# Our New Motorhome



## Sharnor (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi all
The day finally came when we went to collect our motorhome. You were right, the days leading up to the big day seemed to take forever. We were advised to stay overnight at Camp Dudleys so that we could learn how to do things.

We had sold our caravan and the people came to collect it on the same day that we were going through to Dudleys. They arrived in the morning and spent 3 hours with us as we showed them what to do and how to do it (they had never caravanned before). I was chomping at the bit, because all I wanted to do was drive to Oxfordshire. We finally left home around lunch time loaded to the roof with our 8 dogs, dog cages and as much as we could fit into the Trafic that we could. We finally arrived in the afternoon and there she was in all her glory.

We started to transfer all our things into the MH and finally the dogs. Norman suggested that we put them all into cages because it was a new experience for them and they were all very excited. But no, I knew better and said that they would be fine. They were not! In no time at all we had an almighty fight and Norman had his hand badly bitten and a very grumpy, "I told you so". We finally quietened everyone down, and put them into cages. Cleaned up and sat down to a very well earned glass of celebratory sparkling wine and take away fish and chips.

The next day before setting off Norman went to the petrol station with a friend who has an ARV to fill up with fuel and to have a little practice with someone who has years of experience. £245.00 later the tank was full. My goodness me! We set off to Harewood House at Leeds for a dog show but had to go via Nottingham to collect something. Norman drove well and even my nerves were not too bad. My heart nearly stopped a couple of times while going through the narrow village lanes, but all in all he handled the Winnebago ok.

On the approach to Harewood House grounds we were confronted by a massive stone archway which our friends had told us was 12’ wide and would be no trouble to drive through. Pity they forgot to tell us about the stone bollards inside the arch which reduced the width to 9’6” which caused a white knuckle moment for the new driver. But at 5 miles an hour we got safely through. Our friends waiting for us and their cameras were flashing and we felt like the bees knees. We were showed into our spot, put the jacks down and slid out the sides. We thought we were just the greatest. Problem was that we had forgotten to fill the water tank and we were nowhere near a tap! Luckily we had enough to get us through the night and the next morning Norman went off and bought 50 meters of hose. That night Norman tried to tune in the free view part of the TV. Oh my goodness! I then made the stupid mistake of asking if the aerial was up! So we played the no speak game that night and Norman growling every five minutes or so. The next morning our son phoned and guess what he suggested. But then, that was a sensible suggestion. We then tried to phone Dudleys, but could not raise them at all. We eventually found out that they were under 6 inches of water. We got through to them later that day and Chris asked Norman if he had pushed the signal amplifier button. Doh! Norman asked, if you need this button, why is it not on permanently. 
Apart from the rain and the mud – and there was a lot of it. We had a wonderful weekend. The only way off the site at the end of the weekend was to be pulled off by tractor. It was dia. Norman had planned our route off the site and was doing so well. One of the parking wardens saw us coming across the field and in his almighty wisdom decided that we were not going to leave via that gate. I was shouting at him not to stop us because I knew that as soon as the Winnie stopped, it would sink into the mud – and it did. He actually stood in front of us forcing us to stop. So we had to wait for one of the larger tractors to come and pull us out. We looked like a beached whale. Oh well. 

The trip home was uneventful until we got to Gloucester. We heard on the radio that the M5 was closed due to flooding and were diverted along the A40, only to find that that was closed too and we were diverted through the housing estate roads which were full of similarly diverted traffic and cars parked everywhere. Norman took his time and drove like he had been doing this all his adult life. We eventually got home that evening. We live in the country in Herefordshire, and Norman once again did extremely well. Both wing mirrors were touching the hedges down the lanes. The journey ended with a tight reversing manoeuvre onto our property (he didn’t really like the wooden edging around our flower beds anyway).

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend and we cannot wait to go out in her again.


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## Moandick (Nov 8, 2006)

*First Outing!*

Hi Sharon and Norman

Welcome to the wonderful world of 'WARDENS'

You must get used to them as soon as possible now that you are in an RV and stand out like a sore thumb because you are going to meet all of them - traffic wardens (you can't drive down here) - caravan site wardens (you can't drive down here) - assistant wardens (you can't drive down here) and so on and so on and so on.

The biggest 'pain-in-the-bum' you will ever meet is the person who has never driven anything bigger than a bicycle but is appointed as a temporary parking warden at a big Show/Event and has been given a yellow flourescent jacket!!!!!!!

They will tell you exactly where you can and can't go and almost invariably they will be wrong - simply because they have no idea what driving a large vehicle entails - but they love the power of the YELLOW JACKET and will wield it with gay abandon to the detriment of all who come in contact with them.

For goodness sake do not 'blindly' follow their advice or you (or your RV) will suffer (remember the people who drove into the middle of a river because TomTom told them to!) - you have learned a good lesson very quickly with your experience so next time you will be more prepared for your know-it-all warden.

I have never yet met a ten-stone warden who could hold back a ten-ton RV and I will only ever stop when I consider my RV is in a position where I consider it safe to do so. At the end of the Show your warden will walk away congratulating themself for having done a good job whilst you will drive away probably with a large repair bill or tow-truck bill.

Dick


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## G2EWS (May 1, 2006)

Hi Sharnor,

Fantastic story and welcome to the wonderful world or RV driving. Sounds like Norman has got it sussed already!

Look forward to seeing you some time.

Regards

Chris


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## damondunc (Feb 14, 2006)

Quiet first trip then :lol: :lol: 
Good luck with your new RV and remember you will have plenty of room for a couple more dogs in there :wink: 

Chris


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## 98452 (Apr 2, 2006)

Glad it all went well.

Thanks for sharing :wink:


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