First real trip with the truck and trailer – just a long weekend over in Bloomington to see our older daughter, her husband, and our first Grand Baby!! There’s a few things you hear about on line, and maybe even intuitively know, but you still have to experience them yourself before they become real. We were anxious to get on the road, so we left right after work on a Friday afternoon with a 4 to 5 hour drive – easy as pie normally – but that put us into an unknown parking spot, after dark, with a new trailer! What a triple play. Needless to say, our new rule is never arrive at a park after dark. No one appreciates the late evening interruption, and the potential for damage and injury is exponentially higher. The rule on our trips is find a Wal Mart parking lot somewhere and lay over until the next morning if you get into this situation. It’s better for you as a traveler, too, you will get to bed earlier and the set up the next morning will be much faster and smoother with morning daylight.

One other thing – No matter how closely you watch the dealer demo how to set up the trailer, you don’t know how to do it until you’ve done it yourself at least a half dozen times. Practice it a couple of times before the first trip and save a little angst at the campground. But never fear – there’s always some “old hands” near by who are friendly and able to help, and even pass on a few great tips.