Our Maiden Voyage

Norm807 · 08-10-2011, 07:47 PM

Hello all.. First time Travel Trailer owners...

We so did everything backwards for our maiden voyage.. I will start at the begining..

First, my wife and I always camped in campers growing up and now our kids are 5, 5 and 2.5 and we decided we needed to get them out camping more often. Well, we only have used a tent since we got married and had a planned vacation 5 hours away from home at Okaboji, IA. We had always pondered the idea of getting a camper and have investigated in the past, but never really looked hard.. The weekend be before our trip, we decided to go to the local dealer. Unfortunetly we fell in love with one of their newest models, a 2012 Jayco Jay Feather 29L. We went home thinking it would be nice now that the kids are older and we have to pack more crap that a camper would be nice. Next thing I know, we are switching our tent site to a electric trailer site and scheduling a pick up for Thursday morning. Mind you this is the morning we are leaving to drive 5 hours to start camping.

The drive to the camp site went great. We just didn't get pack very quick, so we didn't get there until 10:30 at night. Needless to say our reserved site had been washed out in the previous rain storm, so I wasn't about to back a brand new trailer into a rutted spot in the middle of the night. Not finding a suitable site that night, we drove to the local Walmart and camped there... yup.. First night of the maiden voyage was in a Walmart parking lot.

The next morning we went back and found a wonderful spot with lots of room and an easy back in approach, so my first site back in was not difficult.

We thought we where settling in for a great weekend, so I ran out that afternoon to get a few things that we forgot(expected when you buy a camper and pack in the same day) when my wife calls and says I need to get back right away because someone is at the site saying they paid for it and we need to leave. The lady had pulled her 5th wheel in front of our camper and proceeded to swear at my wife, fortunetly my kids where inside napping. The classy lady told my wife she should start packing because when the DNR officer gets there he is going to make us leave because we took her tag off the site (we didn't, it was a walk up site with nothing on the pole.) When I got there she told me the same story and asked if I was going to start packing so I was ready to go once the officer got there. I politely told her that I would not pack anything until a Officer told me to. She said swore and stormed off to wait for the officer.. The officer showed up and told her that "HE" pulled her tag because she never paid, he then made her apologize to me, although she wouldn't apologize to my wife, she ask me to pass it on to her since she was in the camper... Classy lady.. the DNR officer escorted her from the CG.

The rest of the weekend went great.. the trailer worked out great and the family loved it. My boys even caught their first fish. My 2.5 year old cried when he saw our house and asked to sleep in the camper...

We are planning another trip in a few weeks and this time will actually plan the trip instead of switching from a tent to a camper and packing in the same day.. .. can't wait.

Terry · 08-10-2011, 09:23 PM

Hey Norm! Welcome to the forum! You really jumped right in lol! Sounds like you had a great time.

I would not worry too much about that lady, in my experience - she is the exception. It occasionally happens that spots get messed up and you have to deal with it - but never seen folks get cussed like that.

Enjoy that new camper!

Norm807 · 08-11-2011, 06:25 AM

Thanks Terry,
Now we are going through what we think we really need for future trips.. So many things. The stay in the walmart parking lot made us realize a generator would be nice, but we are not sure how many camp grounds really don't have an ac hookup.

Denise · 08-11-2011, 11:01 AM

Welcome to the Jayco Owners Forum Norm! Some of our more enjoyable nights camping have been in Camp Driveway and even an overnight at WM while traveling. Your kids are going to enjoy making new memories with you guys! On behalf of all other rv'ers, sorry about the putz you both had to endure on your maiden voyage. You will find that a majority of rv'ers are the friendliest and helpful people you will ever meet! Enjoy your "new" tt!

rvrev2 · 08-16-2011, 03:29 PM

Congrats on the new RV! I'm glad you didn't let the "classy lady" ruin your trip. I've never ran into anything like that in my travels, and I'm glad about that. Your next trip should be a humdinger.

rvrev2 · 08-16-2011, 03:33 PM

By the way, Healthi has a "sticky" called "Things To Do Before First Outing with a New Jayco" in the General Chat forum on this site. Might have a good laugh reading that one, and there might be some things you haven't done yet as well.

**Crabman** · 08-16-2011, 05:05 PM

Congrats and welcome! Sorry to hear about your encounter with that rude lady on your maiden voyage, As tafische said she is the exception, it may never happen again!

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