How We got started

Once we decided we were going to go ahead and buy an RV we had so many decisions to make.  

Do we buy new or used?

Tow behind, 5th Wheel, or Class C?

How big of a rig do we want or need?

What type of tow vehicle do we need?

Where will we put the RV when not being used?

Do we get a seasonal site?

So many questions to research and talk over with friends that have RV's.  I had experience in  my younger years with a Tent Trailer and we have rented a Class C for a long weekend in the past.  In all of our discussions and research we found people that are in love with their rigs, no matter what type they have.  Their are good reasons to purchase any particular type of rig and just as many not to purchase that type. 

After weeks of research, going to a local RV show and dealerships we decided on a 5th wheel.  We knew our budget, found a secure storage facility as we don't have space on our lot.  We had our check list of needs and wants. If the rig had our needs met, and hopefully some of the wants, we sat down at the table or couch to take it all in for a while. After a few minutes we'd ask ourselves, Can we live in this for more than a month?  If not, we moved on.  

We landed on a 2020, 39 Foot Keystone Cougar and we are still pleased with our choice. In discussing specifics of our RV experience in future posts we are talking about our current rig.  We don't rate what we don't know first hand, so keep that in mind as you read our pages.  

As mentioned before we purchased new Keystone Cougar, 39 foot with 4 Slides.  As you can see in the picture, we also purchased a Ford 350, diesel, as our tow vehicle.  We signed the papers in January of 2020. 

We live in Minnesota, it was the dead of winter,  we named it Casa Roll, and would drive by and visit it at the storage facility. We had no intention of traveling cross country to a warmer climate on our first run.  We also had no clue as to where we could stay as most of the country was closed down due to Covid 19.  In February and March 2020 I was having some serious panic that we had a lot of money invested in something that we would not be able to use.  We were looking for places that would take reservations for that coming summer and most were not, unless you were in transit from one area of the country to another for work or school. It made for along winter of wondering what Covid and the future had in store for us. 

So, now we own a nice, new, frozen 5th wheel RV.  Living in Minnesota limits your time using an RV unless you snowbird it, which we plan to do in 2022. 

In 2020 we started shopping.  We knew we would have expenses related to getting the rig ready for our first trip and had planned accordingly.  We spent the winter months buying all of the accessories you need to camp.  Water hoses, sewer hoses, surge protector, ground blocks, to name a few of the outside things.  We wanted to minimize the amount of stuff we had to transfer to the camper from the house when taking a trip so we bought dishes, silverware, linens, games and so on.  We filled the spare bedroom with gear for the camper, anxiously waiting for warmer weather so we could start organizing our new RV.  

As you know or will find out when you buy your first RV you get manuals, lots of manuals.  I like them, they are a great resource on how things are supposed to work, some have trouble shooting tips.  I went over them as the snow flew, found You Tube video's on the stuff I still wanted to know more on.  I felt I hadn't gotten a good introduction to the rig by the dealership when we bought it.  On the day we signed the papers we set up a meeting to go over the entire rig with the dealership.  The guy they had give us the walk through we adequate in showing us how things worked, he wasn't good with the maintenance and how to handle problems that arose.  The unit has slides, my concern is that we go to leave a park and they don't retract.  While he knew they had  a way to manually retract them, he didn't know how to do that.  He referred me to the manual but that operation isn't listed in the manuals either.  So, with a new set of questions that the dealer couldn't answer we finished off the winter looking for online materials on how to operate our machine.  They really are quite complex now days.  With all of the electronics in the RV systems you really need to learn how to use your equipment and be aware of where to go for assistance.  We keep our manuals in the rig, along with notes we have made along the way on things that aren't clearly in the manuals.  The Internet is a great resource and while its hard to find video's on your exact model, you can usually find the information you need to operate and maintain your equipment. 

We also spent the winter pouring over the calendar, looking for available weekends to go camping and to check out possible seasonal sites for use to use.  We tried making some reservations along the way and found many still not taking reservations due to Covid restrictions.  It was frustrating to say the least.  With all the planning we did we still had a list of things we needed to get after the first trip.  

As they do, winter came to an end.  We set a day to load up the truck with the things we had bought for the RV and were very anxious to hook up for the first time.  Not a camping trip, but loading our gear in, and taking it for a drive.  I have driven vehicles with trailers since a teen working on my uncles farm.  I have driven school buses and coach busses. As I mentioned we owned a tent trailer years ago and had a 3 place snowmobile trailer.  I had a friend that had a boat but always invited people to go fishing who could back a trailer so he didn't have to.  

We got it packed up, hooked up to the hitch in the bed or the truck.  Stepped back and looked at it and thought, that thing is huge.  We drove it over to a large parking lot and practiced driving with it.  Checking turn radius and practiced backing.   We realized that for us at least its a two person job.  There are a lot of things to remember to do when hooking up and planning on where to go.  Pat is a great navigator but had to rethink on routes or gas stops as its not something you want to pull in somewhere and realize the only way out is to back out.  

We tested all of the systems while we had it out.  Made a small list of things the dealer had to address.  I was very glad we had spent time going over the manuals and videos over the winter. We felt very comfortable going through the testing of the unit.  

Parking it back at the storage unit was fun. In my years of backing trailers, this was the biggest and it took me some time to get used to the size difference.  Pat was my ground guide, we use the phone system to communicate.  I have seen others use hand signals, portable radios or simply yell at each other.  The phone works well for us as she can yell at me without the whole campground knowing we are struggling to get in into the small site we got stuck with.  

We were finally ready to go camping.  

If you can find a good RV dealership, please email me the name and I will post it.  They are great at making you feel special during the sales process but once the paperwork is done, things get interesting.  

Our issues began when getting the walk through.  He only knew the basics and when asked specific questions he was unable to answer.  He didn't offer to ask someone else, he referred us to the Internet or the manuals.  

We found a couple things wrong with the unit when we gave it the test run.  Nothing critical so we were determined to take our first camping trip where we found a couple more issues.  

I called the dealership and a date was set up to do the work.  They thought it would be two days to get the work done.  They also use the same storage facility that we used so they can go get it when they are ready to do the work and put it back when done.  Well without going into details it took almost three weeks to get what they said would be two days worth of work done.  We had bought our rig from Camping World.  Their CEO, is Marcus Lemonis, and he has his motto all over their store and marketing materials that are provided with the camper which is "If you're not happy I'm not happy" and it provides an email to reach him.   I had to do that and I did get a call from his office and they took the information on what I was dealing with and they did intervene on my behalf.  It still took them 3 more days but they got it fixed.   My relationship with them is still very tenuous.  They lack good customer support.  They don't return phone calls or keep you up to date on when parts are expected, etc.  

I am on several different online groups through social media and the story is the same one and its not just Camping World.  Are there good dealerships out there?  I am sure there are, but the majority of them have similar issues reported about them.  I don't have a solution but do warn you to be prepared to hold them accountable when you have to have work done.