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  1. #1
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    Newbie Here & Very Excited

    Thank you for welcoming me to join the fun with this group! My husband and I camped for years as our kids grew up (we have 17 yr old twins and 16 yr old). For the first year we tent camped, and then got a 2006 Outback Sydney Edition TT quad bunkhouse and we enjoyed that while our kids were in Elementary School and starting Middle School. At that point our kids seemed a little less interested in camping so we sold the Outback. After a few years, we realized how much we missed camping. My husband said no way would he tow again (our tow vehicle for the Outback was just "barely" safe and the towing part was always stressful). He had a very specific picture/idea of what he wanted, so in April '20, we got a Fleetwood Jamboree Class C. It was nice, king bed, full body paint but here's the shocker, the kids always wanted to come and bring friends. Sleeping arrangements sucked. We always had to bring a tent and portable a/c so the ones in the tent were too ticked they weren't in the Camper. After much discussion (aka fighting we realized that no matter how much my husband didn't feel like towing again, motorhomes didn't offer us the floorplan options we needed for kids and friends and our new pet required a lot of room (see pic later).

    We decided (aka I won the fight on a 5th wheel. Never had a 5th wheel but I’ve ALWAYS wanted one. Did A LOT of research and RV Consumer Group's buying guides and decided we wanted a GRAND Design!
    We got the truck on Feb. 22 and on Feb 27th we picked up our 2021 Solitude S-Class 3740BH.

    We aren’t new to camping or towing but are new to 5th Wheel towing. The Dealer was awesome (shout out to Beckley's RV in Maryland), very thorough delivery process. Everyone told us that 5th wheel towing is easier than a travel trailer but it's been years and the Solitude is a big one at a hair over 40’ so we were nervous. Well we made the 1hr15min trip home without incident. We got it parked in our spot at our friends place we're storing it and we brought our 30amp generator got the heat fired up and had a blast starting to get it all packed and set up. We even grabbed pizza down the street and had our first family dinner in the camper. Really reminded me why I like camping so much. When we were leaving I realized what a beautiful full moon it was... couldn’t resist the pic 😀.
    We leave tomorrow for our first trip. 3 nights "pre-season" to get the kinks worked out.
    I don't know if it will be in the right format but I'll include stats below And pics... the Truck is actually my daily driver! I'm really loving it.

    Rachel

    2021 Solitude S-Class 3740 BH w/ residential fridge, King Bed and Super Sofa option
    2021 Ford F-350 Lariat Premium Package, Diesel V8 Power Stroke, DRW (and OMG am I glad we got the DRW!)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails My Truck.jpg   PicoRV.jpg   Super Sofa.jpg   FullMoonSolitude.jpg   Allhooked up.jpg  


  2. #2
    Long Hauler geotex1's Avatar
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    Welcome fellow S-Classer! Watch out, we will help alleviate your pockets of cash here...
    Rob & Nikki + Cloverfield
    2020 Grand Design Solitude S-Class 3350RL
    2015 RAM 3500 Longhorn Laramie Crew Cab, Long Bed, 4x4 Dually Cummins/AISIN

    Mountains of Pennsylvania

  3. #3
    Site Sponsor Jerryr's Avatar
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    Rachel,

    Welcome to the forum. It’s nice to have another traveler with a parrot. Out 45 year old Amazon loves to travel with us. Here he is in his traveling cage that we use when we go glamping. We set it up at the back window when camping and he loves to look outside.

    He and our dog are the is the primary reasons we bought our RV, so we could travel and not worry about them.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 803D941E-88D7-4125-905A-18311CE3870E.jpg  
    Jerry & Linda
    Emma & Abby our Mini Golden Doodles & JR our Amazon Parrot
    2017 Reflection 337RLS, Build Date 01/2017, Titan Disk Brakes, Goodyear G614s 235/85/16 G Rated tires
    2022 F-450 King Ranch Ultimate, 4,868 lb Payload, Bedrug Bedliner, Andersen Ultimate II Aluminum 5th wheel hitch
    http://visitedstatesmap.com/image/FLGANCSCsm.jpg

  4. #4
    Site Sponsor
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    Verona, KY
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    Welcome fellow newbie to Grand Design. Awesome truck by the way!
    New: 2021 Solitude 380FL
    Prior: 2016 Alpine 3600RS
    Tow: 2017 F350 Diesel Dually

  5. #5
    Site Sponsor Steven@147's Avatar
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    May 2017
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    Quote Originally Posted by rwatts77 View Post
    Thank you for welcoming me to join the fun with this group! My husband and I camped for years as our kids grew up (we have 17 yr old twins and 16 yr old). For the first year we tent camped, and then got a 2006 Outback Sydney Edition TT quad bunkhouse and we enjoyed that while our kids were in Elementary School and starting Middle School. At that point our kids seemed a little less interested in camping so we sold the Outback. After a few years, we realized how much we missed camping. My husband said no way would he tow again (our tow vehicle for the Outback was just "barely" safe and the towing part was always stressful). He had a very specific picture/idea of what he wanted, so in April '20, we got a Fleetwood Jamboree Class C. It was nice, king bed, full body paint but here's the shocker, the kids always wanted to come and bring friends. Sleeping arrangements sucked. We always had to bring a tent and portable a/c so the ones in the tent were too ticked they weren't in the Camper. After much discussion (aka fighting we realized that no matter how much my husband didn't feel like towing again, motorhomes didn't offer us the floorplan options we needed for kids and friends and our new pet required a lot of room (see pic later).

    We decided (aka I won the fight on a 5th wheel. Never had a 5th wheel but I’ve ALWAYS wanted one. Did A LOT of research and RV Consumer Group's buying guides and decided we wanted a GRAND Design!
    We got the truck on Feb. 22 and on Feb 27th we picked up our 2021 Solitude S-Class 3740BH.

    We aren’t new to camping or towing but are new to 5th Wheel towing. The Dealer was awesome (shout out to Beckley's RV in Maryland), very thorough delivery process. Everyone told us that 5th wheel towing is easier than a travel trailer but it's been years and the Solitude is a big one at a hair over 40’ so we were nervous. Well we made the 1hr15min trip home without incident. We got it parked in our spot at our friends place we're storing it and we brought our 30amp generator got the heat fired up and had a blast starting to get it all packed and set up. We even grabbed pizza down the street and had our first family dinner in the camper. Really reminded me why I like camping so much. When we were leaving I realized what a beautiful full moon it was... couldn’t resist the pic ��.
    We leave tomorrow for our first trip. 3 nights "pre-season" to get the kinks worked out.
    I don't know if it will be in the right format but I'll include stats below And pics... the Truck is actually my daily driver! I'm really loving it.

    Rachel

    2021 Solitude S-Class 3740 BH w/ residential fridge, King Bed and Super Sofa option
    2021 Ford F-350 Lariat Premium Package, Diesel V8 Power Stroke, DRW (and OMG am I glad we got the DRW!)
    Hey Rachel, Welcome to another S-Class, we love ours. Absolutely the right truck for the job! My wife drove our dually to work at her hospital for awhile before she retired. Your hubby will find towing your rig a breeze, accept maybe turning and backing that big thing! It will not be anything like your old travel trailer.
    Steve & Tami Cass - Escapee's, FMCA Members, Texas Fulltimers Since July 2020
    2019 Solitude 3350RL S-Class, 2018 Ram 3500 DRW, Laramie Longhorn, B&W Companion, Texas Class A Non-CDL Drivers License
    Sharing the Fulltime Lifestyle - www.youtube.com/@tsrvadventures3219/videos, Nonprofit Channel

  6. #6
    New Member
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    Steven,

    Funny you said your wife drive your dually to work at a hospital. I work at a hospital too. I park in the top level in the very back and comfortably take up two spots, front to back. Obviously I will have to park at the back of any parking lot. I’m hoping to lose a few pounds. Lol. And yes, practicing so far has made us realize how different backing up is. But the towing is a dream!
    Thanks for the Welcome!
    Rachel

  7. #7
    Site Sponsor Steven@147's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rwatts77 View Post
    Steven,

    Funny you said your wife drive your dually to work at a hospital. I work at a hospital too. I park in the top level in the very back and comfortably take up two spots, front to back. Obviously I will have to park at the back of any parking lot. I’m hoping to lose a few pounds. Lol. And yes, practicing so far has made us realize how different backing up is. But the towing is a dream!
    Thanks for the Welcome!
    Rachel
    No problem Rachel, she could sympathize with you. Our DRW was to high to go through the parking garage so she had to park it near where the ambulances park when not in use on the lower garage floor. She drove our truck into downtown Austin on 32nd street everyday. She retired last October after 30 years in the health care industry in Central Service, Instrument Sterilization and Processing. She doesn't miss it! The wife drives our rig also but I take over going through big cities or backing / parking on a site.
    Good Luck to you and make some memories!
    Steve & Tami Cass - Escapee's, FMCA Members, Texas Fulltimers Since July 2020
    2019 Solitude 3350RL S-Class, 2018 Ram 3500 DRW, Laramie Longhorn, B&W Companion, Texas Class A Non-CDL Drivers License
    Sharing the Fulltime Lifestyle - www.youtube.com/@tsrvadventures3219/videos, Nonprofit Channel

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