Family hiking at Shenandoah National ParkThis was our very first RV road trip and, if asked at the time, I would probably say that it would be our last. It was not taken in our trusty Lazy Daze--that would be bought more than a year later--but in a rental vehicle that rattled and shook along the roads and leaked during rainstorms. Even worse was the fact that the TV set was positioned about a foot behind the driver's head and required an extremely loud volume to be heard over the rattling. The boys (who were 6 and 8 at the time) had been so looking forward to the novelty of watching TV while on the road that we just didn't have the heart to have them turn it off. Needless to say, driving a motorhome for the first time is stressful enough without all these other issues. Herb looked a bit shell shocked by the end of the trip and kept mumbling, "Never again."

Well, it took a few months for the trip to age, and before we knew it, Herb was bringing us to RV shows and talking about buying one. We had been bit by the road bug. The rest is history. That first rather stressful maiden voyage was a turning point in our lives--the beginning of what came to be a series of unforgettable and absolutely priceless family road trips.

This first trip was fairly modest in terms of mileage--or at least I thought so. However, when we told the rental place where we had been, they thought that we must have been out 2 weeks instead of just 1. They should see our later itineraries.