First Trip Foibles

[Bill Hill]

Well, we got home last night from our first trip with the new rig, and not without a few hitches. We drove from the Los Angeles area to Prescott AZ, and even though there was plenty of rain along the way, it was an enjoyable trip pulling the 2980. Although it weighs 5K more than our previous rig, it is far more stable and I only lost 1 mpg overall.

We got in to Prescott late in the afternoon and started to un-hitch, only to find that the starboard landing gear wouldn't come down, so we spent the first night there still hitched to the truck. We were lucky enough the next morning to get rides to our appointments and get a rental car so we could be mobile while I figured out what to do. The local Montana dealer wasn't able to help us out much, and our selling dealer in So Cal said that they couldn't help us either as Keystone had closed for the New Year holiday (this is on last Thursday). I finally figured out that I had a hydraulic jack in my tool box and could use it to raise the one side of the rig while I lowered the other landing gear, so at least we got un-hitched.

I don't know how many of you have the new 2980, but be very careful of running the heater and opening the door. The heater vent is right next to the latch that keeps the door open. Our heater came on while I was working on un-hitching and the door was latched open. We realized later that it had scorched (mildly) the door. It wasn't terrible, but it's like getting that first scratch on a new truck!

I have a whole list of other minor fixes to be made that I expected as the result of a first trip, so before we left, I scheduled an appointment with our So Cal dealer to bring the rig in tomorrow.

The GOOD news is that we love this trailer!! After spending the first 5 nights in it, we are so glad we got this make & model. Shari keeps grinning and commenting on how comfortable it is, how beautiful it is, etc. We had jumped back & forth about whether to get the 2955 or the 2980, and this trip confirmed for us that the 2980 was the right choice. I caught the cold that Shari had before we left and it was wonderful to relax in the recliner with an electric blanket over me and watch the Rose Parade on that huge color TV! There was more than enough room in the king size bed for all three of us (ever try to keep your dog out of bed with you?).

So tomorrow we take the rig to the dealer for the repairs and we should have it back in time the next trip in 2 weeks, going to hit Perris CA and Quartzite AZ, then Jalama Beach CA (near Vandenburg AFB) the weekend after that.