We purchased the RV in June 2020, and we picked it up July 13 in London, Kentucky. The boys had never experienced a major purchase like this, and the many hours at the dealership was not an enjoyable experience for them. While we arrived at 9am to do our walkthrough -- it was probably 1pm before we pulled out. Since we purchased the RV over 5 hours away, we did not to drive the whole way home without making sure it worked! So we stayed at the local KOA about 15 minutes away.

1st & 2nd Night:

We stayed at the KOA in Corbin, KY. We booked a pull-thru, full hook-up site. We wanted to make sure that we could test all the different features of RV knowing we were minutes away from dealership. Brian did return to the dealership the next day to get clarification on the water heater. Due to some extensive research on YouTube and the internet, we had successful stay at the KOA. The boys were able to swim in the pool and enjoy a campfire both nights. Our youngest is definitely the social butterfly, and had no problems making friends with our neighbors.

3rd Night:

We stayed in Sevierville, TN at Sun Outdoors Resort. We booked another pull-thru, full hook-up site. I, Michelle, absolutely love the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area for their local moonshine tasting opportunities. We were able to do some local tastings along with swimming in their lazy river.

4th Night:

We saved the Eastern Continental Divide for the second to last leg of the trip home. Going over the Great Smoky Mountains would definitely be a testament to our truck's capability to handle the RV. That Raptor engine is a beast, and while the tow police will say that we absolutely should have a F-250 at a minimum, my truck does just fine! We stayed in Asheville, NC at Wilson's Riverfront RV Park. After looking at Google Maps and re-directing our approach to avoid an intense U-turn to get into the park, we booked our first back-in, full hook-up site. Brian did great backing in the RV, thanks to many years of towing a band trailer.

Arriving Home:

We arrived safely back home in Greensboro, NC after taking our time bringing the RV home. We had not finalized a parking spot, so we parked it in the neighborhood on a dead end street. Thankfully we had a trip booked to Virginia in a couple of days.

We were so excited with how easy it was to camp with an RV that we immediately booked another trip when we arrived home from our shakedown trip. Summer was quickly coming to an end -- Michelle was starting at a new school and day 1 was fast approaching. We decided to head North in hopes of cooler weather, and towards the mountains for some natural shade. We found a resort with some amenities for the boys, and made the trip. We had booked a premium full hook-up site, and quickly discovered that our definition of premium is not everyone else's. The site was fine, but getting to the site through two ravines while bottoming out the tail end and damaging the drag triangles was not a premium experience. It was a back in site that was extremely unlevel -- so much that our front, passenger stabilizer was not extended. The front end was basically laying on the ground! I was ready to leave, but Brian insisted we stay. We were in the site (with a LOT of help from an experienced RV'er -- who also had difficulty parking his rig!) and we might as well enjoy the family time.

We played mini-golf and explored the local area during our stay. Brian found an Alpaca Farm -- Cobb Hill Alpacas, in Wytheville. He called an scheduled us an appointment to tour the farm. It was a great experience for the boys, and they loved seeing all the different Alpacas! We, also saw a really large pencil, and went to Big Walker Lookout. You can see mountain peaks from 5 different states if you're brave enough to climb the tour! We passed.

This trip is not one that we look back on with fond memories -- as I'm writing this and looking at pictures -- we also ended up in the ER. Jonathan walked into the bunkhouse and tripped on a piece of carpet that I had brought to cut to size for the entrance. He split his elbow just right that I knew he needed something more than a band-aid. Thankfully he didn't need stitches -- rather they glued the wound back together. This happened on the first night, and I was still upset with the whole setup process and having the RV practically laying on the ground!

We decided to get one last trip in before I started my new job (3 schools in 3 years is not something I ever planned on doing, but when an AMAZING principal calls...you take the leap!). We decided to head to the beach for this trip. This was only a weekend trip, so we got a feel for what a weekend trip would be like. We definitely learned that for a weekend jaunt, we don't like to drive more than 3 hours...and this resort was a little over 3 hours. It's really almost 4 in an RV, and it was definitely the most wind we experienced towing. We also decided to bring our dog, Penny, on this trip. For those of you who travel with your pets -- bless you! Traveling with your pet is a lot work, and I find it really limits your freedom to do things. We are not set up with a pet rv monitoring system, so I am constantly worried about Penny. What if the a/c failed and the RV got insanely hot? What if she decided that she would claw herself to freedom from her kennel? To many what if's for my comfort level. So she doesn't travel with us that often.

Our last summer trip was to Falls Lake Recreation Area in Wake Forest, NC. Brian and I took a couple of weekends between our last trip and Labor Day weekend to visit campgrounds within a 2 hour radius, and we really liked Falls Lake. We decided to spend our long weekend close to home (less than 2 hours!). Since I was teaching remotely and not required to report to campus -- we decided to increase the three-day weekend to a four-day weekend for the boys and I.

This was also a BIG trip for me, as I was finally ready to try my hand at towing The Beast. We were parked in the neighborhood (not its regular spot), and I knew what rest stop I was headed towards. The truck is my daily driver, and I was determined to learn to tow this gigantic RV. It actually wasn't that bad -- feeling the little bit of sway for the first time was interesting, but after that I was ok.

We didn't really use the trail system in this particular park, but the boys definitely rode their bikes and we did walk the campground. We will definitely be back, so we didn't feel pressured to explore everything the campground had to offer. We actually made a couple of trips to the Wake Forest Target (absolutely massive) to get some finishing items for the RV.