We did it! We got back yesterday afternoon with our new (to us) 2013 X17z, after taking it to camp overnight at a state park that's 45 minutes away. We had a blast! Here are my observations:
-Towing in my 2015 Pathfinder was no trouble at all. After doing far too much research, I'm completely paranoid about weight (not so much towing weight, but payload/cargo weight) and that may be why it wasn't a problem.
-Backing up is tricky, but I'm getting better at it. We used a pull-thru site at the campground, but I still had to back it into our driveway twice, and the entrance to our driveway is tight.
-We did "Camp Driveway" on Friday night, after getting it home. Basically, we set it up in the driveway, invited friends over for beverages, and then broke it down before leaving for the state park. This was invaluable. By the time we got to the park, we were very comfortable with our setup and breakdown procedures. We can do the whole thing in about 30 minutes now, I think.
-Our black water tank monitor may be faulty. When empty, it reads 2/3 full. We've vowed, however, that only liquid waste will be expelled into the toilet (anything else can go in the campground bathroom) so I don't think we're going to run into any troubles, even if we camp for 3-4 nights. I should probably get it to the dealer for a look, though.
-Even when well chocked and with the stabilizers secure, I can still feel some wiggle at night. Our 14-year-old daughter, who is all of 110 pounds, slept in one bunk, while my wife and I slept in the other one (our son was on the dinette). At about 5am, I awoke to the camper jiggling. In my fog, I figured my daughter couldn't possibly be responsible. After laying there feeling the jiggle for a while, I finally sat up to try to figure out what the heck was going on. It was then that I heard from the other side of the camper, "Hi Daddy." My daughter couldn't sleep, and was tossing and turning. I guess that's something to get used to.
-Despite the fact that she's tent camped about a dozen times over the years, my daughter nearly turned murderous in the middle of the night from the noise in the woods. There was apparently a cricket right outside her bunk that was going to town all night. Here's her quote: "I don't like to kill things, and that includes bugs, but I was ready to jump out of the camper and bash that cricket's head in."
-I did really well with my camper supply shopping. I didn't miss anything critical. We have a small list of little things we want, but didn't lack for anything we needed.
In all, it was awesome. Thanks to all of those here who answered my semi-panicked questions during the purchase process. We can't wait to go back out. In fact, I have a feeling there will be many nights when we sit in the camper in the driveway for a drink with friends
Here are a couple of pics:
Loaded up and ready to leave for the campground.
Set up at the campground and ready to relax.
get one of those wands you hook up to a hose and stick down the toilet. Ours was reading 2/3 full. Once we used the wand it cleaned everything out and now reads empty.
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