After months of waiting, we finally picked up our Jayco 32BHDS this weekend and brought it home and went driveway surfing. The anticipation of this day, plus all the frustration that we had getting to this point was instantly gone. I can not fully explain that feeling of putting the truck into park and seeing a 36ft travel trailer parked in front of my garage, but it was similar to becoming a father, only this time it was to an 8,000lb camper.
Our plan for our first weekend was to driveway camp, or be “driveway surfing” as I have seen it called around the Internet. The idea is that you camp out in your driveway for the first week as if you were at a campsite. This allows you to really break in the camper and be a few feet away from most things you might need that you didn’t think of. Believe me, we did not think of a lot our first trip out.
As part of this breaking in point, even though we just came from the dealership where we had our walk-through of how everything in the camper works, it was like we forgot everything. That was completely realized as we kept tripping breakers in our house throughout the day and night. 110v is not 30amps, or even 20amps for that reason, so we were constantly figuring out what can be run in the camper on electric and what had to be on propane (hint: it was only the AC, lights and TV, the fridge and water heater both needed to be propane).
The best part of this weekend was not getting to know the camper, it was the fun we had with our kids and our neighbors. Maybe one of the best parts of driveway surfing is having your home neighbors within walking distance, and seeing them throughout the weekend was just like being at an actual campground. They brought their kids, drinks and food. We sat in our driveway as a family, played in our yard as if it were a park, went on a walk as if we were hiking and even made a few S’mores. Our test run was a success and we have our checklists in place for a smoother outing on our next adventure. We can not wait to share those memories with all of you!
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