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!