Hello all! Well.. I"m surprising my husband with a 24' travel trailer that I have been purchasing from a friend for a few months and will have it paid for in Sept! Just in time for fall camping (if it ever cools off in Oklahoma) We have never had any type of RV before but have done a lot of camping over the years. We will have a 1998 24 foot springdale travel trailer that is like new, and I can't wait to start! Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated. We live in NE Oklahoma and i'm sure we will be doing Ft. Gibson, Skiatook and areas in Arkansas and Missouri but I'd love to have your suggestions on the "must go" places we need to go.. We both are in our mid 40's and work full time so this will be a weekend thing for us or vacation times during the year.. I'm so excited.. i know he will be too!!
kwf904 said
09:17 AM Aug 3, 2011
Very cool. Your husband is a lucky man. Enjoy the camper Jim
Ckerr said
09:19 AM Aug 3, 2011
What a cool surprise! Welcome! Will the surprise delivery include a weekend trip?
53 Merc said
09:32 AM Aug 3, 2011
WOW!! Surprise surprise surprise. Betcha you are gonna have fun with that. I notice the unit is a 1998, and with that I have a question. Did you check on the tires? It seems the going concern about tires on RVs is that the effective life is approximately 5 to 7 years. You can check that by looking at the DOT number on the tires. It will be a 3 or 4 digit number in a small oval. The first one or two digits will be the week and the last two digits will be the year the tires were "born". Ergo, 0203 will be the second week of 2003 if that makes sense. 4298 would be the 42nd week of 1998. I would recommend you check, because a sure fire trip ruiner (is that a word?) is a flat tire on the side of the road.
policegirl said
09:54 AM Aug 3, 2011
She just put brand new tires on it thank Goodness!!
We will have to pick it up.. I'm going to wrap a pic of it and all the books etc. up and give it to him as a late birthday present...
It has been taken care of so well it looks practically brand new... we got a great deal for $2000 bucks... can't wait to get it..
Racerguy said
10:41 AM Aug 3, 2011
Congratulations,welcome to the world of RVing.
janni said
10:48 AM Aug 3, 2011
Great gift idea and welcome to the group!
policegirl said
11:46 AM Aug 3, 2011
Thanks all! I'm hoping that this is our first rv and not our last rv.. I hoping as we get closer to retirement that we can get a "real" rv... lol... but this one will give us an idea if we really will enjoy rv'ing.. pretty sure we will... :)
mktobob said
11:47 AM Aug 3, 2011
Very cool surprise! How do you think he will respond?
policegirl said
12:04 PM Aug 3, 2011
Lol. He will be thrilled! I started paying my co worker for it several months ago hoping ot have it paid of in July for his birthday but we went on vacation in July so I put it off until sept. and my co worker was fine with that...
Last week my coworker was selling her fridge because she got a new one and our second fridge in our garage that we use for storing pop/beer the essentials until holiday time, lol.. went out so I told her I'd give her $50 for her old fridge.
So we go to her house to get her fridge and I tell him on the way out that she's thinking about selling her rv and said we should take a look at it while we are there... (She's in on this all) So we take a look at it and then don't really talk much about it for the past few days. Then yesterday we meet for lunch during our workday and he says "So, how are we going to come up with $2000 for that rv?", lol.. I just said "I have no idea?".. lol.. He proceeds to tell me that he would really enjoy something like that and we talk about it... I was very tempted to tell him I had it almost paid off, but I managed to keep it a secret, whew! lol. So...
I should have it paid for by the 1st of Sept. if all goes right and I think he will be pleasantly surprised!!
Kathy Doin It said
01:17 PM Aug 3, 2011
So excited for you both! What a wonderful gift to give him. He will always cherish this, I'm sure of it. (I did something similar once.)
IWantaCampMore said
03:45 PM Aug 3, 2011
Man, thats a great gift and from your story of almost telling him must have been torture for you. You could have not done him more proud.
Now all you have too do is Christen it. LOL
Terry and Jo said
06:16 PM Aug 4, 2011
Marnie,
Oklahoma City resident here, and that is an awesome surprise you have done. Also, welcome to the forums here at RV Dreams. It is a good site with a lot of knowledgeable folks who are eager and willing to help.
Ken (53Merc) mentioned the tires, so I'll make note of one other item. Make sure that your tow vehicle is big enough to tow the weight of the RV. There should be a sticker somewhere on the RV giving you the GVWR (Gross Vehicular Weight Rating) which is the weight of the RV with everything in it. That would include any fluids in holding tanks, LP in Propane tanks, clothes, groceries, accessories, etc. Your tow vehicle should also have some tag indicating how much it will carry, including passengers, fuel, and cargo.
The total weight of the truck (GVWR) and the total weight of the RV (GVWR) should not exceed the Gross Combined Weight Rating of the tow vehicle. If you aren't sure what the tow vehicle will handle, check with a dealership. Ask to see the numbers in the book. Do not just take the word of a salesman. Preferably, you want to find someone at the dealership that deals more with the trucks to find someone who will be knowledgeable with weights.
Good luck with everything. Also, check out Natural Falls State Park off of Hwy 412 between Tulsa and Springdale, Arkansas. If you go to central Oklahoma, Red Rock Canyon State Park just on the south side of Hinton, Oklahoma is really nice. (Steep and twisty road going in and out.)
Terry
RVKevi said
06:52 PM Aug 4, 2011
Welcome!
NorCal Dan said
06:49 PM Aug 5, 2011
That is so cool. Welcome to the forum Marnie. Be sure to introduce your DH to the Dreamers site, we'd love to hear his thoughts on the whole deal.
policegirl said
09:46 AM Sep 26, 2011
Well.. It's been awhile but i've been so busy I haven't had time to even log on... Surprised my hubby with the RV and he was thrilled... actually.. i took him out to the girls house who was selling it because we were going to buy her spare fridge for our garage and while we were there we looked at the rv....lol.. He mustve told me 6 or 7 times after that what a great deal it was and kept asking how we were going to get the money to buy it, lol.... A couple of times I almost caved and told him I was already buy it but I didn't till I had it bought! lol.. Since then we have been to one of the local state parks with it and met some great people and had a great time... the only bad thing... is now he wants a bigger one! lol...
flyone said
11:42 AM Sep 26, 2011
Policegril, very cool----enjoy the camper, fall is a great time to camp, have fun.
Hello all! Well.. I"m surprising my husband with a 24' travel trailer that I have been purchasing from a friend for a few months and will have it paid for in Sept! Just in time for fall camping (if it ever cools off in Oklahoma) We have never had any type of RV before but have done a lot of camping over the years. We will have a 1998 24 foot springdale travel trailer that is like new, and I can't wait to start! Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated. We live in NE Oklahoma and i'm sure we will be doing Ft. Gibson, Skiatook and areas in Arkansas and Missouri but I'd love to have your suggestions on the "must go" places we need to go.. We both are in our mid 40's and work full time so this will be a weekend thing for us or vacation times during the year.. I'm so excited.. i know he will be too!!
Jim
I would recommend you check, because a sure fire trip ruiner (is that a word?) is a flat tire on the side of the road.
She just put brand new tires on it thank Goodness!!
We will have to pick it up.. I'm going to wrap a pic of it and all the books etc. up and give it to him as a late birthday present...
It has been taken care of so well it looks practically brand new... we got a great deal for $2000 bucks... can't wait to get it..
Thanks all! I'm hoping that this is our first rv and not our last rv.. I hoping as we get closer to retirement that we can get a "real" rv... lol... but this one will give us an idea if we really will enjoy rv'ing.. pretty sure we will... :)
Lol. He will be thrilled! I started paying my co worker for it several months ago hoping ot have it paid of in July for his birthday but we went on vacation in July so I put it off until sept. and my co worker was fine with that...
Last week my coworker was selling her fridge because she got a new one and our second fridge in our garage that we use for storing pop/beer the essentials until holiday time, lol.. went out so I told her I'd give her $50 for her old fridge.
So we go to her house to get her fridge and I tell him on the way out that she's thinking about selling her rv and said we should take a look at it while we are there... (She's in on this all) So we take a look at it and then don't really talk much about it for the past few days. Then yesterday we meet for lunch during our workday and he says "So, how are we going to come up with $2000 for that rv?", lol.. I just said "I have no idea?".. lol.. He proceeds to tell me that he would really enjoy something like that and we talk about it... I was very tempted to tell him I had it almost paid off, but I managed to keep it a secret, whew! lol. So...
I should have it paid for by the 1st of Sept. if all goes right and I think he will be pleasantly surprised!!
So excited for you both! What a wonderful gift to give him. He will always cherish this, I'm sure of it. (I did something similar once.)
Man, thats a great gift and from your story of almost telling him must have been torture for you. You could have not done him more proud.
Now all you have too do is Christen it. LOL
Marnie,
Oklahoma City resident here, and that is an awesome surprise you have done. Also, welcome to the forums here at RV Dreams. It is a good site with a lot of knowledgeable folks who are eager and willing to help.
Ken (53Merc) mentioned the tires, so I'll make note of one other item. Make sure that your tow vehicle is big enough to tow the weight of the RV. There should be a sticker somewhere on the RV giving you the GVWR (Gross Vehicular Weight Rating) which is the weight of the RV with everything in it. That would include any fluids in holding tanks, LP in Propane tanks, clothes, groceries, accessories, etc. Your tow vehicle should also have some tag indicating how much it will carry, including passengers, fuel, and cargo.
The total weight of the truck (GVWR) and the total weight of the RV (GVWR) should not exceed the Gross Combined Weight Rating of the tow vehicle. If you aren't sure what the tow vehicle will handle, check with a dealership. Ask to see the numbers in the book. Do not just take the word of a salesman. Preferably, you want to find someone at the dealership that deals more with the trucks to find someone who will be knowledgeable with weights.
Good luck with everything. Also, check out Natural Falls State Park off of Hwy 412 between Tulsa and Springdale, Arkansas. If you go to central Oklahoma, Red Rock Canyon State Park just on the south side of Hinton, Oklahoma is really nice. (Steep and twisty road going in and out.)
Terry
Flyone