T- 14 hours and counting!

Fourteen hours until we head off on our first official road trip. Yes, we are only going a couple of hours from home; yes, I've camped before but never in an RV and never (as an adult) without my other half. A couple of days ago, I was ready to call the whole thing off. It had bitten off more than I could chew. This afternoon, a friend came over and just walked me through the set up process. I knew a lot more than I had given myself credit for. It's amazing how having someone knowledgeable walk me through the process and answer my 10 million questions, can change a person's perspective. All of my dread and most of my anxieties are gone. It's going to be a great weekend once I get through this crazy, crazy checklist I've got going on!

Hitting the Open Road

My oldest daughter will be graduating college in 57 days. She tells me the countdown almost daily. My oldest son started college January of this year. A couple of months ago, I was just hit by how fast life was passing us by. I have five "kids". All are very active in completely different activities. As we were looking at the calendar and planning different events, I felt myself getting weepy for days gone by. As I began to look more and more closely at our calendar, I started throwing around the idea of a trip - a cross country trip. At first, I was met with some reluctance. I just felt this was a "now or never" kind of moment. So, I started researching different methods of getting us cross country. We have a traditional minivan that sits 8, not comfortably but there's that many seatbelts. We can barely move when we load down the vehicle for a week at the beach. I could not image 3 weeks and/or 5,000 miles. I started looking into renting RV's. Man, oh man, they are expensive to rent! I started researching 5th wheels. Their price is much more managable and you don't have to worry about a motor. The problem is, we'd still be cramped in our minivan and had limited towing capabilities. So, I turned to my last alternative, that could be craigslist. I found an older motorhome with very low milage, located in Kinston. We contacted the man, decided on a day, drove the hour and a half to take a look. Immediately, I was in love. My dear one was not quite as confident. After more searching and a thousand calls later, we bought the RV. Now that it is sitting in my driveway, I am at a complete loss as to what to do with it. I have watched hours upon hours of YouTube videos. I have read manual after manual (who knew every part of an RV had its own manual?). The kids and I are taking it out for a spin for the first time this weekend. I'd be lying if I said I were not scared silly. Every other page of the the 10,000 owner's manual says !!WARNING!! I called to make our reservation for the weekend. Me: "Hello, I'd like to make a reservation" Man: "Sure, what kind of RV are you driving?" Me: "Umm, do you mean the brand, or the voltage?" Man: "Voltage will work, how long is it" I give him the information, including the fact that this is my first RV experience, ever. Man: "How well do you drive? Can you back up?" Me: "Nope, and I'm a terrible driver" Man: "What time will you be arriving" Me "About 8:00 pm" Man: "So let me get this straight, it's your first time RVing, you cannot back up, are a terrible driver and you are arriving to set up in the DARK?" Me: "Yes sir" Man: "Well, if that's the way you want to do it, you sound like my kind of girl". I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a compliment. I mean, seriously, how hard can it be? Here's to a great weekend!