We Made It

Seffner, Florida

Well yesterday was to be moving day.  By the time we putzed around, had lunch, and stowed everything for travel, a storm was approaching.  We decided to wait until it passed.  The good thing about Florida is the storms pass pretty quickly.

It appears someone doesn’t want us to leave Lazy Days!

The rain never came,  and we got tired of waiting, so we left, although it looked like it would start any minute.  Our  plan was to go about 1/2 mile to the Lazy Days Campground, practice driving, and check the toad and motorhome hitch for the correct height.   We needed to park the truck (toad) behind the motorhome to see if we needed a a different receiver tube for the back of the motor home.  It’s important the tow bar sits level when towing.  The old motor home was higher and we had a receiver with a 7 inch drop.  We knew we would have to change it out, but until we could park the truck behind the motorhome, it was hard to tell exactly what was needed.  We figured what was needed and  and  got it at Camping World.

Unfortunately by the time we drove over to the campground, the rain had started and it rained hard for quite a while.  We parked in the parking lot and kept the generator running until it stopped.  That’s the time you appreciate your generator.  We didn’t want to try to park and hook up during the downpour.

We had initially intended to drive down the interstate a ways to get a good feel for the handling of the coach.  For some reason, the longer we sat at Lazy Days, the more intimidated we had become of the big monster.   The traffic on Interstate 4 is horrible,and  the drivers are nuts.  It’s not the best place to try out your new coach.  Plus the weather hadn’t gotten any better, so we decided just to head over to the campground and drive around there and practice backing into our campsite. 

The next picture is  Squeaky sitting on the dash after we parked.  She doesn’t ride there, she has to go into a cat carrier for safety!  You can see the parking lot looks a bit like a lake.

And for the proof that I drove the motorhome.

We drove around the campground a while, practicing the turns and negotiating the corners.  We did just what Barney told us (rv driving instructor) and waited to turn until the area we needed to miss (the curb) was even with our hips.  It worked perfectly and we made all the turns and curves easily. Of course this campground has wide streets and no traffic.  It’ll be different in the “real” world.  Al was used to driving the 32 foot motorhome and I know he will be fine, but every time we look at this one, we realize how darn big it is and it’s very intimidating. 

Our next step was to back into the campsite.  Barney has a “surefire” 3 step method for backing into a campsite.  He said, backing into a site on the left is much easier.  It really is a good way to back in and Al got in easily.  Of course the road was wide, there were no gawkers and there was no pressure to hurry.  He started backing straight in, but as he started, we realized he was too close to the right side of the campsite, so he just pulled forward and then backed in again.  We didn’t quite get Barneys 3 step plan right, but we got into the campsite straight and easily.  

We have had some trouble figuring out the steps for setting up and breaking camp.  On the old motorhome we didn’t have the air suspension, so that was never an issue.  We just leveled, extended the slides and were done.  On this one, you have to extend slides (with engine off) dump air, and then level.   The manual told you how to do each thing, but it didn’t give you 1,2,3 steps for setting up and leaving camp.  I made us up a cheat sheet and we had to really watch….okay, engine off or on, slides first or levelers?   I guess in time we’ll get it in our heads.  We wanted a coach with automatic air leveling, but unfortunately this one didn’t have that nice feature.  We’re having a bit of trouble leveling this one.  I don’t know if it’s because its so much longer, or because we only have 3 levelers.  We’re getting there though.

One thing that was much easier was our Girard automatic awning.  You push a button and it goes out!  Love that!

Here are a few pictures of our new campsite….for those of you who don’t believe we left the Lazy Days sales lot!

  I know that doesn’t seem like we left Lazy Days, but it feels like it to us.  We found a nice site where we could put out our awning, and of course we have full hook-ups.  We wanted a nice easy place to park and be able to use all the water we want!

BTW…Medium appears to be okay after his accident.  No limping and he’s starting to like us again.