After picking up our Winnebago Micro Minnie 2108TB (we need to name him/her) on November 28, we decided not to wait to use it. Our friends had booked a TX State Park site for December 11-13 about 1 1/2 hours away and we did too, however we wanted to try things out close to home before driving such a long way from home. We wanted to get acclimated with our new hobby, toy, way of life, recreational endeavor. However you want to call it.

So we booked a site, December 5-6, at a local lake that is a 15-20 minute drive (non-towing time) from the house. Just in case we needed to shoot back to the house and get something we forgot or if we just wanted to give up and go home.

We checked into the park at 3:00 Saturday (it was pretty empty), found our site right on the lake, and I proceeded to entertain our RV neighbors with my trailer backing skills. It took me many times of pulling forward, cutting the wheel, pulling forward, etc. until the neighbor came over and directed me better than my wife and I was able to get the thing backed into the site.

We followed all the checklist pulled from YouTube RVers (we watch a lot of YouTube how-to for Noobs videos). We got everything set up – leveled the trailer, chocked the wheels, unhitched the vehicle, plugged into shore power, extracted the slide out dinette, set up the outdoor carpet and lounge chairs, deploy the awning. Whew! Not as bad as setting up a tent site but not a simple back into a site and you’re all set scenario.

Then the good part of the trip started. We took our chairs to the gravel/shell beach on the lake behind our rig, sat down, drank some adult beverages and watched the sun go down. This was why we bought an RV. The peaceful, serene area was only interrupted by the occasional small fishing boat passing by.

We were determined to exercise all the features of the trailer to make sure they worked. We cooked dinner on the burners, we used the microwave/convection oven, we had the fridge working, we watched TV, we listened to the stereo, we used the toilet, I took a shower Sunday morning. We even ran the furnace cause it got down to 40 degrees. We tried everything but the air conditioner and site water hook up and were satisfied.

We learned a few things too, like how the water pump works and it is noisy, how the water heater and furnace don’t work without the propane turned on. We monitored our fresh water tank. I learned to DOUBLE check your black and gray tank valves before removing the cover to connect the sewer hose for dumping (ugh, not good getting that stuff on you). We learned, which was the whole purpose of this one night trip. We feel ready to go out now with confidence, except for the backing into a site part. Ugh. Still getting comfortable with that.

So come this weekend, December 11, we shall see how things go with the long road trip to a State Park.