Before we could start RV life, we had to solve a simpler problem: getting everything we own from Marquette, Michigan to Florida in the bed and back seat of a Ford F350. This video covers the five-day drive south to pick up our Brinkley Z3515, the truck's first real road trip, and an RV inspection that turned up a few surprises we didn't order.
Packing test: will it all fit?
The F350 Platinum has a big bed and a big back seat, and we still managed to fill both. Packing for a move where your house is waiting at the other end is strange. You need clothes for a Michigan winter and a Florida January at the same time, plus everything that will eventually live in the fifth wheel. It fit, barely, and the tonneau cover closed, which we're counting as a win.
Day 1 and 2: Marquette to Chicago, then the snow
Day one took us from Marquette down to Chicago, an easy shakedown run for the new truck. Day two was the opposite. The stretch from Chicago to Cincinnati threw serious snow at us, and driving a brand-new truck through it was a fast education. The F350 handled it better than we did. Heated everything, a quiet cab, and enough weight to feel planted made a stressful day manageable. First impressions after two days: this is a lot of truck, and we were glad for every bit of it.
Day 3: the inspection, and the dealership's homework
Cincinnati to Atlanta was the big day, because it included our scheduled inspection of the Brinkley Z3515. This is the part of the video where the emotions swing. The rig itself impressed us all over again. The dealership's prep work did not. We found issues that traced straight back to dealer errors, the kind of thing you only catch because you showed up with a checklist and time to go through every system. If you're picking up a new RV, inspect it before you sign anything. Ours was a five-day drive away and the inspection was still worth every mile.
Somewhere in there Nathan also added windshield washer fluid to the truck for the first time, which the chapter list treats as a milestone because after two days of salted highways, it was.
Day 4: Atlanta to Florida
The last leg brought us into Florida, where the weather finally matched the brochure. After snow, dealership surprises, and four days of highway, rolling into warm air with the pickup trip almost done felt like the actual start of this whole adventure rather than the prologue.
What we learned on this trip
Two things stuck with us. First, the truck matters more than we expected. We spent months on the F350 versus RAM 3500 decision, and two thousand miles of winter driving settled any lingering doubt. Second, dealer handovers are where new-RV problems are born. Nothing we found was catastrophic, but every item on our list was something we would have discovered later, farther from the dealership, at a worse time.
The Z3515 was still sitting in storage waiting for us at this point, so the full walkthrough and moving-in day came a week later. This video is the road that got us there, snow and all.
Watch the whole trip on YouTube, including the inspection findings. We also send a short weekly newsletter about where we are and what broke this week. The signup form is on our newsletter page.