Passing this along to my boyfriend. He has an old friend who had ordered a $100K+ RV and basically cancelled it once he really started thinking about whether or not he really wanted to hang out in RV parks that much! Curious to know what your experiences have been when you actually get on the road. What a nightmare!
There are campgrounds that have been wonderful, some were magical, some were crowded, some we left early or were scheduled to return to and didn’t.
We’re not types to hang around in campgrounds, though some days we have to (we’re traveling with 4 cats and they need “supervised” outdoor playtime). We determine a destination or a theme and have reasons to leave the camp ground. A lot of folks tow cars (toads) to tour, we did that math and found renting a car is the way to go. We’ll spend the first day exploring the campground that’s it. The people you can meet are interesting but the quirky destinations we set out for are the fun.
Great info, thanks! How do you manage 4 cats? Are they on leashes? I have 4 (all seniors now, youngest is 9) and at least with one of them, it’s a 3-person chore to get him (Batman) into a cat carrier for a trip to the vet! 🤣🤦🏼♀️
My next post will detail how we deal with the cats. 3 of them are leash trained, one would rather stay inside and look out the window. We have a range, very young to senior. We spent a great deal of time getting them used to the camper. That first trip just around our town (we’re pretty rural) was really something. Four cactuses, never experienced so many claws. Now they sleep while we’re traveling, and we’ve introduced special things (new toys, more treats) that only happen while camping. It’s been a fun learning experience with them.
Well, I like new stuff, but it is a pitty that they cut the quality.
I am really sorry you had to go through this. Hubbs and I are not RV owners. We just have bad luck with stuff made these days, Lots of plastic parts used now. Nothing is heavy duty.
That said, I hope you get your RV up to par with the 100% support from the company.
There are a lot of RV people out there, it is all about livin' and learnin'
I love this quote: “I think in my first year of ownership, I rebuilt the entire camper (so it seems). But when I got done, I had a really good camper!”.
Just about everything these days is build shabby and flimsy. Think of one thing that is built above par? This is why we oldsters keep our old stuff hahahaha
We’re lucky we have the skills and experience to do almost everything ourselves so far. Hubby is a master carpenter, retired, and I was a mechanical engineer, retired. Then we were farmers (also retired) where we learned a whole lot of ”necessity is the mother of invention”.
In the RV world, the quality went to absolute rubbish in 2020 when demand went through the roof. The stories are legion of the craziest things breaking. To add to the problem, everything is designed to be light...but look nice... but that means the quality is super sketch. I feel like we are always mere minutes from catastrophe with our travel trailer.
It sure does seem like the manufacturers have a knack for putting “Adventure” into camping trips. We just have an A-liner, and have had a string of issues as well. We even locked ourselves out on one of our first trips. We were lucky there was a storage area in the front which was accessible under a bench seat when inside, and thru an 16” square opening when outside. Mrs. Bag was barely able to fit in the opening and force her way up thru the bench. Now we keep a spare key in a magnetic case on the underside of the trailer. Like you say, we laugh about it now - but it sure wasn’t funny then. In spite of all the issues, we still enjoy our trips as they allow us the chance to see parts of the country we wouldn’t see otherwise. So I guess it’s one of those good with the bad deals.
Welcome back! Sorry about all the issues!
It starting being fun recently!
Passing this along to my boyfriend. He has an old friend who had ordered a $100K+ RV and basically cancelled it once he really started thinking about whether or not he really wanted to hang out in RV parks that much! Curious to know what your experiences have been when you actually get on the road. What a nightmare!
There are campgrounds that have been wonderful, some were magical, some were crowded, some we left early or were scheduled to return to and didn’t.
We’re not types to hang around in campgrounds, though some days we have to (we’re traveling with 4 cats and they need “supervised” outdoor playtime). We determine a destination or a theme and have reasons to leave the camp ground. A lot of folks tow cars (toads) to tour, we did that math and found renting a car is the way to go. We’ll spend the first day exploring the campground that’s it. The people you can meet are interesting but the quirky destinations we set out for are the fun.
RV parks are not the only place to stay, we like State parks, Corp of Engineer (COE) parks. We want to check out places listed here: https://www.boondockerswelcome.com/ and https://www.harvesthosts.com/ for some unique stays.
Great info, thanks! How do you manage 4 cats? Are they on leashes? I have 4 (all seniors now, youngest is 9) and at least with one of them, it’s a 3-person chore to get him (Batman) into a cat carrier for a trip to the vet! 🤣🤦🏼♀️
My next post will detail how we deal with the cats. 3 of them are leash trained, one would rather stay inside and look out the window. We have a range, very young to senior. We spent a great deal of time getting them used to the camper. That first trip just around our town (we’re pretty rural) was really something. Four cactuses, never experienced so many claws. Now they sleep while we’re traveling, and we’ve introduced special things (new toys, more treats) that only happen while camping. It’s been a fun learning experience with them.
Well, I like new stuff, but it is a pitty that they cut the quality.
I am really sorry you had to go through this. Hubbs and I are not RV owners. We just have bad luck with stuff made these days, Lots of plastic parts used now. Nothing is heavy duty.
That said, I hope you get your RV up to par with the 100% support from the company.
There are a lot of RV people out there, it is all about livin' and learnin'
I love this quote: “I think in my first year of ownership, I rebuilt the entire camper (so it seems). But when I got done, I had a really good camper!”.
Just about everything these days is build shabby and flimsy. Think of one thing that is built above par? This is why we oldsters keep our old stuff hahahaha
We’re lucky we have the skills and experience to do almost everything ourselves so far. Hubby is a master carpenter, retired, and I was a mechanical engineer, retired. Then we were farmers (also retired) where we learned a whole lot of ”necessity is the mother of invention”.
yes indeed. I am sure the community will appreciate your knowledge and skills in the good times ahead
In the RV world, the quality went to absolute rubbish in 2020 when demand went through the roof. The stories are legion of the craziest things breaking. To add to the problem, everything is designed to be light...but look nice... but that means the quality is super sketch. I feel like we are always mere minutes from catastrophe with our travel trailer.
It sure does seem like the manufacturers have a knack for putting “Adventure” into camping trips. We just have an A-liner, and have had a string of issues as well. We even locked ourselves out on one of our first trips. We were lucky there was a storage area in the front which was accessible under a bench seat when inside, and thru an 16” square opening when outside. Mrs. Bag was barely able to fit in the opening and force her way up thru the bench. Now we keep a spare key in a magnetic case on the underside of the trailer. Like you say, we laugh about it now - but it sure wasn’t funny then. In spite of all the issues, we still enjoy our trips as they allow us the chance to see parts of the country we wouldn’t see otherwise. So I guess it’s one of those good with the bad deals.