The first RV experience was with my parents when they took us on a weekend trip to Grand Lake Marys, Ohio. It was great and short lived as my dad got a heck of a deal from our neighbor on their slide in camper. Years later after fighting with tents for 10 years, we graduated to our first little 19 foot travel trailer in June of 1996. It was a 1976 Komfort, single-axel travel trailer designed to sleep two on the folded down table and two in the rear bunks. While we were able to take several trips around the state of Colorado (where we were living at the time) during that summer, the Colorado winter soon arrived and we had to have the unit winterized and stored. Over the winter holidays, we

decided the warmth of the South Padre, Texas sea coast would be nice so we decided to head south for a few days of R&R. Unfortunately, the morning we planned to leave brought snow and icy road conditions. We had hoped to drive out of the bad weather but hit black ice 50 miles south of home and ended up in a 4 car collision. Thankfully, no one in any of the 4 vehicles was hurt but our little travel trailer had taken the brunt of the impact and was totaled.

Owning the travel trailer had made us much wiser consumers so we definitely knew some additional features that we wanted in our next RV. We searched the Internet for "just the right coach" and quickly found a 1994 Mallard

19N double-axel travel trailer with a self-igniting water heater pilot that was perfect. We owned this vehicle for two years and then

traded up to the 2000 Alfa which we currently own. While the Alfa was much bigger and required a new pick up tow vehicle instead of our Chevy Blazer, the ability to stay in the coach for longer periods of time was a definite plus. Towing the 5th wheel was much easier than the travel trailers and there was seldom wind pull with the new vehicle. We purchased our 5th Wheel at Mike Thompsons RV in California.

My RV is a 2000 ALFA Ideal ID31RL 5th Wheel and my tow vehicle is a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 long bed with an 8 liter, V10 engine.