Our First Trip

Every trip is an adventure and never perfect. Don't let the little things discourage you.

Taking that step...

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. -Lao Tzu

We have been researching ways to just get out there and begin an adventure. For about 5 years, we have dreamed about 'that perfect RV'. Finally, on Friday, March 25, 2022 - we picked up our 2022 Cherokee Alpha Wolf 26DBH-L by Forest River. A 31' travel trailer with queen bed, bunks, u-shaped dinette, small jack-knife sofa and a feature we liked, 2 entry doors. One of the must have items was the electric fireplace. We will do a complete review on the camper later.

Gearing up...

We started planning our first trip by first locating a campground not too far from home. We had 13 days to get all the gear and prepare to make the trip. I started the process by raiding the garage, kitchen and linen cabinets in our home. Finding dishes, pots, pans, silverware, cups, sheets, blankets, storage containers, medicine cabinet, first aid items and of course camping gear. Kentucky weather is very unpredictable until about May so we had to be prepared for cold, thus heavy duty blankets found a permanent home inside the camper. Thankfully, we also had both propane tanks full with our purchase. We made trips to several of the local camper dealers to obtain those essentials, that really should come with every new camper, like; sewer hoses, toilet paper, water filters, surge protectors, wheel chocks and levelers. We worked hard to make sure we didn't pick things that we didn't really need while also trying to be prepared. That is a difficult thing to do when you haven't camped in years.

Trip day...

The day of the trip, April 7, 2022, we had planned and loaded everything up until and on that day. It was only about a 45 minute trip but we were going through some traffic at dinner time towing for the first time. I followed because I had the 3 Huskies with me. We utilized radios to communicate when needed. I called the campground about a half hour out, while sitting in traffic, and made sure of check-in process. Arriving before 8, they would escort us to our site, or after 8 we would have to fly solo. We arrived at 7:50pm, checked in and got our escort to our site. I will do a complete review of the campground in another post.

Overall...

Saving the campground details for the official review post, overall, we had a successful maiden voyage. The weather, true to Kentucky, was cold and rainy. There was a freeze warning so we had to disconnect from shore water for one night. We got a very slight dusting of snow that next morning. Being close to home base permitted our daughter to drop in an visit, which was nice. We are not really social butterflies, so being held up inside our new camper because of the weather wasn't so bad. We truly relaxed. We hadn't installed a TV in the unit, not sure if we will, so we spent time doing some computer work, taking naps and researching for our next adventure. As a whole, the trip was successful.

Lessons...

We needed more leveling blocks, level indicators, a longer shower nozzle hose, better shower curtain (factory plastic liner is useless) and some sort of gauge for our propane tanks. We only emptied one tank and fortunately, there was onsite refill available. The electric fireplace was a great feature but to get the temp correct, we had to balance using the fireplace and the propane. We also noticed that our grey tank level was oddly full fast, even though we weren't using much....we figure it was because we weren't perfectly level. Thankful for full hookup as we were able to empty and fill tanks respectively. We had no chairs to sit outside, but the weather didn't permit it so they weren't missed this trip. As we were warned, the mattress was horrific! Again, will be in a follow up review.

The trip only reassured us that we could do this RV thing -- so we have another trip planned. Longer and further away.