The Five Things We Learned from our First RV Trip

Tips for New RVers

By now, you have likely figured out that we are RV newbies. But, you know, you have to start somewhere. And here we are, right after our first trip in our trailer—Wilhelmina von Kampen. Having cleaned out the trailer, and with a Vesper martini at the ready, the trip is officially over and it’s time to share the five things we learned from our first RV trip.

Tip #1–There is No Time Like the Present to Plan that Next Trip!

Like, literally… if you are thinking of planning an RV trip to, say, a National Park, or an RV park close to a tourist destination, don’t wait until the last minute to book your spot. I was completely shocked (again, #newbie) that when we went to book a stay at the Uwharrie National Forest, it was almost completely sold out for a weekend in March. In fact, we originally had to book two different spots—one for Friday night and one for Saturday night—which would have had us packing up WVK and moving her in the middle of the already short trip. No bueno. Good news, though! Because the weather was less-than-ideal (read: frigid and raining), there were a few cancellations, and the camp host pointed us to a pull-through spot, open both nights of our stay. Rejoice!

But, also to prove the point that you really should think of booking early, David and I toyed with the idea of going to Yellowstone this summer and camping at a place that had electricity… Ha! Not happening… unless someone reading this knows something I don’t about how to book these coveted spots… again, newbie.

Tip #2–Create a Master List—like the Constitution, ours is a ”living, breathing document”

Dave has a saying, ”better to have and not need, than to need and not have.” So, we tend to overpack. But, as this was our first foray into RVing, with our next trip, likely a weeklong trip to Florida (yep, already booked… see tip #1) we wanted to be a little disciplined and us the trip to figure out what we would really need. Ergo, the list! We spent a lot of time brainstorming the things we would need and created a list that we took with us for that inevitable moment when one of us would look at the other and say, ”You know what we forgot?” In our case: aluminum foil.

But seriously, a list makes things more, well, orderly, and allows you to streamline your pack-out, which saves preparation time and maximizes vacation time.

Tip #3–Ounces Lead to Pounds

This one is something I already knew… having schlepped around my share of rucksacks the old adage of ”ounces lead to pounds” is one I hold dear. ”But we can surely take this… it barely ways a few ounces.” Yep, have enough of those special items and you are adding on the pounds. So, think of ways to lighten it up. Discard useless packaging. Make spice blends and place them in baggies/small lightweight containers so that you don’t have to bring every spice jar known to man. Same thing with clothes./towels/plates/bowls, etc… how much of everything to you really need? Think about your space and what you are able to tow. And remember… ounces lead to pounds!

Tip #4–Know Before You Go

Take some time to read up on the location to which you are headed. For example, fun fact—the Arrowhead Campground at the Uwharrie prohibited alcohol. Um, what? Yeah. We didn’t know that until we got there. And considering this blog is entitled, ”have flask, will travel,” well you can see that we weren’t super stoked about this rule.

But seriously, knowing the rules when it comes to dogs, for example, or quiet hours, is important. Maybe you could tell that to the two couples who stayed next to us and were up playing music at 3:30am. It didn’t really bother me, except I was awake for about 45 minutes trying to figure out what song they kept playing, over and over and over again.

Tip #5–Slow is Steady and Steady is Fast

Another of David’s pieces of sage advice… The saying ”slow is steady and steady is fast” is one that we use quite often around here—basically, whenever one of us is rushing around and ends up either breaking something (RIP all but one of my long stem martini glasses) or ends up bleeding. Well, as we hooked up the trailer to drive to the Uwharrie, I was in a bit of a hurry trying to get it all set up and managed to catch my hand in between the sway bar and the sway bar bracket. Yeah. Ouch. Then I had to spend the next 15 minutes with a bag of ice on my hand. WVK-1; Me-0.

But seriously, when setting up and tearing down, there are a lot of little things you can forget and it’s best to be methodical and to slow down. And besides, you’re there to have fun. Don’t be in such a hurry! Oh, and teamwork makes the dream work… work together with whomever you are traveling. It makes everything a lot better.

Happy travels, everyone! We hope to see you out on the open road.

Cheers!