Hello from The Crowded Camper!

[rdickey]

Hi everyone! We are full timing in a Heartland Landmark, and loving life. Brand new to the rv lifestyle, and are three months into this year-long adventure. We have two small kids, a couple large dogs and a fish with us. My husband is in the military and doing a year of training around the states. We decided a fifth wheel would be an adventure instead of living in hotels and dorms. Besides, we have a retired military working dog with us, and as sweet as he is, most places don't welcome a 105lb Belgian Malanois, even with working dog paperwork and a shiny badge.

Anyway, can't wait to mingle with other Heartland families! I started a blog, really to tell on my husband and his billion snafus as he works around managing our camper... When we were looking at buying one, I wanted to know what life was like in a camper full time with kids and pets, and couldn't really find answers to what I was looking for. Another reason for the blog. I hope you'll all check it out and contribute, as I am so new to this lifestyle I need all the advice and help I can get~

Has anyone else removed their dining table and chairs in lieu of dog crates? Where do you put your own Christmas tree? Has your child used your floor vents to "melt the fat off their crayons" Do you watch your tanks drain with the enthusiasm that my children do? Have you ever auto-leveled your camper but it really isn't level? (http://www.crowdedcamper.com/?p=41) I still don't understand why that happened. Does full-timing ever get old? Does the sanity ever return? Did your children turn out ok?

So many questions... Thanks for the replies!

 

[danemayer]

Hi Becky,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and congratulations on your Landmark. This forum not only provides lots of information and a great place to get questions answered, but it's also a hub for socializing with other Heartland Owners. The EVENTS tab at the top of page lists the scheduled local, regional and North American rallies where you can get together with others and have a great time. Now's a great time to join the Owners Club. There's a change coming January 1 changing the initial membership to 1 year, but until then you can still get a 3 year membership for the same price.

We relocated our dining table a few inches to the rear to give us more space when seated. The mounting screws are covered by wood caps, but are easy to get to. And yes, I watch my tanks drain with enthusiasm, but my DW leaves that to me.

Again, welcome. Look forward to meeting you at an upcoming rally.

 

[VKTalley]

Welcome, Becky, to the Heartland family! Don't hesitate to ask all the questions you need to have answered! My husband and I full-time in our BC (no kids but one cat) and love the freedom it has afforded us; traveling to see the granddaughters, moving to different locations for work. As for a Christmas tree.....I have a Charlie Brown tree. check out our blog for all our fun and adventures.

 

[rdickey]

Welcome, Becky, to the Heartland family! Don't hesitate to ask all the questions you need to have answered! My husband and I full-time in our BC (no kids but one cat) and love the freedom it has afforded us; traveling to see the granddaughters, moving to different locations for work. As for a Christmas tree.....I have a Charlie Brown tree. check out our blog for all our fun and adventures.

Love your blog!! Thanks for the welcome! We don't get to travel because my husband is working so I'm envious of those people that actually have campers that camp. Lol.

-- We are working on becoming Members to the Heartland owners Club and getting our dues in before the new year! Sounds like a much better deal! We just realized today that some Heartlands have theater seating and some have recliners. Ours have recliners and I am SO jealous of the theater seats. It seems like the recliners don't recline. Boo! Anyone else have that problem? Is it hard to trade them out?

 

[Wmnmy]

Love your blog!! Thanks for the welcome! We don't get to travel because my husband is working so I'm envious of those people that actually have campers that camp. Lol.

-- We are working on becoming Members to the Heartland owners Club and getting our dues in before the new year! Sounds like a much better deal! We just realized today that some Heartlands have theater seating and some have recliners. Ours have recliners and I am SO jealous of the theater seats. It seems like the recliners don't recline. Boo! Anyone else have that problem? Is it hard to trade them out?

please do and come join the fun Quartzsite Arizona in January great folks and truly a great time we went to or first rally in California and had a great time with a group of great folks come join us .....

 

[rdickey]

please do and come join the fun Quartzsite Arizona in January great folks and truly a great time we went to or first rally in California and had a great time with a group of great folks come join us .....

I wish we could! We will be in Arkansas in January. Maybe I should check there! We will be in AR until March and after that Albuquerque for most of the summer.

 

[VKTalley]

Love your blog!! Thanks for the welcome! We don't get to travel because my husband is working so I'm envious of those people that actually have campers that camp. Lol.

-- We are working on becoming Members to the Heartland owners Club and getting our dues in before the new year! Sounds like a much better deal! We just realized today that some Heartlands have theater seating and some have recliners. Ours have recliners and I am SO jealous of the theater seats. It seems like the recliners don't recline. Boo! Anyone else have that problem? Is it hard to trade them out?

Hi Becky! Thank you on the blog! I started reading and following yours too! We had the swivel rocker recliners (which I could hardly move around) in our unit that were soon replaced with just recliners we found at Costco. The swivel-rocker was of no use to me. Ours were very easy to remove & replaced and we love the Craftsman-inspired recliners we have now (I can move them!!!).

 

[rdickey]

Hi Becky! Thank you on the blog! I started reading and following yours too! We had the swivel rocker recliners (which I could hardly move around) in our unit that were soon replaced with just recliners we found at Costco. The swivel-rocker was of no use to me. Ours were very easy to remove & replaced and we love the Craftsman-inspired recliners we have now (I can move them!!!).

I never considered any random recliner! My brain has stayed inside the box so far. Wow. The possibilities are endless now!

 

[VKTalley]

Yup, Becky, the possibilities are endless....just measure your space before you go shopping so you know how much room you have for the new pieces. Our new recliners are the same width (side to side) as the old swivel/rocker/recliners but they are just a couple of inches deeper (front to back). They still fit into the slide nicely without any trouble. We looked at several different options before settling on these recliners.