We drove from Idaho 2 1/2 days and arrived at Jackson TN at Smallwoods Camper and Trailer Sales on Monday. Kathy got her first look at our new home away from home and proclaimed it BIG! She is a beauty. Small problem with installing the B&W hitch as they had ordered the wrong one for our truck so that caused one days delay. We took the opportunity to drive down to Memphis today and visit Graceland. Elvis lives! Now, we have 2 1/2 weeks to travel the south going home. Many have advised a faster route but I say we get there when we get there. If we are a few days late, maybe we will retire early.

Congratulations on the new Cameo.Very nice trailer.You will enjoy many years of use.

Congratulations on the Cameo, I hope you love it as much as we do ours.

Congrats on the new house!! Its awesome you have the time to pick up your Cameo. One suggestion that I have heard was that if you have the time stay in the area of your dealer for a couple of days to work out any issues with the new unit.

We are neighbors, we also live in Idaho (Nampa).

Sherri and I wish you well. We have a Carriage and love it. We just got ours out of the hospital for a check up after the hailstorm and being on the road for a year. The outcome was good...just a few minor fixes and we are good to go for another year. We should start a RV-Dreamers Carriage page!

Thanks for all of the good vibes! We are staying another night at the dealers lot as the Hitch is not installed yet, and Kathy and I want a lot of time to practice backing and turning. They have a huge lot here with several acres of empty blacktop in a new RV storage area that has just been built. Onward!

Congrats, we will be picking up our new Rig in a few weeks, then heading to the Rally, it is an exciting time for many of us, G

Congrats on your new Cameo!  That is a really nice unit.  Take your time and enjoy the moment.  Your comment "maybe we will retire early" is a good attitude.  The sooner the better I say.
--Mike

Thanks for the vote of confidence! So far, the only items of repair (and we took everyones advice to stay a few days at the dealers) was a cracked fitting on the hot h2o tank discovered by the tech installing a water filter under the sink cold tap, and some minor fit and finish issues taken care of promptly. We are brand new to this large trailer life and spent a few tense hours on the back lot getting frustrated learning to back up. Kathy did great! I didn’t do so well although I challenged myself to back into a 10 ft wide spot on the blind side! More practice tomorrow!

Congratulation on your new Cameo.   You made a great choice.  We just picked up our 36FWS and knew within a few hours that we had made the right choice. 

Enjoy every minute with it.

Congrats! The backing will come. I used to drive a tractor-trailer for a living. It just takes a little practice.

Luvglass (Fred)
It works best if you ignore the flailing and yelling coming from the better half who does not understand what you are going through in order to put that big sucker into that small spot. But Kathy did it today!! I turned the wheel over to her after the owner of Smallwoods gave his "southern man" take on it by saying to her " let your man do his thing and just make sure he doesn't run into anything" It took her awhile but she learned how to back it in off the blind side too! And we camped out first night out in the Cameo at Trace State Park near the Natchez Trace Parkway on a lake with the "IT"factor as Howard says! All is well in the Delfino family!.

-- Edited by Gandalf on Thursday 18th of March 2010 07:00:33 PM

-- Edited by Gandalf on Thursday 18th of March 2010 07:01:13 PM

Cindy and I were sitting around the campfire one night and we saw a truck come into the park towing a travel trailer. We listened as the driver tried in vain to back his travel trailer into a spot. The couple ended up yelling at each other and then the doors on the truck slammed shut and they sped off out of the park...apparently so frustrated, they just decided to leave. The DW and I bought walkie-talkies several years ago. She can communicate calmly with me without having to stay in my mirrors and wave her hands. I think the walkie-talkies were one of the best RV accessories we ever purchased.

Shane, the owner of the dealer we bought our Cameo from, gave us a few lessons today in backing up into tight spots. He also gave some "advice" on who should be in the drivers seat. Kathy listened but ignored his advice and took the wheel and backed her up and maneuvered her around several orange cones with confidence. Pat was not concerned nor was he surprised. We did learn a lot about patience and tolerance. As for walkie talkies I did hear some advice that you should drop the DW (or DH as rhe case may be) off at the local tavern with a walkie talkie and go to the campground, back in by yourself, and then call him/her when the deed is done. Makes for a happier and jollier DW/DH!

Best method for Linda and I is she watches and makes sure I don't hit anything. I get out often and look where I'm at and when I'm close I show her where I want tires to be and she stops me at this point .Takes a while but avoids conflict for us. We tried walkie talkies  but just didn't work for us. I think the best method is whatever works for you.We also promised each other to laugh our way through the whole process and not worry about it.We actually prefer pull thru's  and go that route when possible.

Good advice George! I believe the driver needs to know how to back up and the spotter needs to know where he/she needs to end up and indicate in some way (laughing is good) that the driver is on the right track. Worked for us at Trace.

Why is it that we seem to do our best maneuvers when no one is watching and if there is a spectator its like a three ring circus gone bad ???

-- Edited by 2fortheroad on Friday 19th of March 2010 08:29:28 AM

I have gotten pretty good at backing up as well, out of necessity! We live on a busy north/south thoroughfare with a grass median in the middle and I pretty much block all the south lanes when I am backing my trailer into the driveway. It does not take very long before traffic is backed up quite a ways up the street. I have had people honk their horns repeatedly in disgust, (as though that will help me park quicker). One young guy even drove his BMW right up to the side of my trailer and was hanging out the window yelling at me that he was going to be late for his job. I suggested he leave earlier next time. And I even had one lady call 911 and report that I was blocking the road. The police showed up (after I had finished parking) and offered to block the road for me while I parked the trailer, if I called them ahead of time. Most people just sit and wait patiently for the 15 to 30 seconds it takes me to clear a lane of travel and I try to give those folks a friendly wave when they go by. Needless to say, there is a lot of pressure to get the trailer into the driveway as quickly as possible with as few forward and back motions as possible.

Hey, I hope you guys don't get too good at backing up your rigs. Some of the best entertainment of the evening is watching people try to back into their sites!!

Some of them put on a real show for us.

Congratulations on the new trailer.

Jim

We opted for a pull through tonight at Riverview in Vidalia LA across from Natchez, but arrived after dark. That is my worst time! Where is #42? Can you see the electric post? How come you had to stop 50 times to gawk at imaginary Choctaw villages as we would have been here before dark..... Oh no, I didn't mean that honey! ( and I really didn't really!) Driving 250 miles today on the Natchez Trace Parkway was a challenge too as it had narrow lanes and sudden pull offs with little warning but we did it! On to Austin, San Antonio, New Mexico and Canyonlands in Utah!

Sounds like you are having a great time. Hope the weather holds for you. It has been pretty nice here in Idaho last few days. A little windy but tolerable.

Today was blustery and cold as we left Vidalia and headed towards Livingston Texas. We had an adventure on Louisianna Hwy 8 when we discovered that 10 miles ahead was a 12 foot 3 inch bridge!! And we were 12 foot 10 inches(confirmed by a pretty disgusted Pat at a bridge where there seemed to be a way to turn around) Let this be a warning to all newbies....Keep your eyes peeled for low clearance signs as the google maps and mapquest routing stuff doesn't tell you about these obstructions. Pat turned on a dime (my how easy those fivers turn around!) and several detours latter we were at Livingston State Park in Texas backing into a great spot. All is well!

-- Edited by Gandalf on Sunday 21st of March 2010 08:38:27 PM