OMG We Bought a Camper -- Is It REALLY a Second House?

We bought a Jayco Jayflight SLX 183RB -- whatever all of that means. I must admit -- Amy and I know almost nothing about the RV/Camper/Travel Trailer lifestyle. Prior to taking the plunge, the extent of our knowledge of RV/Campers and the like were limited to seeing "Cousin Eddie" while watching re-runs of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Little did we know that the stereotype is seemingly accurate in one sense, and completely off the mark in another. I suppose somewhere down the middle is where the truth typically resides.

We called a local RV sales company and set a 2pm appointment and then drove down to Camping World about an hour south of us. Silly us -- we thought we would go to look at a couple of models, drive back to Madison in time for our 2pm at Gander RV, and then call it a day. Little did I realize that we'd be driving a new RV by the end of the day.

Overall, the experience was EXHAUSTING. We toured a couple of models within our price range which was not exactly within our price range. I felt like we were at a used car lot, at times. But there are three distinct phases to the experience go purchasing a travel trailer from Camping World: 1) the car sales/real estate agent-type of ordeal; 2) the financial headache of the credit review, meeting with the finance people, and signing the paperwork; 3) the service walkthrough, where a service person shows you all you need to know about how to setup and maintain your new RV; 4) the retail sales walkthrough, where one lucky retail sales person has the pleasure of literally walking you through EVERY ISLE in the store and telling you what you need to buy in order to be a happy camper with your first-ever RV!

I think it's a racket, of sorts. I'll write more about each of those experiences in greater detail later.

By the time we arrived home, we were ready for bed. Of course, the camper had to be backed into the driveway. Neither of us had ever driven with a camper, trailer, boat, or any other item needing towed. So, to say we had no idea what we were doing is an understatement. I think the most important thing we learned about backing a camper into the driveway is communication is key! The fortunate thing for us is she and I are pretty good at that to begin with, so once we gain more experience with the camper, I suspect we'll develop our own language.