I am a married, 57-year-old contractor with a 15-year-old daughter. I have been camping most of my life, starting with my parents and two younger brothers when I was a child. We started with a canvas pop-up camper and then a solid-state Apache pop up and eventually, we graduated to a small travel trailer. Later in my life, camping seemed to start up again. This time it was with my girlfriend, who is now my wife. We would strap a tent and some supplies to the back of my Harley and go away for the weekend. After a few years, we got married, and eventually, our daughter was born.

The days of the two of us tent camping on my bike are long gone, and as I moved on in my years, I realized that the need and desire for a soft, dry, and warm place to sleep was necessary to put my old bones into a bed at night, not on an air mattress. I wanted something with heat and air conditioning and with an indoor toilet and a refrigerator. Okay, I guess a few televisions wouldn’t hurt either. We got back into camping as our daughter got older and started with a used RV that was a Hybrid. A Hybrid is a RV that has solid walls and a solid roof. Both of the ends open, the pull-outs are covered in canvas and are usually the size of a full or queen size bed. The Hybrid was not excessively big, but it felt very spacious inside when the ends were open. The Hybrid had a small kitchen and a small bathroom. It also had lots of storage and came equipped with propane-fired heat and electric air conditioner. It was great! I learned a lot about RVing the first season we went out. I also purchased a lot of new gear. It didn’t take long for us to realize, we were hooked on camping.

We loved our tiny RV. After several delightful excursions, we both knew it was time to upgrade to something more significant. We both knew the next RV had to have a shower we could turn around in without hitting the walls, an electric slide-out so we could move around inside more freely, and bunk beds. We were also done with the canvas pull-out ends. After a few months of research, I located our next RV. I drove a little over two hours and picked her up. Remember, my previous RV was 20 feet long. My latest purchase was 30 feet long, and my Grand Cherokee was being tossed all over the highway. I guess 10 feet makes a difference. My Grand Cherokee had no problem with the weight, but the new RV was so big it caught a lot of wind due to its sheer size. It was an awfully long three-hour white-knuckled drive home. We only did one camping trip with the larger RV using the Grand Cherokee. We decided that it was time to get a larger tow vehicle due to our new RV’s sheer length. So, the wife went out and found a great deal on a used Chevy Avalanche, and we traded in our faithful Grand Cherokee for a more substantial, heavier tow vehicle.

A few seasons pass, and now we know camping is here to stay. The 30-foot RV was starting to show signs of wear, and it started looking very tired, inside and out. There I was again, back to the drawing board. This time we ended up purchasing a brand-new RV. We are now on our third recreational vehicle, and each time we upgraded, I emptied all the crap from the old and moved it right into the new. I began to realize all of the things I had purchased at hardware stores, various campgrounds, or online had started to pile up. I had doubles and triples of the same things. They were a little different from each other but performed the same task, and some were better than others. I wish I could have just gotten the right tool for the job the first time. I wanted to put together an easy-to-read manual to help guide the new RV enthusiast to get started on their new journey. I will lay out a simple list of items you will likely purchase as you start your new RV life experience. There are no right or wrongs. These are just suggestions that I wish someone could have let me in on when I started my 10-year buying spree. Do not get me wrong, it’s exciting buying things for your camper, and it should be. Getting it right the first time is best.

Excerpt From
Tb’s Lets go Camping for first time RV’ers