what magazines or books to read for a newbe

Hello Folks

Richard and Jackie from NH here. We are on our search for our first RV. We are veteran campers but an air mattress on the ground in our LL Bean tent no longer does it. In my searching I have ended up here and based on the great people I have corresponded with, this forum, and the very helpful folks at Phoenix this is where I will end up. I'm buying the knowledge I have found here and the company, the RV just comes with it. My question is what magazines or books do you recommend for some first timers like us? I already subscribe to Trailer Life. Our search started with a Hybrid trailer, then up to a hard sided, and now to this class C/B+. Our camping is done mostly in State Parks and the off the beaten path camp grounds. We will still use our tents for some of the more wilderness camping we do in northern Maine and New Hampshire. If anyone knows it our favorite place is South Arm Campground near Andover Maine. When our daughter was little we tent camped in the campground. As she grew older we canoed up the lake to the wilderness sites. Lost food to a bear a few times and had a moose wander right through the middle of our campsite once. But now our daughter is grown and gone to Tahoe and if we want to see her we will need to travel there. A PC 2350 looks like a very nice way to do that. Plus it will help get us out here on the weekends close to home too. Any suggestions you may have will be greatly appriciated.

We bought our first RV 3 years ago, an Airstream Interstate Class B Sprinter. We had never camped before but had sailed and lived on our sailboat for 3 monthes while looking for our house in Florida. Our thought was: if we can be happy on the sailboat then we could travel in a 22' RV. The B was too small. Found Phoenix on the internet and the rest is history.

Prior to the B, we never read anything about camping. Now, as members of Good Sam, we get their magazine. We don't belong to Family Motorcoach Assoc. but I pick up their magazine at our Friends of the Library bookstore for $.25 each so now we read as much as possible.

We also check out RV.Net Forum daily and there are a couple of Sprinter Forums that we were members of when we had the Sprinters.

The folks on this Forum are the most helpful group!!! Yesterday, we wanted to put a courtesy light inside by the battery switch and had a question on how to wire it in. Kermit, the owner of Phoenix called, explained how to do it and we talked about a half hour about the mods we made to our 2551. Phoenix folks are super.

We were at Danforth Bay in Freedom NH the weekend after Labor Day for the Phoenix Rally. Were you aware that it was happening there
Not too far from you guys. Very nice campground.

Judi and George

Our camping is done mostly in State Parks and the off the beaten path camp grounds.

Hi (again) Rich.  We too find ourselves camping off the beaten path more often then not.  We especailly appreciate BLM camp grounds as they are usually nestled near creeks & rivers and other scenic highlights.

As I mentioned to you through direct email, any of the newer PCs with two batteries and the inveter, makes for a great power source for such camping.  All tanks, gasoline, fresh water, waste water, and propane, all in combination make the PC work well for extended periods without services.  But if you both must bathe daily, that would become an issue.  40 gallons of fresh water will last only so long.

When camping without hookups for extended periods, you will need to monitor your batteries closely if you use the inverter a lot.  With power to the inverter killed, the batteries last a long time.  We invert to watch TV (DVD movies) and enjoy the PC coffee maker so we keep the batteries maintained through 1 hour daily charge times using a 4/10/20/40 amp charger set to 40 amps, powered by the generator.

We were at Danforth Bay in Freedom NH the weekend after Labor Day for the Phoenix Rally. Were you aware that it was happening there
Not too far from you guys. Very nice campground.

Judi and George

Hi Judi. No, I just found this group and the PC a couple of weeks ago. I had gone to a Camper World store on a rainy Sunday and saw a Winnabago View which I liked, but Jackie did not like the bed above the cab. So that got me looking at other Sprinter based options. And here is where I landed. I would have loved to have known about the rally as it would have been great to see some of these units in person and get a feeling of them. I am sure that there will be others happening. Maybe not so close but I dont mind taking a trip to see for my self.

Check out www.rvtravel.com and register for their free weekly online newsletter.  They also have an online bookstore that offers a large selection of books at resonable prices.  In additon to state and municipal parks, we try to stay at Corps of Engineer campgrounds wherever possible.  Their campgrounds are well maintained, on or near water since they build dams and most have full hook-ups for around $22 (half price if you have the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass--which also gets you into all National Parks free).  There is a book at the rvtravel bookstore that shows the location and information for all Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds.  We also check www.rvparkreviews.com for user comments on campgrounds while we're travelling.