Maiden Voyage to Santa Barbara

[weirdstuff]

Just picked up our Interstate on Saturday, and drove up to Santa Barbara for 3 nights. Had to be there for a business meeting on Monday night. Very exciting, fun, and overwhelming all at once!! We're both still in a state of shock that we actually bought an RV

This is our first RV, and we've never even rented one. Had no freakin' idea what we were doing!!

We "camped" out front of our friend's house across from the beach. First night, couldn't get fridge to work, couldn't get heater to work. Froze my a%# off!! In morning, while I walked the dogs, husband figured out how to get fridge and heater to work.

Bed was spacious, but not that comfy, so that day, we bought two twin sized 3" memory foam pads. The two twins fit perfectly, and roll up and fit behind the seats (EXT version), as opposed to buying one big queen sized pad. Slept great the next two nights!

Our two dogs are a bit confused about the whole thing. They're great travelers though, and pretty much went along with the program. Need to figure out how to make them more comfy. I want to remove one of back seats and make big dog bed area, husband doesn't want to remove a seat.

Had a fun adventure! And learned a ton of stuff!

[Remax gal]

Beautiful! I look forward to seeing more pictures of your travels!!

[weirdstuff]

Thanks, Remaxgirl.

It was an interesting maiden voyage, to say the least. I just gave the super-condensed notes above. But the 4 day, 3 night trip was full of comedy and tragedy...well, not tragedy, but frequent moments of panic!! Alarms going off, anxiety attacks, and "WTF Have We Gone and Done" moments!!!

Now, on to planning the next trip!!!

[Remax gal]

Love your free spirit attitude! Your travels ARE GOING TO BE FUN!! Sounds like they may be interesting, but FUN!!

[subfan1]

Ah.. Ventura Highway....great song. Congratulations on the purchase!

[John&Vicki]

I envy you. I'm stuck in chilly Central Oregon right now, racking lots of leaves. Love SB this time of the year - went to UCSB and worked as a ranger at El Capitan and Refugio.

Poppy

[Globie64]

Yeah, keep posting. I think "WTF, what have we done" is more appropriate for buying something vintage, or buying an RV if you're not into road trips. You'll be fine. This stuff is truly about the journey, in every sense of the word. Take care

[weirdstuff]

Yep, definitely will be a journey!

My biggest concern at this point, is just that we don't do something too stupid that causes a huge problem! I've got all the owners manuals spread out on my dining room table. I started reading them today, starting with the skinniest manual first, and I'm taking notes. I've already learned that, apparently, we were flushing the toilet improperly!!

[Globie64]

I think it's pretty hard to do irreparable damage. Understanding how the systems work helps you figure out how to use them. (I can't think of a good example from my own experience). The amazing stuff of touring will outweigh the "lessons". I would never have imagined myself as the owner of an RV, but we're loving the thing.

[Lara Me]

Before I bought my 2014 28', I played around with a lesser RV. My maiden voyage in the Honda Ecamper started with a night on the same stretch of beach as yours. It was awesome pulling in at sunset, cooling hotdogs and mallows over the grill, and falling asleep to the sound of the surf just a stones' throw away.

One of these days I will make it back there in the Airstream.

[weirdstuff]

Nice, Lara Me!

I love this stretch of California beach too. I used to surf just down the road from there, at Faria Beach. Friends and I nicknamed this surf spot "Winnebagos" due to all the RV's there.