The trip went Great Nova Scotia to Florida

[Davidk]

Our first trip in our RT..not counting the 3, 2 night weekends last summer to try things out.

To start i want to thank everyone for all the helpful information for the trip to Florida, from first stay over night at the Ramada in Maine and getting the EZPass for the tolls.

We traveled almost 7000 KM for our first trip.......our nerves were on edge before we started. This was our first trip of any kind in any vehicle.as a normal long drive for us would be maybe 5 hours, stay than drive home next day.

but with the camper van ..........almost no limit

Now the RT has 293277 km, with many more to go because we will fix whatever needs to be done as things come up,,, we love this camper

Left with it snowing and cold.....but off we went 19 days there and back . 4 days approx each way stay there for 11 days

Hot and sunny while there. No major issues with the RT at all. Nothing that would stop me from doing that all over again

Again thanks to all, we love our camper van. The girls loved the trip. Most times we fly when we go south. But because of my oldest girls age and health that is why we bought the van so they will now travel with us picture showing 2 of the girls resting between the front seats.

[BBQ]

.

I love trip reports.

I get to "visit" and see places I have never been,
and possibily never get a chance to go.

More pix please

[Davidk]

Thanks BBQ
You helped me with the EZPass info by sending the map on one of my other posts before we left.

On the way down except for the Ramada in Livingston Maine, we stayed at the highway service areas. Very convenient and felt very safe.

While staying in Florida we did a few different things. Went to a big " Grant BBQ Festival " and car show ", and live bands......great fun and food.

Went to Sea World always great
Driving around seeing a part of Florida we have not really spent much time in.

In the pictures shows the set up we do around here when camping , but for this trip we did not take our camping gear with us ( bbq, dog pen, big chairs, outside kitchen set up, Coleman stove, etc ) because we knew we were going straight down to sister-inlaws , and touring from there.


Now that we know the van well, we will go again and really take our time and see more in each State, because i know we by-passed alot of interesting things.

[Davidk]

1 Hour from home a passenger van passed us and a large slab of ice about the size of a large pizza box came off their roof and hit us dead centre of the windshield, Very loud and scared me i thought we lost the whole window. But we were very lucky , it did knock off rearview mirror and the large cover mirror i had on top , and the button glued to the glass

It missed hitting wife and the girls by inches. After collecting my thoughts and you know what all was ok no cracks etc. But 31 more hours to go ......not a good start.

pic: my new EZPass and no rearview........and dancing girl


Of coarse i have to drop into any Bass Pro i find to pick up more fishing gear

and who does not like a couple of Ribsicle's on a hot and sunny day

Thanks for reading.

And all the help with info to make our trip a success

David

[markopolo]

The slab of ice story was scary. I'm glad it didn't stop the trip.

I think we have the same camp table. It's nice to have. Sometimes there's no picnic table at a site.

EZ Pass is handy to have.

Ramada Lewiston had gone up to $20 last time we stopped.

Sounds like it was a great trip!

[Davidk]

Thanks markopolo

Yes the windshield smack was a shocker. Could have been alot worse.
Still had alot of issues with the insurance trying to get a new windshield installed. Because when they went to put on the mirror. The new glued on button worked great until tried to adjust the mirror and the whole thing came off again but this time it took out a chunk of the window with it than a " t " shaped crack right above the missing piece.

I think it must have had a small fracture from the ice hit. Just could not see it.

Yes love our little camp table and the way it folds all up into a little case.


Yes the Ramada in Lewiston was a great place to stop for the first night...( and thank you for that ) . Yes it is $ 20.00 for the night, power and use of the pool and towels and shower. We stopped in Portland the 2nd morning to pick up the EZPass. made it a little better being able to just stay in the left lanes and drive right through most of the time. Just have auto load from credit card to keep it topped up.

For our first real trip it was fun and ( we did not kill each other ).
It was fun to see what the van was really like, how it handled on the highway
and how comfortable on long days.....all was good . And we will do it more .

[Manx]

I was wondering how the trip went.
Did you try the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel or Cape May-Lewes ferry?

[Davidk]

hi Manx

because of the window problem, trying to get it fixed in Florida at Safelite. Had 3 appointments, they kept cancelling because the new window kept missing the truck or not shipped from somewhere. So that put us behind in getting home. Not that we minded staying couple days longer in Florida . But now we were traveling home on the Easter weekend and i have work to get to.

So we are making a list for our next trip to do more in each state and make the traveling the bigger part of the trip. Now that we know the van is great to travel in for the 2 of us.