1 reviews
(5)Moshe N.
5•August 2024
Boondocking in style!The process began with great communication from our host Jen. I had eleven questions for her, and she provided eleven succinct and accurate answers. I was their first guest who used the RV off grid, so a little extra communication was required. Also, we were running about two hours late on pickup day. We communicated about it and our host was gracious about it. They let our daughters use their house bathroom when we arrived.We settled on a patch of grass and the RV's auto-leveling system worked like a charm to make the RV lay perfectly flat. The generator always started. The A/C was powerful! The beds were comfortable.The cookware and other kitchen amenities were all present. We were able to cook and eat without feeling like anything was missing. Salt & pepper were provided. Cooking oil was not. Saran wrap, aluminum foil, paper towels x 1, and small trash bags and one large garbage bag were. I wish we had had one extra roll of paper towels and a few more large garbage bags.I loved how the cabin seats could be rotated 180 degrees to face the living room. These seats are low to the ground but worked well for our young children.Other great amenities included were two 0-gravity reclining chairs. So relaxing to recline in them underneath the awning. We also brought a 10x10 shade structure with us, but ended up not really needing it because the awning provided all the shade we needed. We also parked with trees to our east, which kept us cool in the morning.Something a little unusual about this RV is that the standard 4-person indoor dining table (the kinds that converts to a mediocre bed) was removed and instead replaced with a comfy lazy-boy style electric-reclining loveseat. We had to turn on the generator to operate the couch's reclining mode. It would have been useful had we used the TV at all, but we were fortunate to be able to spend most of our time outdoors. Even though we didn't use it, it's a really nice and comfortable leather couch. I think it would receive a lot of use if we did not have our young attention-demanding children with us.Two small folding tables were included, as well as two standard folding chairs. We realized that we would be short on folding chairs and brought along additional folding chairs. We recommend that the owner include more folding chairs because they make it possible for families to have a nicer dining experience. The vehicle also included camping chairs. We did not use them so we do not know if they would have been at the right height for the dining table.One of the two ceiling fans (thankfully not the one in the bathroom) did not work during my trip (although it worked during the walk-thru right before we left). Overall, the owner takes great care to service the vehicle proactively. I had a lot of confidence in the vehicle and the number of mechanical issues were minimal. These fans were a bit complicated to use because they included a thermostat and never seemed to turn on when we wanted them to. Eventually we figured out that they could be left in manual mode and then pressing a switch on the fan itself would allow us to start and stop the fan.Something Jen warned me about was that the fridge keeps things cool but not cold. However, we discovered that the freezer actually freezes things! We had a habit of moving our canned beverages from the cool box to the freezer, and then drinking them while they were extremely cold. By keeping them on the door, they never froze, but oh did they get so nice and cold!When we put our 2/3 full water bottles in the back of the freezer, they became frozen solid. We then added the remaining 1/3 space with water and voila, ice cold water for our hikes. If something really needs to be kept cold, keep it in the freezer or in a chest cooler with a big bag of ice.The RV does not include an oven, but it did come with a gas BBQ grill, which we used to make amazing steaks. We had an amazing family meal and on steak night we were even able to invite our camping neighbors to join us at our table.Packing up was a challenge for us because of kids and because we brought too much stuff with us. We ended returning on the late side. We were glad to be charged a late fee because we felt bad about our tardiness. We were also assessed an extra $100 cleaning fee because we left dishes in the sink. Being off-grid we had run out of water which made the cleanup more difficult. Perhaps we also left other messes that we were not aware of. I think the extra fees were fair and reasonable. I am making a mental note that I need to allocate more time on future trips for clean-upSo many wonderful memories were made! A great vehicle, with great amenities, and a caring helpful host. Highly recommend!