Well, we did it. We are now in possession of a 2014 Grand Design Solitude 368RD and it’s in immaculate condition. While it’s not set up the way we will need it for us to be comfortable, it’s not going to take too much work. The layout of this unit has a jackknife sofa in the rear and it was originally set up to have a table in the rear as well (Rear Dining). For us, this will be the perfect place to put a double workstation so that we can work from the road. It will also separate our work area from our living room. There is another couch in one of the living area slides and across from that, there are 2 recliners. We will be pulling out that couch as well and moving one of the recliners to that side so that we can both angle our chairs to be able to see the tv easier.
Our first outing was on a Wednesday at Lake Cunningham Campground in Omaha. This campground is only 4 miles from the house and less than 5 miles from our RV storage location. For this quick 1 night trip, we booked a site with full hookups 50amp, water, and sewer drain.
The setup took about an hour which is much longer than it should have taken seeing as we weren’t really set up and had next to nothing as far as personal property in the RV but it was our first time and we took our time to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
As it was a pull-through and there was no backing up involved, after we hooked to the trailer, Vicki drove it through town and to the campsite. She was a little too far to the right and decided to go around the loop again instead of attempting to back up to reset. No worries, there’s no wrong way and we’re not in a rush. The second attempt was perfect. Vicki and I did everything together so that we would both know all of the systems even though we will probably fall into our own roles later on, we both need to know everything in case something happens to one of us and the other needs to move the rig. We lowered the front legs and got out from under the trailer. Hit the auto-level and let it do its thing. (Have I mentioned we love auto-level?)
Hooked up our power watchdog and tested the pedestal before turning off the breaker again to plug in the rig. Hooked up to city water and realized I didn’t have a wrench large enough to connect our pressure regulator. As this was a new part of the park and the park was full, we were going on faith that the pressure wouldn’t be too high and hooked up without it. Then we ran our sewer hose. This was more for practice than necessity. As I was staying alone over night, there was no way we were going to need to dump before we left.
Once everything outside was set up we moved inside and put out all 3 slides. I then replaced the door lock with the RVLock. My mother and one of my Sisters stopped by to see our new to us RV and Vicki left a couple of hours later as she had to work the following morning and we weren’t set up to work from the RV yet.
I didn’t do much else that night. Tested the propane stove, the refrigerator worked well on propane and electric and checked all of the plumbing, took a shower, then went to bed. At about 1am the bedroom air conditioner kicked on and I had flashbacks of being in a C130 it was LOUD. That’s going to need to be replaced but for now we have a room ac that I will discuss in a future post.
About 11am the following morning, Vicki showed up, we packed everything back up and took it back to the storage lot. In 10 days we go out for our first full weekend together. Until then, signing off.
