judatt Report post Posted February 18, 2016 Greetings, everyone. Judy and I just arrived back in Virginia last night after our first trip in our new (to us) motor home. It was a fabulous experience. Thanks to many of you for your excellent advice along the way. We drove about 5,000 miles through 11 states and were gone from December 6 to Feb 16. Really only had one negative experience and that was yesterday - stopped in a park we had a reservation in for last night and paid our $27 and then went to the site and it was not level. Couldn't get our coach to level at all. Tried another spot with the same result. Refused a refund but as the manager says "the world is not flat so deal with it". I think if that is the worst thing we encountered in over 2 months on the road we did pretty well. We just got in the coach and drove the 3 hours to Richmond and parked here in a familiar spot. We are here for 2 weeks and then head to Florida for the Passport America Rally and then a week in Florida and then the FMCA reunion in Perry. Then back to Florida until the end of April. Looking forward to all of those experiences. We have a lot to learn and plan to attend every seminar we can at both of the rally's we are attending. Our first order of business is to buy a toad. I think we have narrowed it down to the following: Honda CRV (2014 or older) Ford Fusion Energi or Hybrid Ford Edge Chevrolet Malibu Chevrolet Equinox We hope to buy in the next couple of days. If anyone has any thoughts we would be glad to receive them. We parked our MH in an RV park where we can plug in and run the furnace. I thought about storage - it was cheaper but couldn't plug in. Temps tomorrow night are supposed to be about 22. A couple of other nights while we are here it will be 28 or so. We are staying in our house for these 2 weeks - have some things we need to do to get it ready to sell to our daughter and her family. I drained the black and gray water and fresh water tanks. I filled it with diesel. I plugged it in to shore power and have the furnace on 60. I put the jacks down. I put the rear slides out and left the front ones in. Friday I have an appointment to have the oil and all the filters (oil, fuel, air) changed. They will also check the generator to see if it needs serviced (we haven't used it at all on our 2 month trip - just ran it every couple of weeks for a few minutes). They are also checking on all the slides just to make sure they are OK. I have one slide up front that goes in and out fine but the lock doesn't come out when we put it in. All 3 of the other slides the lock works fine. The big slide up front sometimes hesitates but always works. Just want to have them checked to make sure everything is ok. Once we buy our car, the same RV repair shop that is doing the maintenance will do all the work to get the car ready to tow. Overall, we are very pleased with our motor home. It drives like a dream and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and look forward to this lifestyle for many years to come. In fact, my wife said a couple of days ago "you know we could just stay in the motor home and go back and forth to the house". I think she likes it :-). Looking forward to seeing many of you at the rally in Perry. Thanks again for all of your help along the way. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted February 18, 2016 Glad you had a good trip. You know me I am a CR-V fan. I now have 36,000 miles on my 2014 and love it. RV park reviews does come in handy. http://www.rvparkreviews.com/ Every once in a while you will find sites that are not level. I have a couple of 2X14X14 boards to help I don't like having the wheels off the ground though. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
manholt Report post Posted February 18, 2016 David. Great to hear from you again and happy you had a great first outing! I'm not opposed to the CRV, just a Jeep Wrangler guy! All depends on your life style. If I can't level by jacks or air...I'm out. I'll find a truck stop or Wall Mart, even in a storm! I stopped using blocks off wood for leveling 30+ years ago, now I use them to block front wheels when parked ! I'll be in Perry, perhaps we'll see you at the Forum get together the 17th at 5pm! Carl Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
judatt Report post Posted February 18, 2016 Glad you had a good trip. You know me I am a CR-V fan. I now have 36,000 miles on my 2014 and love it. RV park reviews does come in handy. http://www.rvparkreviews.com/ Every once in a while you will find sites that are not level. I have a couple of 2X14X14 boards to help I don't like having the wheels off the ground though. Bill Bill, they are prepping our 2014 Honda CR-V EXL right now. Front wheel drive with 28,000 miles on it. Even matches our coach. We have been driving Buick enclaves (2 of them) since 2008 and we decided this vehicle was an enclave "light". Not the same size or all the amenities but we are very pleased with the ride and style. Thanks for the recommendation. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted February 19, 2016 You are welcome. I think the CR-V is about the right size for towing. You will be surprised at how handy it is to have a car available to see all the surrounding sites. What was the most interesting thing on your trip? Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
judatt Report post Posted February 19, 2016 You are welcome. I think the CR-V is about the right size for towing. You will be surprised at how handy it is to have a car available to see all the surrounding sites. What was the most interesting thing on your trip? Bill Probably not what you are thinking of when you ask about "interesting" but it is probably when we had to go to Oklahoma for 3 weeks when my father was in the hospital. He had an infection in his pacemaker after they replaced the battery. They did a 4 hour surgery to take it out and clean up the infection. What is interesting is that they put a new experimental pacemaker back in that doesn't go in the chest wall like his old one but rather looks like a 22 bullet and goes directly into the heart. It works great so far and was much easier on him. We also went to Progresso, Mexico. That was an interesting place. Stayed in several RV parks and some were more "interesting" than others. Look forward to lots of experiences in the years to come. Look forward to meeting you and others on this forum as time goes by. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oneway Report post Posted March 3, 2016 We have a Jeep Wrangler and a CRV set up to tow. Love em both. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
