Maiden voyage in our 85 Palomino

[Jeremy]

We have a few bigger trips planned for this year, including a 10 day trip from Chicago to New Mexico and back. We picked up our N2U 85 Palomino Stallion last month and spent a few weekends going over everything to see what needed to be fixed/replaced.
   
 After getting everything fixed, cleaned, and replaced, we were ready for our first outting. We picked a campground about 30 minutes away. We also opted for a one nighter incase we ran into issues. Oh, and it wasn't just the first trip for our camper, it was also our first camping trip with our 11 week old daughter. We figured, keep it close if there's a meltdown with the baby or the camper!
   
 I only had two pseudo SPUTS for the outting. I pulled into the site from the wrong way, so the door was on the wrong side of the site..oops. After getting everything leveled (big props to Lynx Levelers...those rock!) we went to setup the awning. I zip open the bag and start to unroll it... and I realize the white side is up and the fantabulous 80's colors are facing down. I seems when I took the awning off the camper a couple weeks ago to clean/scrub it, I put the bag back on the camper upside down..
   
 Other than those two little flubs it was an awesome overnight experience. We got a chance to do a full setup with all the hookups and test everything in a "real life" situation. The bunk end covers I picked up fit perfectly, the tacky lights looked..well..tacky, no leaks from the water and no sparks from the electric. We cooked two meals on the stove inside the camper and everything came out nice.
   
 Our DD was great the whole outting. An occassional gas induced fuss here and there, but she slept through the night. Our puppy was just loving the camper as he got to sleep in the bunk with me instead of in his crate like when we tent camped.
   
Here's some pictures from the weekend.
   
 
 We can't wait to get back out again and put some more nights under our belt in the pop up. We have a weekend planned in August up at Wisconsin Dells and then September we're off on our 10 day trip.
   
 We were smart and brought a pen and paper and jotted down things we needed to pickup, and thankfully the list was pretty short (thanks to the folks here and the other pop up sites)

[hoppy]

Good to hear that you had a successful first trip out with the Palomino. My first PU was a 78' Pal, and it held up extremely well.

 BTW, great pics.

 But one thing I noticed while reviewing the pics is that your awning has a "belly" in the middle of it.  The first rain, and that is going to fill with water, and possibly rip the awning. At minimum, it will  pull the two ground stakes out, and collapse the awning.

  Just thought I would mention that before you have to learn this lesson the hard way.

  Good luck with the Pal. The canvas looks like it's in excellent shape. Did you recently replace it?

[Jeremy]

Good luck with the Pal. The canvas looks like it's in excellent shape. Did you recently replace it?

Nope, that's the original 1985 canvas (it's kinda like a canvas/vinyl material). No rips,tears,etc. There is one small section of the interior window (maybe 3-4") where the tinted plastic is partially separated from the zipper. Other than that, everythings in great shape. Well worth the $400 we paid for the camper.
 
As for the awning, when it looks like rain, we'll lower the two outside poles so the water doesn't have a chance to pool up on the canopy.