I have been reading the blog of another Class B RV owner and traveller. He has posted some interesting and informative posts in his blog. I thought, before I actually start my big trips that I would start something similar. Describing and detailing some of the features ... pro and con ... of my RV.

The main reason that I purchased the Class B, sometimes referred to as a van conversion, is because I am a traveller. I do not consider myself a camper at all. I can't see myself parked at a campsite somewhere, sitting in front of a campfire and toasting marshmallows over the open fire. I'm sure that it is a lot of fun ... it is just not my thing.

Before purchasing the Winnebago ERA I looked at some smaller Class A RV's. If I want to travel and explore the back roads of North America and the little town and villages ... then I need to be able to manoeuvre my unit. And the biggy ... I don't want to have to tow a vehicle (referred to as a "toad"in RV circles) around behind me.


After doing some research over the past several years I finally settled on the Winnebago ERA. It is 24 feet long ... only 7 feet longer than my Sienna van was. It is quite a bit taller at 10 feet. I'll talk more about that later. And it is only 6'4" wide. Not much wider than an SUV or van today. With just a little bit of a learning curve I found it is very drivable and I can manoeuvre it almost anywhere I can take my car. Even a Tim Hortons drive thru ... which is important as any good Canadian knows.

I have taken several small trips over the past few months. Kind of a shake down for the ERA to work out any bugs. Since I am a first time RV owner ... I had to learn a lot about the workings of the equipment ... both in the RV and the Mercedes/Sprinter chassis.

DEF ... does anyone know what the heck DEF is?? I didn't ... at least not till I had a warning light come on while travelling in Kentucky in December last year. When you are hundreds of kilometres from home, driving a new vehicle and a warning light comes on ... it's time to panic. Out comes the manual and after some frantic searching I find out the the new diesel engines require a Diesel Exhaust Fuel to help reduce emissions. I do recall the technician mentioning this when I first took delivery of my new ERA ... but I was on information overload and didn't remember. Thanks goodness for Walmart. A quick trip to the local Walmart and I purchased the necessary DEF and filled the tank. It is suppose to last for about 5000-6000 kilometres.

Overall all I have enjoyed my RV experience to date. I am planning to leave tomorrow on another little trip. I'll be gone for 4-6 days depending on the weather.

Over the next few weeks I will post more information on my experiences and the RV as I prepare for my first major travel adventure. My Maritime and Newfoundland Adventure. I will be gone for 2-3 months.

Till next time.