Having grown up a boy scout and living in the woods, I thought I would be prepared for RV life too.  Yes, I cook at home and know my way around the kitchen thanks entirely to my mom when I was growing up.  In recent years, we have become such a busy family that the convenience or inconvenience of eating food on the go has become expensive and very unhealthy for me and my family.
When I started researching everything that I should have in my camper, I kept running across this pot that people would always put near the top of their lists as must haves.  So being the connected guy that I am, I added it to my amazon Christmas wish list along with many others things steaming from the basics to the really wished for.  So Christmas arrives and low and behold, I've got my very own Instant Pot. 
Now what should I do with it?  From first glance, it looks kinda complicated and scary.  I remember watching my mom and grandmother using a pressure cooker when I was younger and all the stories that told me about how dangerous it was.  I also remember the time my grandmother needed help removing the cooker lid that was now part of her kitchen ceiling.  I started looking up recipes and reading articles of the best way to use it becoming aware that I should start practicing on my family and experimenting.
I have found several recipes that we all enjoy and have also adapted a few of my own in the little time that I have had the pot. I have found that this little gem can not only steam cook a meal but you can also use it to prepare other meals or just use it to brown meat or cook bacon with very little splatter.
Over all in just a few weeks, I give it 2 thumbs up but lets see how it does in a few months when we take it on our first trip.  Stay tuned...

I am new to this RVing thing and I am learning each and everyday!  I wanted to share an experience I had with a company I've never been to or directly purchased anything from.  I recently bought a (new to me) 2011 Palomino Bronco 1200 from a dealer in Apex, NC.  I have never owned a camper before or any kind or RV.  After my wife and I picked up the camper and got the normal walk through on basic systems, we were on our way back home.  Everything seemed to work and the only main thing that I knew I needed was a new battery.

In my learning curve, I decided to take the popup up/down a few times and see if there were any hidden issues.  I noticed that when the top was down, there was no power to the outlets but sometimes after raising the top, the power still wasn't working.  After using my engineering instructor knowledge, ie: volt meter, I realized there was what I thought was a short somewhere, long story short, there wasn't a short but a faulty kill switch that triggers when you lower the top, but this switch was rusty and sometimes didn't like to re-trigger itself. 

I did the usual thing that most people do today, tried my luck on google and didn't really find anyone or thing that mentioned the switch and was starting to think I was going to have to rig something with a different type of switch.  Before I did that, I had a thought of calling
Forest River, inc's support line and seeing if they could help.
I had already gone over their website but the camper manuals didn't go back to 2011 and the newer ones didn't mention the kill switch.  The customer service rep was more than helpful and told me after asking that the switch could be around $10 but they needed a photo to make sure they knew which type I had. 
I sent a couple of photos and within 30 mins, I received a reply asking for my address and said they would ship it out that day for FREE!  Yes, you read that right.  I could not say thank you enough and when the package arrived with 2 day overnight mail, it not only had 1 but 2 switches.  As far as I know, this camper isn't under warranty and I have never dealt with them before but I can say that in the future, they will be at the top of my list if and when I look to upgrade.

As I have been getting ready to travel this great country of ours I am realizing how much I still have to do.  It's too cold outside to work on the camper so I have started several endeavors to get make my journeys as enjoyable as possible.  One of those tasks has become learning how to cook all over again.  Being a former boy scout, I learned most of what I needed to know to be able to survive in the wilderness for extended periods of time.  What I have come to realize, that knowledge is somewhat limited to cooking by a campfire and living out of  a backpack.

Before it got so uncomfortably cold, I took my truck camper up to Stone Mountain State Park in North Carolina.  I am ashamed to say that I've never ventured up there even though I've live within a couple of hours of it for 28 years.  My family sent me alone as they didn't quite trust my new RVing knowledge and wanted to make sure they would have a good time when I had it all figured out.  After my weekend, I didn't freeze to death, the camper worked better than expected.  My cooking skills need improvement.  I ate well, but after the smoke alarm going off several times and having to figure out where to pour the grease I realized I needed to rethink things.

Another thing on my radar is preparing to boondock!  This part of my learning curve is really the most intriguing and scary too.  To be able to stop and setup for the night without having to pay or for the experience is awesome.  There are parts to it that worry me but if I am prepared for the various needs then I'm guessing it will be a great experience.  But with it all, it seems to me that I will need to find a RV campground or 2 along the way, just to take the stress off the camper and my nerves too and to say the least, to get cleaned up with true hot shower. 

In the coming weeks, I hope to detail all these details along with others, the trip itself, what and where I want to go and the reasons why.  I hope you join me for the ride.