling husband, or damn wife damn husband. In most parking stories it's usually the latter.

EMS - Electonic Monitor System, can be external or internal, Look at buying one for the power post, brown outs and power surges damage our RV's.

Speaking of parking. You will be challenged. Try never to park at night until you are really comfortable with it. You may have to seek out marriage counseling to work out the particulars of who does what and why. I neglected to do this, so as the years have passed DW has only one responsibility while I park the 5th wheel, yell stop at the top of her lungs should she see me 2' feet away from hitting something. Why 2'? She doesn't want to embarrass herself so she hesitates, then it takes me a second to react. We tried 6" and 1', but I crunched some stuff before I got stopped, then she would ask me why I hit it... That's just us having fun being married, but the point is that parking can be a point of stress, take it slow and easy, communicate as best you can. Never feel bad about holding up traffic while you park, it's part of what we do.

Figure out early how you are going to manage all the pictures you take. After trying several services and blog thingy's I finally just set up sub-directories on my hard drive by year, month, and then put a date and descriptor of the location in sub-folders that hold the pictures. I then back those up to external hard drives, one I leave with the kids and rotate them out as we visit. Those hard drives also have scanned copies of important documents should they be needed.

Now that you have decided on what clothes to bring throw out all the work clothes. (unless you are still working of course)

Now just go have fun.

My wife has a job when I park, too. Take the dog for a walk.

[sgrol60]

Texans own Colorado.

[Travel]

We live in Mississippi just bought a solitude 310gk r getting ready to travel a bit. We love Texas such diverse country beautiful state. Also love real Texans. Maybe because we spend a lot of time there as we have show horses.

[Roll With The Changes]

Back to the original post:

I must say that you have a lot of guts to jump in like this... GOOD FOR YOU!

First thing to know as with any other adventure is that EVERYTHING will go wrong. Your RV will not be delivered on time. When it is delivered, there will be several things wrong with it. When you finally get to unload the Uhaul, move in and get on the road, you'll find that you don't have the right hose fitting or electrical connector or something. It will be dark and raining the first time you set up, etc, etc, etc.

But in the end, when you get past all the preparation and stress about doing it perfect the first time, you will find out what works for you.

Keep preparing, but stop worrying.