What did you learn....

[silverlabs]

What did you learn on your first outing with your Airstream? We are prepping for our shake down cruise this weekend and, although we know there will be some surprises, we are trying to prep as much as we can. Any advice is welcome!

[Sbb]

Use plenty of water in toilets.

[SteveSueMac]

Before camping - read the Airstream manual front to back 3 times. Read your tow vehicle manual 3 times. Read the guide for newbies 3 times.

Then...

Have patience. Go slow. GOAL (get out and look). If you're not sure - stop! Laugh. It's camping - much better than a day in the office. If a crowd gathers to watch you back in to your site, don't let it fluster you - stay focused and when you're done, take a bow. Have and use checklists.

[wrancho]

We pick up our 27FB on Monday, June the 2nd. We will report on our discoveries!

[BassCan]

Picking ours up in two weeks. So prowling the forum for information. Consider bringing a set of spare keys.

[cwf]

Depends upon how familiar are you with towing any trailer. But I learned how helpful it is to have a spotter on the ground when I am trying to park.

Usually, Load up your trailer early.. tow it around town...work out the control and braking operation, turning, etc. before you load up family.

Practice parking ... etc..

As for 'learning'... I learn new 'lessons' over and over... and over

Be patient.. remember, you want to be having fun... Stress can cause errors faster than you can imagine.

[weirdstuff]

We learned that we didn't know diddly about anything even remotely related to owning a motorhome.

[wrancho]

SteveSueMac is right ! And if all else fails, open a bottle of wine , drink it and re-access the situation. The world always looks better through the lens of a great Cabernet.

[Nuvite-F]

Originally Posted by silverlabs

What did you learn on your first outing with your Airstream?

We learned that we love Airstreaming!

(That was 11 years ago--and we're still Airstreaming. A lot of miles under the wheels since then.)

[time2play]

Originally Posted by Sbb

Use plenty of water in toilets.

But don't forget to lower the toilet water and lower the lid before you travel, otherwise you'll have water all over the floor.

[21Airstream]

I'm new here too. We picked up our 27FB n Covington, WA. on 5/15/14 but we (unfortunately) haven't had time to use it yet. I'm not new to RVing (I bought my first travel trailer in 1990) but I am new to Airstreaming. I am close to retirement and I (we) can't think of anything else.

BTW, purchasing this Airstream was one of the most positive experiences we've ever had.

[lsbrodsky]

You should use checklists, the ones in the book are a good start. Then make sure you do walk arounds without hurry or distractions. Walk around inside and out after you hitch, before you unhitch, before you hitch again, and after you hitch up to leave the campground. Until this stuff becomes second nature, you will find things you did not do.
Larry

[mandolindave]

It seems like every other driver on the road is going to want to get in front of you, often thwarting your attempt to leave safe stopping distance in front of you. ( one lady kept passing me, but she wanted to drive 10-15 mph under the speed limit. This went on for more than an hour, so I stopped for a long lunch )

[Rich W]

Watch your overhead clearance. You're used to driving your TV and not worrying about tree limbs and such, the AS is much higher. When we brought our AS home there was a small limb stuck in the Zip Dee awning and a few scrapes on the front cap that came out with a little Walbernize wax. We were lucky.

My wife is the ground guide. We tried walkie-talkies but she's technically challenged, so she just yells (make sure a window is open ). Stop and go walk the area you're going to back into so you know about overhead stuff, dips, soft spots, etc. Go slow and listen for glass breaking.

Go slow with everything, especially the road. I run about 60-65 because I get better gas mileage, I'm within the max speed for ST tires (65), the rig handles better and riding in the slow lane lets me enjoy the trip as well as the destination. "I'm retired, I ain't in no hurry no more."

Take all the manuals with you. The PO of our trailer gave us the Airstream tote bag with lots of reading material. It's the perfect time to read about the equipment while you use it. There is a LOT to learn, like the crossover valve on the hot water heater, turning on the furnace / AC, using the stove, holding tanks, toilet, etc. Learn about the WD hitch and its nuances.

Read this forum and you'll learn about stuff even before you knew it existed. I can't tell you how valuable it's been. Everyone on here is extremely helpful with quick responses to your questions. That includes not only the mechanical aspects of Airstreaming but "Life on the road" as well; very important.

Finally, know that things will go wrong, eventually. One of my favorite saying is from Major Sidney Freedman on the old M.A.S.H. TV show. "Sometimes you just have to pull down your pants and slide on the the ice". Take it easy, mull it over, discuss it and then take your best guess on how to overcome it. Remember, it's supposed to be fun, enjoy it.

[aluminitus]

Since we just had our first trip, here are a few things I was very glad to have along:

Walkie Talkies - so you don't have to shout at the driver and wake your neighbors

Leveling blocks (we use lynx levelers) with the interlinking chocks, so we can level out the trailer side to side on a hill

We determined to go slow, and even though we got passed all the time, we stayed at or under our tire's max speed of 55 mph. Don't let people stuck behind you push you to go faster than you are comfortable with.

Oh, and install a brake controller

[aphrodite]

Rich's list is a great one. Particularly the "Go slow with everything…". Newly retired, I still have a tendency to try and get things done ASAP. Slowing down isn't easy--but it does work!

We were new to RVing so one of the best things we did is get some professional driving lessons. I'd trailered a bit before, but my wife had not. The lessons proved invaluable--both from the perspective of "helpful hints and rules" to just getting comfortable backing and maneuvering. My wife now shares the driving--which is GREAT.

We, too, stay between 60 and 65 MPH. If you do the math is doesn't make that much difference from 70 or 75 BUT materially improves performance, safety, and stress levels. We get there when we get there…

Finally….laugh a lot! There will be plenty of opportunities to.

We blog to chronicle our adventures. You can check it our at Aphrodite on the Road.

Happy Streaming!

[wrancho]

We brought our 2014 27FB home this weekend. It was a seven hour drive from the dealership. Trailers like dream.
Upon arrival at home, only found a couple seat cushions had made their way onto the floor (weren't snapped on). Once parked at the house, we found opening the windows was a pain. We could only get the fore and aft windows open. We think the glass is just stuck to the window gaskets. Some gentle prying and ArmorAll on the gaskets should take care of that.
More to follow.....!

[silverlabs]

They told us that the windows would be tight when we picked ours up. We fiddled with it and got them open and were able to leave them open while we worked inside it. Our biggest lesson learned was to remember to raise the jack before we hook the trailer up to the TV. No disaster occurred....but close. Thank goodness he listened when I asked if the back jacks were supposed to have that much stress on them!

[FCloud9]

We just completed our first weekend at a nearby state park & we're happy campers despite few problems.

First, our state online reservation made six weeks prior confirmed our site selection & confirmation stated "yes" pets permitted but when we noted a check-in/ & check/out time discrepancy on our reservation compared to website info few days prior to departure; made a phone inquiry & then coincidentally learned our site was "just outside the pet zone". Despite a few more phone calls up the chain of command, our state "reservation resolution department" did not even follow through with email or call. Change of plans finding a pet sitter at last minute was somewhat stressful as our pup will be 18 yrs. this week & totally blind for approx. last six months.

Second, "anxious moment" during hitching evening prior when marker lights began flashing after connecting Tourareg ....pretty yellow strobe light effect but knew all was not well...started to think might be failure to launch. Did some researching & unplugged & reattached and tested all safety systems and no more flashing.

Next up, despite following checklists for our first launch.... approx. 5 miles from park entrance (only realized this from SIRI) our written directions (yes...this is our first vehicle w. navigation & we have been to this state park dozens of times...35 yrs. ago) ....we either missed a turn & needed to carefully pull over. Pulled out trusted iPhone & SIRI helped us out. Lesson learned...don't leave home w/o a map even if you think you know where you are going....very humbling.

Towing was effortless on both busy highway & many miles over windy, hilly, narrow country roads.
As this was only the second backup for my spouse, I apologized I did not video as he maneuvered like a pro! He was quite pleased with himself upon exiting to our site & realized campers next to us were watching the scene. We were too busy to time the camp set up time ( a practice we'd grown accustom to during our tenting & sailing days) but before you know it...we were enjoying mojitos under our zip-dee awning & breathed a sigh of relief!

It was then while sipping our mojitos we noticed the park post directly across from our site entrance for those campers with dogs & complimentary disposal bags!

Although there were no wooded pet friendly sites left, we had a nice site with added bonus. Our first night, I fell asleep watching two campfires of nearby sites viewed from our FB panoramic window!

We enjoyed great meals during our weekend all prepared in our wonderful kitchen learning to utilize all appliances with success. A good purchase for the kitchen was pretty accent rug which also serve well as a "sit upon" while finishing off the pan seared steaks in the convection oven ( yes ...you need to sit on the floor to see what you're doing but knew this when purchased) and results were excellent.

Next day...intermittent rain but we hiked through the park grounds & noted which sites we would select next time. Unfortunately, we did not have an opportunity to use our kayak but rather enjoyed our campsite relaxing on our last day.

We also learned more about our energy & water consumption so were are prepared for no hook ups when we head North. Only electric at this site & our trip to the dump as we left went so well....not sure why we had such anxiety about pulling a few handles.

We made a few notes to expand our first aid kit, tool kit, a few other items for longer trips planned later this summer. Thanks to all the excellent advice & product reviews here on the forum,we are happy with many accessories & gear we accumulated over the past few weeks for a great first shake down trip!

BTW...we really enjoyed when other campers stopped by to admire the Flying Cloud!
Had to keep pinching myself )

[Rich W]

Yay! Congratulations! You've survived the first of (hopefully) many more, not quite so stressful

Originally Posted by FCloud9

Lesson learned...don't leave home w/o a map even if you think you know where you are going....very humbling.

We just got back from a trip. On the second day our Garmin took us on all back roads, barely 2 lanes wide, rarely any cars. When we were crossing the Interstate for the second time I wised up and ignored it. On the fourth day it took us on one lane gravel roads in a national forest. People were pointing and yelling "you missed your turn", but we hadn't. It finally said we had arrived at the campground as we sat in the middle of the forest, nothing but trees. Kept going and in another mile we came out to the main road and the campground.

Interesting journey but I totally agree with your map assessment. I'm going to look for an Atlas that I used so many years ago and never got me lost.

Originally Posted by FCloud9

l....not sure why we had such anxiety about pulling a few handles.

On our first trip, pulling the handles was OK until I heard that sound of the sewer backing up, you know, like when your gas tank nears the top. I got the black handle closed almost in the nick of time; almost. We had to stow everything and loop around to use one of the other ones. At the gate the guard said "Oh yeah, that one has had problems" I guess they never thought about posting a sign.

Just keep smiling, the sour moments wear off quickly. You'll know your past them when you can look back and laugh

See ya on the road