When most people hear "RV", they think of a motorhome.  A big A-Class box on wheels home used by old people and bands on tour.  Well, "RV" or Recreational Vehicle has a wide meaning.  Sure, you have the A-Class motorhomes, that are built from the ground up for the purpose of being a motorhome.  Then you have the B-Class, which are usually vans converted to motorhomes and then the very popular C-Class, which are trucks that have motorhomes attached to their chassis. 

Buying one of these puts you in a separate class of RV ownership to the point that they have clubs like the [FMCA, Family Motor Coach Association](https://www.fmca.com/). 

![FMCA_189.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRMxTofKP8iDFFAyMd1vKcPNhw5tW6HjhKndY6zdfJSgS/FMCA_189.jpg)

I really want to be able to put this "egg" on my own motorhome some day.  But, for now, I will have to wait. 

The other option for RV's are pull behinds.  They come in two types, fifth-wheel or trailer. Fifth-wheel's require a truck with an open bed.  The bed has to be converted to hold the connection from the trailer to the truck.  With this, you lose most of the functionality of your truck bed.  While fifth-wheel trailers can be extremely spacious, even more so than an A-Class motorhome. 

The other option, is trailer camper, which you need a hitch on your vehicle that can pull the trailer that you want.  Trailers come in all sorts of sizes and configuration.  It all depends on your needs and your budget. 

![jeepcoleman.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcd7W9K6ai8ZXBpH26a9FZmqhFD7X2DDj7zL8oSYQEbUz/jeepcoleman.jpg)

For us, since we have two small children, we decided that it would be best to get a trailer with a bunk bed. Also, we didn't want a very long trailer, since we hoped to park it in our driveway and still have room for our two vehicles. Also, after going through a search for a tow vehicle, we ended up with a Jeep Grand Cherokee and could only pull a maximum of 5,000 lbs. With that, we didn't want anything to be over 3,000 lbs empty. 

What we ended up with is a 2015 [Coleman CTS 15BH Expedition Lite](http://www.dutchmen.com/media/5720/coleman-expedition-web.pdf) camper.  The 15BH stands for 15 foot interior and Bunk House.  The total length, with the towing tongue is about 18 feet. It came with some anti-sway bars, but I didn't get those hooked up.  Also, since we would be driving in the mountains, it was recommended to get a break controller to help with breaking, but I also didn't get it hooked up for my solo trip. 

![firstcookedmeal.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYjAoG3SuHCwVK5GDdtpAYdmNy24kJcNQtqjiNtYngKWy/firstcookedmeal.jpg)

I hadn't planned on getting an RV site for my first trip and the camper didn't come with the hoses for hooking up water and sewage.  However, I did manage to hook up the electrical, which ran the A/C, refrigerator, radio and lights. It also runs the microwave, but I didn't use that. The propane tank runs the stoves top and the refrigerator, if there isn't any electrical hookup. 

My first cooked meal in the camper was eggs. They went well.  However, my second meal was hamburgers, which had issues.  I bough some meat, but didn't check to see how lean it was, so it made a mess on the counter.

![firstburgers.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRQR2xwxoFUfFpVU6Hd3BuvzSPaepvqJY75X3AGHgqXBi/firstburgers.jpg)

The next evening, I put one pan over the cooking pan to cut down on the grease splatter. 

![pancover.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfC7Vc8tHvpAFq917qXdRHdRHorz1GXSd2bkP1JJurvGk/pancover.jpg)

Overall, cooking and keeping things cold wasn't a problem in the camper.  It took a little while for the refrigerator too cool down, but when it did, it was really cold.  Cold enough, that I left food in it on the trip back and it was still cold when I took it out. Of course, you don't run the refrigerator while you are towing, so I can't do that trick on the way to a place, unless I hookup the camper at home and get the refrigerator chilled before the trip. 

As far as sleeping went, it was a little bit more difficult.  I slept on one of the bunks for the first two nights and it was hard.  Not as hard as sleeping on the ground, but hard. I'm sure the kids will be okay with it. The last night, I slept in the bench/table area that turns into a bed.  This will be the place that my wife and I will be sleeping, so I might as well get used to it.  It was softer, but we will probably still need some sort of cushion to make it more comfortable. 

The A/C had an automatic feature and it didn't run very often.  Camping in the mountains in a shaded area isn't really a good test to see how well it works.  It did cool off the camper and only ran on occasion. 

For storage, there are plenty of places to store things, but we will have to be very organized on our trips. The pantry is big, but there really isn't a place to store clothes. So, if we bring large suitcase, we will have to figure out how to store them were it is easy to get them.  Also, changing clothes will probably only happen in the living area, so we better remember to close the blinds!!

For the first trip, that wasn't very well planned, things went well.  I hope that the family enjoys many trips in our new Coleman camper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMzeuNYvcU0

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<h3>Let the positive energy sing! <br />
More Power to the Minnows!!</h3>
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