Couch review / "Shakedown cruise"

The following is my attempt at a review of our buying experience plus the first road trip with the new Pod.  Hope it's not too rambling.  lol

Made the 1100+ mile trip from Cent. TX to Couch's to pick up our new 171.  Worth the trip based on the good price.  Nothing special about the dealership or their level of hospitality.  Not bad, not good.  Just matter of fact (as also noted by several others).  As noted below, however, the predelivery inspection could have been better.

Total round trip was just under 2400 mi.  From Cent. TX to OH via AR, TN & KY.  Then back to TX via IN, IL, MO & OK.

We stayed overnight at the dealership.  Good move.  By the following morning:  Found a leak in the water line connected to city water.  DVD drive was bad so the entertainment center had to be replaced.  Audio/video wires were connected wrong + one wire was not even connected to its terminal.  Then the terminal connector panel was faulty & had to be replaced.  The techs were great about taking care of the problems ASAP and, everything else having checked out ok, we were on the road by ~10 am.

The E2 hitch helps it trail nicely.  On a mix of interstates & 2-lane state highways at around 60-65, we got around 12.5-13 mpg (Tundra 4.6 L V-8 which gets around 19.5-20 on interstates).  So, our mileage seems like it is about what most everyone else gets.  Overnighted in Vandalia, IL and had some good rain to sleep through.  Nice .. & no leaks.  Between St. Louis & Springfield, MO, we hit more rain.  No problems.  Well, except for one:  All lights had checked out fine when we left the dealership but, at the end of the day, I found that the right brake & turn signal/flasher weren't working.  It turned out that the connection to the TV was in the socket but pretty loose.  This also kept the batteries from being charged on the road so they were just about fully discharged before I found the problem.  Moral of the story for us newbies:  Check the connection, and then check it again!  And every time you stop for gas!

Fridge works great in all 3 modes, BTW.  And yes, the mattress .. well, it's not good.

When all is said & done, I guess I'd make the trip again based on price but I'd again allow plenty of time before getting on the road to check everything out.  The dealership is definitely low overhead but that helps in keeping prices down.  The service bays all seem well equipped & the techs were as pleasant as could be & seemed plenty competent.  To me, that's the most important part of a dealership - auto, truck, RV, boat, whatever.  Wish we were closer to them.

A couple of thoughts about "WalMarting".  If you're pressed for time, it works, and kudos to WalMart & casinos for making space available.  Next time we do it, though, I hope we'll have a generator!  Warm nights aren't fun plus, if you open it up to catch a breeze, you hear highway tire hum, diesels and other generators.  I managed to get a little sleep between around 1 - 6 am.  As we get more competent at this RV stuff, I imagine we'll get better at finding decent RV parks on the fly.  

Sorry if this has rambled but hope it's useful to someone.