We brought Meander home after a few misadventures and some jumping through hoops to get the licencing taken care of. Surprisingly, the insurance part was a very good experience. The agent doing a full review of everything we had with them and increasing our bill by only $22 after the RV was added to the mix.

One of the reasons for fast forwarding our RV plans was the goal to be in Alberta for our grandson’s first birthday. According to our plan, we should be out there for about 3 weeks. But we can’t just drive our 27 foot palace all over town so we knew we would have to take one of our vehicles with us. The RV came with a tow bar, but my car would need to be modified at the front to use it. It is a lease so that was out of the question. My husband has a Jeep Wrangler and apparently the fact that it is a 4 wheel drive makes towing it complicated. So we looked at car carriers. Rick had already researched them and found the one he wanted the day after we bought the RV. He negotiated a price and we picked it up 2 days before we brought Meander home..

As soon as the deal was made on the RV I was given an outfitting budget of $500. I found some really good deals on Walmart.com by taking advantage of their discounts to pick up my purchases in store. By the end of the week I had my kitchen completely outfitted, new towels and face clothes purchased and a kettle, coffee maker and toaster installed. As part of my Walmart order I got 4 jumbo pillows for Meander but got a better deal on bedding buying it locally. I ordered a projector which will be used in place of a TV and decided to redo all of the window dressings. All in all I did pretty good with my budget. Rick made some purchases of his own, installing fog lights, a GPS and back up camera as well as a wifi booster. For now we are done outfitting Meander. I am sure after our big trip we may find some changes or modifications we want to make but for now we have all of the necessities and then some luxuries on board.

Our very first adventure with Meander was the day after we brought her home. That night we were attending a party at a friend’s house and decided to take the RV so we could camp out after a night of drinks. What a flurry of activity to get it ready to go. Somehow alcohol was the very first thing that was put in Meander which is funny because we rarely drink at home. We did remember to take some coke and Ginger Ale as well as some bags of ice. I installed the new bedding but did not have pillows yet so I washed pillows and put them aboard. I have decided to use our 5 year old, rarely used duvet. We have not been using it in the house because it is white and we have cats who like to cast their fur on everything and occasionally leave us a fur ball where we least want or expect it. Now it has a home. I made sure that we had coffee mugs for morning and whitener, sugar and sweetener but somehow failed to pack coffee. That almost got me fired as chief cook and bottle washer! I remembered toothbrushes, toothpaste and toilet paper but somehow managed to forget a hair brush. Not a big deal for Rick since he is follicly challenged but I have long curly hair halfway down my back so it was a big deal for me. I knew there was a reason for my to-do and packing lists.