Oh Nellie, what a great first camper you were! We outgrew you and up-sized to Shasta, but you will always be fondly remembered as our beloved first “Recreational Vehicle”!
It all started when we borrowed Art and Reda’s Winnebago for a weekend camping trip with Billy and Marisa at Lake Tawakoni State Park. We were hooked and decided to “just start looking” at campers for fun. Well, I think it took all of a week or two before we were handing over a check to purchase Nellie. The sweet family that owned her needed to sell in order to buy a home. She was officially ours. That was in April 2017.
Why do we call her Nellie? From the first time we towed her, we couldn’t believe the “bucking bronco” action that went on over every bump and turn. We’d say “Whoa, Nellie”. We’d pull up to our destinations and doors were shaken loose off the hinges, things had flown from the front to the back, everything was bounced around and out of place. You never knew what to expect when you opened the door.
Her Specs:
- 2011 Flagstaff by Forest River Super Lite 831RKSS (although we found out later this was the wrong sticker – it should have a BH in it standing for Bunk House – we’re now professionals on the lingo)
- 33ft long, 6,094 lbs dry weight (the top of what Kevin’s maroon truck could pull – sooooooo, of course he had to upgrade to a higher towing capacity, hence the black DuraMax he now owns)
- 30 AMP service (only one air conditioner, which made it so much easier to reserve a spot at the state parks since there are always more 30 AMP sites than 50 AMP)
The Floorplan:
- U-shaped dinette (which turns into a bed) with large storage drawers under the seats
- Couch pulls out into a queen bed with an electric inflater for the mattress (I would not call it comfortable, plus it was a pain when the bed was out, because the foot of the bed touched the kitchen, so you couldn’t squeeze by, but had to crawl over it (and person laying there) to get to the bathroom (first world problems . . .lol).
- Kitchen had a built-in microwave, gas oven/stove, RV size fridge (in other words, “very small”) and a pass through under the upper cabinets, which I found super convenient to hand stuff to people at the front door to take outside without having to climb the stairs (Yes, that’s lazy . . ..) Doing dishes in the sink (using tiny amounts of water, so we wouldn’t fill up the gray tank too fast) was a back breaker! The counter height was scaled for those 5ft and under, and the upper cabinets just enough in the way, that I had to stand with a stoop – wore my back out! The oven had never been used by the previous owner and didn’t work most of the time we owned it until Kevin figured out there was a factory defect and replaced the part.
- Master Bedroom had 2 pocket doors on either side that could be closed off (A MUST HAVE for our sanity). The regular Queen size mattress was an upgrade from the RV Queen mattress which is about a foot short of a real Queen. It’s actually super comfy! The end hung over the frame, but it worked fine. As a matter of fact, when we traded Nellie for Shasta, we traded out the mattresses too. My favorite part of the room was that we had 2 “night stands” under the cabinets for us to put phones, drinks, etc. I call them “arm holes” because I like to sleep with my arm under my pillow and jetting off the side of the bed. This was one of my “must-have” criteria in search for our new camper so I didn’t feel claustrophobic. Unfortunately I had to sacrafice and forgo the arm holes – Man I miss those! We also had a mounted TV that I’m pretty sure we only used once, because we could never get any channels to come in on the antenna. We did add a mounted DVD player, but I’m not sure we ever used it. Afterall, camping is NOT for watching TV, but it’s nice to have it if you want it.
- Entertainment center with a mounted TV, stereo, DVD player and built-in interior and exterior speakers. Chewy has his own form of entertainment watching his “TV shows” out the windows. That’s the best kind – real nature!
- Bunk room with a pocket door and 3 beds. The bed on the left was a good size (that was Cameron’s), but the bunks on the right were super narrow – like 30 inches wide. Nolan likes a tight space to sleep in, but it was getting to the point where he couldn’t even straighten his legs out. This is what sparked our thoughts on upgrading to a new fifth wheel – the kids were outgrowing their beds. There was an emergency exit (or party door) that opened from the bottom bunk, so we could store stuff like chairs, tubs, canopy and whatever else we could jam in there.
- Bathroom had a toilet, large sink & shower/tub combo (that probably got used 3 times total). It was tiny, and as goes for most RV showers, the water pressure was barely strong enough to do anything but run down the shower head instead of spraying out from it. We used the bath houses at the state parks to take showers. Some were nice and some were not so nice . . .
Exterior Features:
- The outdoor Kitchen was one of our favorite features! Sink, gas burner, mini fridge and a 2nd microwave that got used way more than the inside one. So nice to cook all of the bacon and sausage outside where it didn’t stink up and heat up the whole camper.
- There was an electric awning that rolled out where we’d always put a table under to hold our crockpot, automatic ice maker (since it took so long to make ice in the teeny tiny ice trays in the teeny tiny fridge) and, of course we had to have our Keurig plugged in for coffee in the mornings. Really roughing it, I know! This is why I like “glamping” so much. Still have all of the comfort of A/C, a good bed and 2 Kitchens, all surrounded by nature and the outdoors. Best of both worlds!
The trip to the dump station at the end of each trip is not so glamorous, but that’s what boys are for 🙂
Nellie gave us a year of good memories and she was the PERFECT first camper for us. Hope the new family that gets her treats her nice, and likes her as much as we did. Now we’ve moved on to the bigger and better “Shasta” and look forward to making many more happy memories. Bye Nellie – Happy Trails!
To Have And To Haas 