On the fourth day of my new life in my RV home, I began the journey north. I planned to travel about 300 miles a day to get back by Sunday or Monday.
The trip was complicated by several factors:

• Monday was the Columbus Day holiday. I did not anticipate the problems finding campgrounds to stay. The first night in Tennessee, I stopped at 2 places before getting the last site at a KOA south of Knoxville. For the next three nights, I used the KOA app on my phone to reserve sites ahead of time. While KOAs are expensive, they provide a known level of service.
• My new RV home at 34.5 feet long, 8.5 feet wide and 12.5 feet in height was the biggest thing I’d ever driven. This wasn’t so much of an issue as a mental hurdle.
• This was the first time I had toad my CR-V. Hooking up the tow bar and the auxiliary brake system was a challenge. I stopped several times the first day to make sure everything was setup correctly and I looked for pull thru camp sites. The first two nights I was successful in not having to disconnect to park, but each night after that, I disconnected and re-connected in the morning.

My first night, I stopped a the Sweetwater Valley KOA in Sweetwater TN after about 325 miles of travel. This was the 3rd campground I stopped at and I got the last available site.
The second night and all subsequent nights were preplanned. I stopped at the Harrisonburg Shenandoah Valley KOA. The site was very tight but usable. The campground was several miles off Interstate 81 via a winding narrow road through rolling farm lands. I traveled 414 miles to get to this campground.
The Allentown Pennsylvania KOA was the stop on the third night after 253 miles of highway driving. The KOA was located at the bottom of a 9 percent grade a few miles off Interstate 78. Negotiating the hill was another successful hurdle in my motorhome driving experience.
For the final night of my travels back to New England, I stayed at the Mystic KOA in North Stonington, CT. It was about 230 miles from the Allentown PA stop. This is the only place on the journey that I had stayed before, but also the most expensive.

Overall, the journey north was uneventful. I leaned a lot about the handling characteristics of my RV home. The gas V-10 engine with the new 6 speed transmission is a better combination than I expected. On the first leg of the trip on secondary roads with only minor hills, I got better than 7.5 miles per gallon. Later in the trip at interstate speeds of about 62 over the ups and downs of the Appalachian mountains that went down to 6.7 mpg. That’s OK, I never thought it would be an economy car.

I arrived at Sherman RV on Monday morning right at the opening time of 9AM. My new RV home was backed-up to the bay and ready for its debut. My arrival interrupted the weekly sales meeting, but once they knew I was there the delivery began.
I met my sales person for the first time along with the business/finance manager, service manager and most importantly the technician that would spend the day going over my motorhome’s systems. They all made it clear that the delivery process could take as long as I needed. It was common for new owners to stay in their lot for several days checking out systems and any necessary fixes made.

My new RV home waiting for me

We were soon off to see my new RV home in all of its shiny newness. It was freshly washed, and plugged into 50amp electric with both Air Conditioners running. The Pre Delivery Inspection (PDI) began inside at the drivers seat and worked back to the bedroom in the rear. Two issues were identified, the leveling jacks did seem to have leveled the rig properly; it was sloped to the front and the bathroom vent fan was rubbing on something. Both of these issues were fixed while I went to lunch – a delightful McDonald’s Chicken Sandwich.
After lunch I completed the paperwork and received the keys along with a big blue bag of product manuals and registration cards. The transaction was much easier than any of the RVs or cars I have ever bought despite the fact that it was also the most expensive.

Not everything I need to know, but lots of information

Back at the RV, now officially my RV Home, the PDI continued with the outside of the RV. The most challenging item in this session was learning which of the seven keys worked in which lock. No new issues were identified.
Overall, the introduction to the RV took about 5 hours, but could have taken more if I’d needed it. For the systems that I was familiar with I was only concerned with does it work and what’s different from my experience. For example, having a combination gas and electric hot water heater was new to me so I concentrated on learning about the electric aspects of the water heater. It surprised me that you could actually run the gas and electric at the same time if you wanted quick heat.

I spent the rest of the delivery day and the next 2 days loading my RV home with the essentials I had brought down from New Hampshire, trips to Walmart for other items to add conveniences and with checking out systems. Basically, learning to live in the RV. Nothing significant was discovered. It was time to head north.