Camping and service at Lazy Days in Tampa

Since we want to tow our RAM 1500 pickup truck, we needed to outfit it with a base plate, tow bar and braking system.  We decided several weeks ago to get the Blue Ox tow bar/base plate and have the Air Force One braking system installed.  Knowing that it would take a day or two to do all of the work, we thought we'd kill time while we waited by taking some courses at Lazy Days in Seffner (Tampa), FL.

I was concerned about a place working on my coach that wasn't an "official" Newmar service center.  However, I was assured that Lazy Days does a tremendous volume of service and they have installed hundreds of similar systems.  The work on the truck would take a day or day and a half, and they would need the motorhome for about three hours following that.  We heard that they have a nice campground on-site with amenities like restaurants; they also said that we could get breakfast and lunch free every day and take their Driver Confidence Course at no cost since we were staying for 3+ nights in the resort.

Camping at Lazy Days

We arrived on Sunday afternoon, 1/27, and were shown to the last campsite they had that would fit our coach.  I wasn't pleased about this because I had picked out a site when I called - they even went through a list telling me what was and wasn't available.  When we arrived, the site had been taken and we were shown to the last row of streets and a site that barely fit our 43'9" coach.  There wasn't even room to put our truck in front of the rig; we had to park it in a nearby empty site.

Parking at Lazy Days is "straight in", so you have to know how to park the bigger rigs.  A worker came to our site and directed me while backing and I managed to do it the first time.  We immediately had a problem because the grass at the back of the pad (right behind the RV) sloped up enough that the giant Newmar mud flap dug into the dirt and almost bent.  I had to pull up a foot or two and then back up again while my wife held the flap up so that it wouldn't bend.

The campground has full hookups with 50-amp service, wifi that's decent if you're near the main complex, and cable TV that also includes HD channels.  All went pretty smooth except for the water connection.  Even after using two different water regulators, it still dripped at a pretty good rate.

There are trees throughout the park, and our 13'-high rig is situated within two feet of a tree on each side.  Putting an awning out meant slightly dragging some of the branches along the top as it extended, but it was probably okay to do it safely.  We had heard of other campers who called the office and asked them to come out to their site (which they did) to cut some branches before they even parked.

People in the campground are nice, but the atmosphere can't compare to the extremely friendly campers we encountered at Stone Mountain.  Most people walk by without saying hello and pretty much stick to themselves.  Perhaps it's because Stone Mountain folks are there to have a good time, while a lot of the Lazy Days campers are here for several months or have just stopped in for service.  At Stone Mountain, people would stop by, say hello and chat for a minute or two.  At Lazy Days, you may spend your entire stay of a few days without talking to anyone unless you initiate the conversation.

The Lazy Days service center is about half a mile away and they provide trolley service between the two most days.  Monday is not one of them, however, as the "trolley lady" has that day off.  But they are quick to point out that all you need to do is call Security and they'll come get you and give you a ride whenever you want it - even after hours.

At the entrance to the campground is a huge "Rally Center", which is a modern meeting room complete with a stage and kitchen.  One of the walls in the Center is a mock-up of a large RV, behind which is a restaurant/bar called Exit 10 (that's the exit you use to get there from I4).  Exit 10 is only open at 3pm some days, however.  Right outside the Rally center is their huge pool that is under screening.  It's very clean and modern; a lot of people use it and we could certainly see why they did.  There's also a spa ("hot tub") next to the pool.

When you check in, they give you free cards for breakfast and lunch everyday at a cafe located in the main building that houses sales, service and parts.  The cards only get you three types of muffin-style breakfast sandwiches (rather tasteless) or a plate with watery eggs and frozen-brought-back-to-life breakfast potatoes.  Bacon is supposed to be extra, but they didn't charge us for it.  Other things that are available include waffles, for about $7.  At lunch, the freebies include a hamburger, chicken sandwich, fish sandwich or a "Daily Special".  On the Tuesday we were there, the special was a beef, cheese and bean burrito with chips.  It was okay and was hot but, like most of the stuff, was somewhat bland.

Sodas and coffee were free and you can go in there any time and help yourself.  Nice.

Service at Lazy Days

Service at Lazy Days was not as pleasant as it has been at most of the places we have taken our car.  I guess I was very spoiled by the extremely attentive technicians at National Indoor RV Center in GA (now in Lewisville).  Even though I called four or five times before we went to make sure that they would have my parts in stock to do the work, a guy from the parts department knocked on my door mid-day to say that they had not checked the stock and didn't have the part.  To their credit, they had it the next morning and were able to begin the work.  It was frustrating for me because I had left two unanswered voice mails with the service manager over a period of two weeks, had spoken on the phone twice with the parts guy and specifically told them I was trying to avoid a mix-up when we got there.

Our service manager told me that they had over 400 coaches currently being serviced, and shared that he was responsible for about 70 of them.  I respect that they're busy, but when they are that busy, it leaves little time for paying attention to the customer.  My service manager never asked me how I was doing, how long I had been RVing, or anything personal at all.  Our discussions were very, very brief and to the point.  He was always polite and courteous, but that's about where it ended.

After a one-day delay getting started, I was concerned that they may not finish in time to get us out by the morning of New Year's Eve.  The service manager told me that they had to do the work in the truck (install base plate, wiring, and the braking system) and that it would take at least one day, maybe a bit more.  Then he said they would ask for the coach so they could install that part of the braking system.  I don't know why they couldn't take the coach earlier, but they do the work serially.  So the truck went in early Tuesday morning and by Tuesday night we had not even received a phone call.

On Wednesday morning, we packed up the coach, put in the slides and took the rig over to the service center.  They hadn't called yet, but we wanted to be over there so that it would be ready as soon as they called for it.  I walked into the service area and found our service manager, who made a phone call and then came out and said that they were going to take it back right away.  When he got into the coach to drive it back to a service bay, I reminded him that I wanted them to install the remote booster for my new Tireminder system (it's just a connection to 12V in the rear battery bay).  I told him that I didn't think it would take them but a few minutes to do it because they surely did a lot of them - after all, they sell the Tireminder system in their Accessories store.  He held it in his hand and told me that they actually try to discourage people from using them (the Tireminder) because they have had a lot of problems.  That's the first time I've ever heard anyone say that.  As a matter of fact, and I mentioned this to him, Lazy Days sells the Tireminder in their accessories store - and it's the only TPMS they sell.  He followed that up by telling me that it would be no problem to install it.

They finally called us at 4pm on Wednesday and we took a golf cart to the service bay.  The technician showed us the Blue Ox Avail tow bar setup, explained the connections, and patiently answered all of our questions about towing and using the Air Force One braking system.

While our service manager took my wife back to the office to pay the bill, I drove the coach and our newly-attached truck down the long row behind the service bays and up to the front parking lot.  As I was making turns, I could "feel" the 65 feet behind me when the truck appeared in the convex mirrors.  Wow.  That's a lot of real estate.   After getting to the front of the building, I pulled the coach/toad into one of those long parking spaces to wait for my wife.  There are several rows of these spaces in front of the buildings, so it was my plan to just pull forward into the next aisle when we left.  I turned off the engine, stepped out of the coach and couldn't believe what I saw:  both sides of the aisle were blocked.  I hadn't driven the coach with the toad more than a quarter of a mile and I already had to detach it so I could back out of the space!  

All told, our service experience with Lazy Days was a good one.  They didn't have the right part after a lot of effort to get it right ahead of time, but once the part was in they did a good job and took their time to explain everything to us.  We had to wait a while, but it was more than bearable because of the nice facilities, courses, food and other amenities.

Courses offered by Lazy Days

Lazy Days offers several courses, most of them are free and about one hour long.  They have classes in convection microwave cooking, electrical systems, plumbing, towing, apps, and more.  Their "big" course is the Driver's Confidence training, which consists of two hours of classroom instruction in the morning followed by actual driving in the afternoon.  The classroom session is very informative, and the experienced instructor teaches a "dot" system where you place sticky dots on your coach and mirrors to increase your awareness around the rig when you're driving and parking.

My wife and I took the Driver's Confidence Course and were impressed by the simplicity of the system.  A lot of the nervousness that new coach drivers have is rooted in the mysteries of turning and parking.  The course provides a logical and practical plan to do these things, thus giving students the "confidence" that its title promises.  The last thing we did on the last afternoon we were at Lazy Days was apply the dots to our coach before returning to our site from the service center.  When we got to our site, there were cars parked everywhere in front of their coaches and getting in was going to be tight.  We followed the course's instructions the best we could, and managed to get our coach squarely in our site without any issues.

If you want to take the DCC, you'll have to call in advance.  All of the others were open classes; just show up and attend.  The classroom is located in the main building right off the customer lounge.

Most of the instructors provided handouts that had screenshots of their slides.  This was particularly helpful later because you can not only refer to the slides, but you can write notes beside them.  

Overall Impressions

We enjoyed staying at Lazy Days RV Resort and are likely to return there if we need service.  However, we wouldn't consider it a destination campground because the sites themselves had little to offer.  No fire pits, no grills, no lakes, no views, etc.  Just a space and a picnic table.  When you're getting service, though, their willingness to provide transportation to anywhere on or next to the property (to and from the service center, to the Cracker Barrel, and just about anywhere at any time of the day) was nice.  Amenities like the pool, restaurants, and waiting areas were clean and well-maintained, and all of the employees were welcoming.  I'll bet we heard "Welcome to Lazy Days" at least six times a day.

  

Access to Lazy Days is easy because it's right off of I-4 just east of Tampa. Once you get off of the interstate at Exit 10, you drive north between a Flying J on your left and a TA on your right.  Then you turn left into the campground. 

Courses to take and things to buy

Now that we have the RV and have bought the basics, we're beginning to realize a few other things we need.  It's also time to set up a few courses and think about when we want to get some of the other accessories we wanted.

Here's a list of what's coming up:

• Tow bar, base plate and braking system.  We plan to get a Blue Ox tow bar and an Air Force One braking system.  Hopefully, we'll have all of it installed before January.
  
• Driver Confidence Training.  Lazy Days offers this course and we plan to take it at the end of December.  Two hours of classroom in the morning followed by two hours of driving in the afternoon.  Their 45-minute video on Youtube is really good.
  
• Other courses.  While at Lazy Days, my DW plans to take a few one-hour courses in Convection Microwave Cooking, Insurance and Trip Planning.
  
• Camp Freightliner.  We had reservations to get six-month service and attend the camp next October, but since we bought our coach earlier we'll need to move the date to the left.  We'll probably go next May, June or July now.
  
• Supplies.  After driving a bit, I want one of those long-handled brushes to clean the windshield.  We also need tire covers, a lightweight/collapsible kitchen garbage bag holder, some DEF to carry in the coach, roadside emergency triangles, and an Oxygenics shower head.
  
• Accessories.  Although we'll wait a while to get some of these things, we still want a Tire Pressure Monitoring System, a Wifi range extender, satellite receivers, a SeeLevel tank monitoring system, some jack pads and a cell signal booster. 

There's a lot to do, but we're enjoying every minute of it.

Upcoming plans: a new rim, a tow bar, the Tampa Show, and a bit of Fort Wilderness

Having found a place to park the rig near the Orlando International Airport, which is only about 15 minutes from my soon-to-be-sold house, it's time to look ahead and make a few plans for the near future.

While we were at Stone Mountain, my neighbor suggested that I look at the Tyron Flat tire protection system.  This system consist of bands that are wrapped around the hub of your tire rim (there's a well inside that the band fills).  The bands prevent your tires from quickly being shredded by the rim in the event of a blowout, allowing increased stability and control.  They also allow you to continue driving a short distance.  Tyron bands seemed like a great safety feature to put in the front tires, so the day after leaving the campground, I asked our dealer to install them.  Tyron bands are not cheap:  it was a little over $1000 per tire.  But the peace of mind and the capabilities it provides will undoubtedly pay for itself.

While our dealer was installing the Tyron bands, they made two small scratches on the right front rim.  To their credit, they told me about it immediately and even made all of the arrangements to have a new one shipped to the closest dealer to my house (Independence RV in Winter Garden, FL) for installation at their expense.  Again, I can't say enough about National Indoor RV Centers and, in particular, Todd's staff at the dealership in Lilburn, GA. 

Next up will be a trip to Independence RV to have the new rim installed. 

During the last week of December, we're trying to line up a few things with Lazy Days in Tampa.  Ideally, we want to go over and spend two or three nights while they install a Blue Ox towing bar on our coach and a base plate and an Air Force One braking system on our Ram 1500.  We can also both attend their Driver Confidence Course while we are over there.  We're waiting on Lazy Days to call and let us know if they can put it all together.

On January 12th, we'll head over for five nights of camping on-site with the Newmar Kountry Klub at the Tampa RV SuperShow.  It's a buddy rally, and my brother-in-law is bringing along his new Fleetwood Expedition 38s.  It should be a great opportunity to learn a lot from all of the other Newmar Owners, see all of the things at the show, and buy some items at the exposition's.  If all goes well with Lazy Days, we can even tow our truck over and go out to some local restaurants for dinner!

It won't be over when we leave the fairgrounds on Sunday morning.  We'll be heading straight to Fort Wilderness Campground at Walt Disney World for a three night stay.  This time, two of my grandchildren will be joining us - and so will my sister, brother-in-law, and two of their grandkids.  

That'll take us through January.  Guess it's time to start thinking about the months to follow...

Life in the Campground

As we settled in for our first night in the new motorhome, we realized how tired we were.  We had gotten up early that morning, driven three hours to the dealer, and spent the day taking delivery of the coach and picking up our daughter at the airport before we headed out to Stone Mountain.

As you've heard before - or experienced yourself - people in campgrounds are the friendliest people in the world.  I think it's got a lot to do with the fact that they generally fall into two "happy" categories:  they're either on vacation or they're retired.

Right after pulling in and setting up the rig, I took out the folding chairs and set them up in the campsite. We had a great view of a lake, a fire pit, a grill and a picnic table.  The campground itself was full, with a lot of activity - fires, people watching football, and couples taking walks along the road between the campers.  We loved it.  Several people stopped by, having seen the temporary tag on the back of our coach.  "Beautiful!", "Nice rig!", and "We just love it" were some of the comments we heard.  Given that we had just taken delivery that day, it was great to hear all of the compliments.

We spent the first night in our Dutch Star simply amazed at how fun it was to do all of the same things we do at home, but doing them in the center of a campground.   There was plenty of room to do everything, and with all of the modern conveniences.  Glamping at its best.

The next morning, I stepped outside and took a short walk. Two RVs away from ours, another camper and I struck up a conversation.  Joe was friendly and had been RVing for some time with his wife Missy.  We talked quite a bit and ended up discovering that we all play Hand and Foot, a card game that we have played for many years.  Later that day, both of them came over and visited for a while.  We had already made friends.

That same day, we met a family from Atlanta that had a Mountain Aire and were parked a few spaces away.  We ended up talking with them for a long time, and they came in to look at our new home on wheels.  Ezell, Barbara and their daughter Leslie were some of the nicest people we've met, and we hope to see them again in our travels.

Saturday afternoon, we were sitting outside enjoying the lake and a fire when a coach pulled into a spot next to ours.  We had been told by the dealer that customers of theirs would be coming in, so we introduced ourselves to Bill and Joyce.  They had been traveling a while and were on their way back to Florida.  Joyce showed us some modifications they did and Bill gave me a lot of great advice about some things we could do with our coach.  Shortly after they first pulled up, Bill was fiddling with his plumbing (thankfully, it was the potable water) when it slipped out of his hand.  Water sprayed me from my shoes to my chest - and I was standing about 15 feet away.  Everyone had a good laugh as Bill told us that it was a good way to meet new people.

We watched a bit of football that night on our outdoor TV.  Bill, the man at the site across from ours, and some camp hosts all stopped by to talk about the game.  After the sun went down, my wife, daughter and I sat around our campfire.  We laughed, roasted marshmallows and made smores. And we talked.  Gotta' love it.

The next morning, Joyce walked over and gave us some of her homemade fudge.  It was nice of her, and it kind of put the exclamation point on the campground hospitality.  Thinking of that, I stepped outside and was surprised to see that many - a lot - of the RVs were gone!  For the rest of the morning, people kept pulling out until there were only about a dozen rigs left in our portion of the campground.  We went out for a breakfast buffet in the park, and returned to our site for a quiet afternoon in and around our motorhome.

Early Monday morning, my wife and daughter took the truck and left for Florida.  When I got up a couple of hours later, even my neighbors had already pulled out.  I packed everything up and headed out towards our dealer so they could work a small punch list.

As I slowly drove out of the empty campground, I looked out the window and remembered all of the people that were there Friday night.  All of those people having a great time, enjoying the outdoors and sitting around their campfires.

We'll be back.  Let the adventure begin.