We found our 5th wheel on June 2nd, but despite the awesome deal, we waited on buying it. We were confident that we were in love with the 5th wheel and it was within our price range, but we wanted time to think it through before pulling the trigger. We were afraid that our excitement was clouding our judgement so we wanted to do a little more research on the value before we made any agreements. We called Country Campers the following day and bought it over the phone.

It took about 6 weeks for us to pick up it up after purchasing it because it took about 3 weeks to find a truck and then the registration process for both the truck and the RV was a nightmare as a result of COVID. 

Once the registrations were finalized, we set up a time with Country Campers to come pick up our new home. We went to Vermont on July 16th and stayed the night on their lot so that our truck could be there for a 9:00am appointment the following day to install the hitch. This was the first night we slept in the RV. 

The mattress that came in the main bed was HORRIBLE!!!!! It hurt to lay on. I prefer slightly soft/firm mattresses and Ryan prefers firm, but this was even too firm for him. Luckily, the 5th wheel we bought has a second room with bunkbeds with the bottom bunk being a full-sized bed. We took the mattress off that bed and put it over the horrible queen mattress. It was a little smaller, but we made it work. Buying a new mattress was definitely our first priority.

A couple of days later, we found a great mattress on the RV Mattress website from Brooklyn Bedding for a great cost. We bought the Brooklyn Bedding Wanderlust and it is AMAZING! Ryan likes to joke around saying we need to buy a new mattress because this one is too comfortable and he doesn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. It was definitely a great purchase.

We stayed one night at Country Campers to get the hitch installed. Once everything was all set we headed back to Chelmsford, MA. This was my first time towing a camper. I was so nervous! I watched videos online to get an understanding of what to expect and how to turn and back up, but it’s too difficult to learn it that way. The best way is to just practice. The scary part is that I had to practice in traffic with other cars around because that’s the only way we could get the camper anywhere.

We planned to have the hitch installed first thing in the morning so that we could take the camper directly to a large parking lot. We wanted to practice and get a better feel for towing prior to getting on the interstate. We planned to take the camper over to the Price Chopper and Staples parking lot 10 minutes away because we were told that parking lot was usually fairly empty.

The problem we ran into was that we didn’t know the area and the GPS took us to the location we wanted, but we turned into the wrong driveway and there was very little room to turn around. Making a U-turn was not an option so we had to learn on the spot how to back this rig up in a tight space. 

To make matters worse, the electrical wiring they gave us at Country Campers was too short so when we made the turn into the parking lot, it disconnected from the truck. The camper was still safely hitched to the truck, but the lights on the camper wouldn’t work so no one would know when we are breaking or turning.

We had to call Country Campers and have them send someone out to us to give us an extension cord. Luckily, we weren’t too far away. While we waited for them to meet up with us. We tried maneuvering the 5th wheel so we could turn around. It was not going well!!!

I was driving while Ryan was outside trying to direct me, but neither of us had a good idea on which way to turn the truck to get the camper to move in the direction we wanted. We would turn it the way we thought we were supposed to based on the videos we watched, but it just wouldn’t do what we wanted!

In the back of the parking lot, there was a fence that was closed off. Someone who worked there saw that we were clearly stuck and struggling so he came out and opened the gate for us. This allowed us to just pull straight through into the Staples parking lot. At that moment, he was a Godsend!! 

After we got through that little parking lot and made our way to the larger area, Country Campers met up with us and fixed the wiring issue. Then we started practicing turns and backing up in the parking lot. We didn’t like that lot though because people kept driving in our way despite the fact that we were so far removed from everyone! It’s like they just enjoyed getting in our way.

So we drove over to the Kohls parking lot nearby, which had more space and a lot less annoying people. We spent at least an hour there, maybe longer, practicing backing into pretend spaces. As we were practicing, we clearly showed off our beginner skills. There was a group of girls in an SUV sitting in the parking lot, watching us practice. They sat there for like 20 minutes, just laughing at us! At least we gave them a good laugh, I guess…

Eventually, we started to get the hang of it. We just had to be more patient with each other and with the overall process. We were expecting the camper to turn instantly when we started backing up, but it needs a couple of feet of movement before it does what we tell it to. It takes a lot of practice to get used to it. We spent the first bit of time arguing over which way to turn the truck to get the camper to move in the direction we wanted. Saying things like “turn the truck this way so the camper goes that way!” “it’s not going that way so I have to try the other way!” “try this way anyway!” “I want to try it my way!” We finally figured out how to go about it and to listen to each other. We also decided that we should never park the camper while either one of us is hangry! That’s a big mistake!!!

It turns out that Ryan has a great understanding of how to direct me while I have a much better feel for the maneuvering of the truck and camper. When we switched roles, Ryan struggled a little more with the maneuvering while I struggled with directing him. We both want to have a good understanding of both roles in case he needs to drive, but all in all I think it’s good that I am more comfortable with the driving and he’s excellent at directing since these will be the most common roles we each take during our trip.

We will continue practicing and learning, but this has been a very interesting start to this new lifestyle.