Our first trips out.

Our first trip was a test run. We wanted to try a boondocking-type run so we took our 22MLE to a friend’s house out in the country.
We had access to water and electric. We connected to their 20amp house connection and water but only used what we could without these connections.
This was just for one night to see how the set-up and take-down would be and to get an idea of what we might see in water usage and holding tank usage.
It actually went very well. I managed to navigate down the narrow – curved driveway without running over any border stones (a bit of a challenge) and into place. Leveling went very well. I had already mounted levels inside door for side-to-side and front-to-back while the MLE was leveled in our driveway. We had also purchased two packs of leveling blocks. Both of these together made the job easy.
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I already had an adapter to hook a household heavy duty extension cord up to the the trailer but did not take my cord from home as I planned to use the 30amp cable that came with the trailer. I discovered that the plug on the end of the 30amp cable and my surge suppressor are not the twist type that connects to the adapter. Luckily our friends had along shop extension cord that we used.


I got adapters to be sure I can use any source we encounter in the future. One is for the normal 30amp to a 30amp twist and the other from normal 30amp to a 50amp plug.


We used an inline water filter on the supply hose that we got on Amazon. The well water still tasted rather different than what we are used to but using Brita Everyday Filter & Pitcher made it taste fine.


We were set up in no time at all and relaxing.


After grilling out a nice dinner, we had a marvelous (socially distanced) evening with our friends around a great campfire.

When we returned home, I emptied and flushed the tanks. We have an outside access to our sewer line so this was an easy task.

The next test run was with full hook ups at a NJ campground. We only did one night in case we found any major discrepancies. We found a great little local campground. When I made my reservation, the owner said the spots we were asking for were hard to back into but I found them to be quite easy. I backed right into the spot and only adjusted slightly for an even better angle.
The trailer pulled beautifully. I hardly noticed semi’s blasting past me and actually had to keep an eye on the speedometer to keep from going too fast. We got over 12mpg which is better than expected.

The site was quite roomy and provided great shade. Setup went smoothly. The site was level enough I didn’t need to use the leveling blocks under the tires on either side. The items in the cabinets had stayed in place thanks to the small baskets we use and the small tension rods.
We were overlooking the little lake which was nice. The bullfrogs started up at dusk but never got too loud for sleeping.

We were pretty well equipped for the trip but discovered that we should make a few more Amazon purchases. Our 20′ of water hose was about 5′ too short. I also reasoned that there would be times we might need a longer 30amp power cable.
Another item that would be handy is a folding cart to carry items (such as firewood) in.
We managed to gather up a good collection of dead limbs from behind the site and enjoyed a very nice fire before retiring.

I hear so many people say they hate the mattress that comes with the trailer but we like it. I do expect it will have a short life though.
We enjoyed a couple of nice walk/hikes but nothing is opened yet due to Covid19 policies.
The process of packing up went quick and easy so we ended our first trip with great satisfaction and headed home.
We got the trailer parked and emptied everything we needed to bring in and are already looking forward to the first long trip now.