First night away - so far so good

T

Tony68000

Free Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2021
Posts
191
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421
Location
North Lincolnshire, UK
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84,074
MH
Rapido 999M
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Super Newbie
First timers, got our mh in December but this is our first night away. So far so good!

We’re in Skegness, perfect location for taking the dog on the beach and grabbing fish and chips for tea!

Had a couple of minor hiccups- on drive here I lost acceleration - I was playing with the cruise control / speed limiter at the time, so suspect I broke something. Pulled over and a restart fixed it. Dunno what happened. (Mercedes 3.0 auto).

Now the satellite dish won’t do anything - worked at home, many times, now I press the button and nothing - Oyster Vision (I think) got a red light and a flashing square on the LCD. I suspect it thinks I’m still driving, but again dunno. Got a fire stick which is working fine, so happy regardless.

Puppy never been soo tired. Very settled during the drive (2 hours) loves the beach, happy with all the new smells, dogs and people to meet.

’camp site’ great. Shop, electric, dog run. I think we’ll be here again, but much longer next time.

Got 2 waves on the drive down too 😀
 
Our remote has to be pointed directly at the control unit in the locker, with the door open initially.
 
tribalbrit said:
Our remote has to be pointed directly at the control unit in the locker, with the door open initially.
Click to expand...
Remote? I’ve got a 4 button box with an lcd screen, stuck inside a cupboard. Normally, I press the left most button and the disk pops up, does a quick spin and locks to Astra. Now it does nothing, except red light and a flashing square on the lcd.. pulled the power, same.
 
Tony68000 said:
Remote? I’ve got a 4 button box with an lcd screen, stuck inside a cupboard. Normally, I press the left most button and the disk pops up, does a quick spin and locks to Astra. Now it does nothing, except red light and a flashing square on the lcd.. pulled the power, same.
Click to expand...
I push the Left button followed by the Right button to make the dish go up and then search.

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OK just told SWMBO first trip and you got waves, she has been waving for over 2 years and only had a handful and one of those was a van driver!
Virtual WAVE that's 3 now, sorry I can't help with the sat dish though
 
bobnick said:
You probably hit the limiter by accident. To re set some of the older ones you have to stop and or switch off and re start.
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Ah, makes sense. Yeah, I stopped and restarted the engine and it was back to full acceleration again. I would have thought the limiter would be a speed limiter, not an acceleration limiter though. Looks like I have cruise control and limiter on a single stalk. Will have to read up on this before trying it out while driving!
 
How exciting enjoy your trip

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Home again. Had at least another 5-6 waves on the way back!

Pulled into a nice off road area on the way back, turned the gas on, made a cuppa and used the rest of the bacon and had some dinner. Took dog for a quick walk. What a great 24 hours!

We’re off again next weekend! 2 nights next time, we think we’re getting the hang of this now.
 
Tony68000 said:
Home again. Had at least another 5-6 waves on the way back!

Pulled into a nice off road area on the way back, turned the gas on, made a cuppa and used the rest of the bacon and had some dinner. Took dog for a quick walk. What a great 24 hours!

We’re off again next weekend! 2 nights next time, we think we’re getting the hang of this now.
Click to expand...

Fantastic! So glad you enjoyed it :) I need to use your postsas inspiration to get out in ours...see my thread about being too scared.

Don't forget to let us know how you get on next weekend! :)
 
HKF said:
Fantastic! So glad you enjoyed it :) I need to use your postsas inspiration to get out in ours...see my thread about being too scared.

Don't forget to let us know how you get on next weekend! :)
Click to expand...
Brilliant! As a first timer, I’ve been very ‘unsure’ about everything. How will I get it off the drive with 3 cars in the way, how will I get it back in the drive, how will I get on with small roads, parked cars, etc.

Then it’s taken a couple of trips to get used to how everything works. Our first trip for a 2 hour drive out was okay, but we couldn’t get the toilet to flush and had water gushing out from under the MH. Turns out the water heater’s safety feature was ‘on’ due to the cold weather. It took us at least 30 minutes to find the stop tap and safety valve! This time, the loo flushed perfectly!

I think I’m quite confident of driving it now. It’s pretty fun - really enjoy the steady drive and the high position. Had to manoeuvre around some small streets in Skegness due to a road closure, and it was fine - took control of the road, and with something that big, I think other drivers dont expect you to be too agile. Likewise the trail of cars behind me at times. I’m not different than a van/small lorry and if you get stuck behind one you live with it, so I’ve not felt the pressure I thought.

As for breaking down - I think the RAC is your friend here, at least you can make a cuppa, or take a snooze (if parked safely) while you wait!

I don’t think anything has been exactly how I imagined it would be, but I’ve not had any trouble, and I think we’re getting the hang of how to use the MH a bit better now - don’t use the sink area as a dumping ground, you’ll only have trouble when you need to make a cuppa - find a place for everything and put things away, otherwise it’ll be chaos. Don’t expect it to be like a house - 1 person in the ‘kitchen’ is more than enough!

We made a list of things to take with us, and added to that list on our first night yesterday - although we didn’t have scissors to open the bacon, or a bread knife for the buns, we coped, and we‘re 2 minutes from a shop, so who cares anyway!

What we need to do next time - more coat hangers, add hooks inside cupboards, take something to use as a bin, take spare shoes and more than 1 pair of jeans (the dog pulled me into the sea!). Take a dustpan and brush (for sand), you’ll use more kitchen roll than you think imaginable! Where do I put the used tea bags? It’s endless, but so much fun!

As we were driving back yesterday, we decided to take a detour and go the scenic route home. We noted how easy and comfortable it would be to take 2 weeks off work and go anywhere we wanted without a care.

So, that’s my weekends now! The DIY will take a back seat, I’ve got a robot lawn mower, and I can work from anywhere with good Internet… see you on the road! (Wave, we’re expecting it now).
 
We had our first trip last weekend, and similarly didn't dare to go too far - we went to Polstead C&C in Suffolk. We absolutely loved it - teething problems, loo didn't flush (we replaced the pump yesterday, all working fine for next trip), and we wentn't sure what to do with grey waste but Karen on site was incredibly helpful. And we realised we'd made the right decision to invest in the 'old girl' (our vintage van) and are now planning our next trip. We're both still full time working so looking to have a trip every month....
 
Tony68000 said:
Brilliant! As a first timer, I’ve been very ‘unsure’ about everything. How will I get it off the drive with 3 cars in the way, how will I get it back in the drive, how will I get on with small roads, parked cars, etc.

Then it’s taken a couple of trips to get used to how everything works. Our first trip for a 2 hour drive out was okay, but we couldn’t get the toilet to flush and had water gushing out from under the MH. Turns out the water heater’s safety feature was ‘on’ due to the cold weather. It took us at least 30 minutes to find the stop tap and safety valve! This time, the loo flushed perfectly!

I think I’m quite confident of driving it now. It’s pretty fun - really enjoy the steady drive and the high position. Had to manoeuvre around some small streets in Skegness due to a road closure, and it was fine - took control of the road, and with something that big, I think other drivers dont expect you to be too agile. Likewise the trail of cars behind me at times. I’m not different than a van/small lorry and if you get stuck behind one you live with it, so I’ve not felt the pressure I thought.

As for breaking down - I think the RAC is your friend here, at least you can make a cuppa, or take a snooze (if parked safely) while you wait!

I don’t think anything has been exactly how I imagined it would be, but I’ve not had any trouble, and I think we’re getting the hang of how to use the MH a bit better now - don’t use the sink area as a dumping ground, you’ll only have trouble when you need to make a cuppa - find a place for everything and put things away, otherwise it’ll be chaos. Don’t expect it to be like a house - 1 person in the ‘kitchen’ is more than enough!

We made a list of things to take with us, and added to that list on our first night yesterday - although we didn’t have scissors to open the bacon, or a bread knife for the buns, we coped, and we‘re 2 minutes from a shop, so who cares anyway!

What we need to do next time - more coat hangers, add hooks inside cupboards, take something to use as a bin, take spare shoes and more than 1 pair of jeans (the dog pulled me into the sea!). Take a dustpan and brush (for sand), you’ll use more kitchen roll than you think imaginable! Where do I put the used tea bags? It’s endless, but so much fun!

As we were driving back yesterday, we decided to take a detour and go the scenic route home. We noted how easy and comfortable it would be to take 2 weeks off work and go anywhere we wanted without a care.

So, that’s my weekends now! The DIY will take a back seat, I’ve got a robot lawn mower, and I can work from anywhere with good Internet… see you on the road! (Wave, we’re expecting it now).
Click to expand...

LOVE this post!! It's full of the kind of inspiration I need right now and really made me smile :) Thank you for sharing your adventure!

I actually live in France so, if you want a proper wave from me, you'll need to get down to The Charente....unless I get seriously brave and make it to the UK!! It also makes RAC/AA impossible as there's no national breakdown service here but thanks for the suggestion.

Looking forward to you next installment :cool: :love: (y)

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I’m like you and drive all slow and calm, but like to pull over as often as possible to allow the vehicles behind me to get on, especially the vans as no doubt they’ll have a zillion deliveries to do before lunch. It also gives us all a better name 👍🏻

Pretty great, this motorhome malarkey 😀😀👍🏻
 
PP Bear said:
I’m like you and drive all slow and calm, but like to pull over as often as possible to allow the vehicles behind me to get on, especially the vans as no doubt they’ll have a zillion deliveries to do before lunch. It also gives us all a better name 👍🏻

Pretty great, this motorhome malarkey 😀😀👍🏻
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Yes, good call. I was very conscious I should be pulling over to clear the queue at times, but when I really wanted to there was no opportunities to do so. There wasn't many stretches where I had many behind me though :)
 
I also wish that I had mapped all our trips from the start, you can use something like MyMaps on google maps or PolarSteps.

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HKF said:
LOVE this post!! It's full of the kind of inspiration I need right now and really made me smile :) Thank you for sharing your adventure!

I actually live in France so, if you want a proper wave from me, you'll need to get down to The Charente....unless I get seriously brave and make it to the UK!! It also makes RAC/AA impossible as there's no national breakdown service here but thanks for the suggestion.

Looking forward to you next installment :cool: :love: (y)
Click to expand...
I’ve booked 2 nights at the same place this coming Friday. They’ll be 3 of us this time, so that’ll be a good test!

My packing list is growing, as is my shopping list. We’ve ordered a 10 meter lead for the Bonnie (dog, just to be certain), so hopefully this time I can keep my shoes dry when she runs into the sea 🤣 We’re going to try cooking something a little more ambitious than a round of bacon butties as well.… perhaps an egg 🤣
 
Tony68000 said:
I’ve booked 2 nights at the same place this coming Friday. They’ll be 3 of us this time, so that’ll be a good test!

My packing list is growing, as is my shopping list. We’ve ordered a 10 meter lead for the Bonnie (dog, just to be certain), so hopefully this time I can keep my shoes dry when she runs into the sea 🤣 We’re going to try cooking something a little more ambitious than a round of bacon butties as well.… perhaps an egg 🤣
Click to expand...

Why not really push the boat out and take some mushrooms, too :ROFLMAO: We're still on track to visit the weighbridge tomorrow. We really know how to party!! :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 

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