One Year on the Road Recap

(Wauchula, FL) Hi 81 Lo 51 --  We have been on the road for one year!  What a year it's been.  We lived in our RV in the same spot for about three months after we took delivery.  I've posted about living our first year in the RV, but this one covers our first year on the ROAD.

First of all, we both feel we made the right decision.  There is nothing we'd change.  I'll give my views first and then turn it over to Jim.

We decided to keep my Toyota RAV4 to use for sightseeing and running around when we're in one place. That saves gas and reduces wear on our tow vehicle (GMC diesel dually).  The car was really handy to have when we visited each of our sons' families in the midwest for about six weeks each during the summer, and for the several months we've been here in Florida.  So that decision was a good one.

The first park we traveled to was in Morehead City, NC, to visit Jim's family.  Being very nervous newbies we looked for RV parks that had pull through sites to avoid backing up. Then we made our way down the east coast to Ocala Sun RV Resort in Ocala, FL to attend the RV Driving School.  That was one of the best decisions we made, as we both learned how to back up, how to park in a tight RV site, and how to make turns, make sudden stops, and go through tight roadways with construction.  The two-day instruction also covered general RV maintenance, refrigerator and water heater maintenance, tank management, and tire safety. I'd suggest anyone going on the road for the first time with an RV to take the RV Driving School.  They have instructors in several locations around the country.

When we left Ocala to head back north we stayed a week at Pelicans Roost RV Park at Mayport Naval Base near Jacksonville, FL. We found this to be our favorite RV park so far.  We plan to stay there for a while whenever we travel to and from Florida each year.

From Mayport we made our way back to NC to spend time with my mom and friends, then traveled to our sons' in Illinois, one near St. Louis and one near Chicago.  When we visited my sister in Troy, MO (also near St. Louis), we stayed in her neighbor's yard with no sewer hookup for 2 1/2 weeks, which taught us a lot about black and gray tank management. It was very hot during the summer in the midwest, but our Cameo is so well insulated that we never did have to run both air conditioners.

We went to the Escapees "Escapade" rally in Indiana in September. It was a great rally and we learned more about full time living. You can learn more about the Escapees organization here.  The rally was also a great opportunity to meet up with other RV'ers that I've been online with for the past few years in the RV-Dreams chat room.  We stayed in the Indiana area a month, which allowed me to visit my childhood home town of Warsaw, IN and reconnect with several of my high school friends.

After the rally and our extended stay in Indiana, we started our migration south. The famcamp at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH was a great stop. We got to see the Museum of the United States Air Force, which we both agree is one of the finest museums in the world, and free to boot! They have literally every aircraft that's ever been in the Air Force inventory, and test aircraft and presidential aircraft, in three huge hangars. It's not well publicized, but please check it out if you're an aviation buff and you travel to or through the Dayton area.

Leaving OH, we traveled to PA.  If you like to take factory tours, York, PA is the place to go.  The highlight of our stay there was the National Watch and Clock Museum, in Columbia, PA. We spent several hours there, and it was well worth our time (no pun intended). We also toured the Harley Davidson factory, and the Martin Potato Chip factory.

We spent another couple of weeks in NC to catch up with our family and friends (these will likely be twice-yearly visits from now on). By then it was time to head to Wauchula, Florida for the winter, with another stop at Mayport on the way.  We moved Tumbleweed a couple of times, to have our Norcold refrigerator fixed under a recall notice, and to get some warranty work done at Lazy Days RV near Tampa. Other than that we've been here at Little Charlie Creek RV Park since the first of November.

What I like and don't like:  I like "open" RV parks, with a few trees but no tree limbs that are hanging on the RV. I  like to travel no more than 250 miles in one day. I like the changing views out our back window in the mornings.  I'm still  not fond of the convection microwave oven, but I just have to learn more about it.  I prefer electric cooking, but I finally got used to the gas stove. I love the layout of the RV and have no complaints at all.  I still get nervous when we start to travel, just thinking everything we own is on the back of the truck.

Now I'll turn it over to Jim...

Wow, one year already! Starting out I was so nervous... I had no idea how to back a fifth wheel. My lack of knowledge really showed a month after we took delivery when I took a right turn too tight and the right trailer wheels slipped off into a drain culvert, damaging the lower panel along the right side and destroying our steps. That was a very humbling and ego-busting experience, let me tell you! We were both so down in the dumps, but all our RV'ing friends boosted us back up and restored our confidence. Looking back on it, it now seems like nothing.

Dee gave a good recap of our travels, so I'll talk a little about the reliability and ruggedness of our home, and what I've learned about rig maintenance. First of all, I LOVE our Carriage Cameo. We've had a few issues with it, but based on a lot of research I've done on various internet forums, I haven't had nearly as many issues as a lot of other brands' owners have had. We did have a leak inside our outside utility compartment where the hookups are located. There was some missing caulking around the drain hole that caused any water that dripped from our hose connection to seep into the belly. That caused all our insulation to get saturated over time. It was fixed very well by the dealer where we bought it. In the fall while we were in the Elkhart, Indiana area our refrigerator cooling unit went out. It turns out Carriage didn't install a baffle correctly where the refrigerator heat vents outside, causing the cooling unit to overheat. We had to pay $1,800 to have a Norcold dealer in Elkhart fix it, but Carriage reimbursed us, so all is well. Other than those two things, everything has worked very well. Oh, we had a few very minor things fixed at Lazy Days RV, like reinforcing some sealant on the roof, and repairing a couple of door hinges.  Things that I could do myself, but hey, it's under warranty! Speaking of warranty, Carriage products have a two-year bumper-to-bumper warranty. Most brands have only one year. Something to think about if you're RV shopping.

As far as maintenance, I'm not real handy with tools, but I have learned a few things. I have some checks I do once a month, such as check the water in the battery, go around with a screwdriver and check all the exterior screws (I also do this after every travel day), check the fittings on all hose connections, check the tire pressures, things like that. So far it's paid off. After our few initial issues I think we pretty much have the bugs worked out and now (hopefully) we'll have a pretty trouble-free unit.

What I like and don't like:  Like Dee, I prefer open sites with a good view of the southwest sky, so I can set up my satellite dish. I like sticking to 4-5 hour driving days. I don't like how I still get a little nervous before hitting the road (but I'm getting better). I like getting to a new park and setting up and finding everything in our home exactly the same, except for the view out the window. I don't like seeing the stress that traveling has on our rig. Screws work loose, little pieces and panels fall off, etc. Very minor stuff, but you really gotta keep up with it. I like actually 'living' in our rig. It's very comfortable and has everything we need. (Big houses are very over-rated as far as I'm concerned. And most of all I like... no make that LOVE... my traveling partner. One year of living in close quarters and we're as happy with each other as we've ever been. Folks, it don't get no better than that!  :)

Here's a short recap of what we spent on those things unique to the RV lifestyle:


-  Park fees $7752.54 (27 different parks)

-  Diesel  $2217.61

-  Gas  $1,625.47  

(Jim ran the numbers, and having the extra car we saved $250 in gas expenses. This will vary depending on how much travel is done using both vehicles vs. how much sitting and using only the car.)

-  Propane $382.12 (including a cold winter in Raleigh, NC Jan-Mar)

-  Laundry $146.00 (we don't have a washer/dryer in our rig)


Fuel is going up, but that's not going to stop us. We'll sit longer in places if we to, but we have wheels and we're going to use them. We're looking forward to another wonderful year.have. A big THANK YOU to all our readers for traveling along with us. We hope we can meet each and every one of you someday!

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Today we lost our other neighbor.  Now we're back to sun on the door side and more heat in the evenings. There are several more leaving this week.

29 days and we'll be headed north