This about top ten, but it only takes ONE time. I watched this important life lesson happen one day while at Patapsco State Park in Maryland. In those days we only did tent camping, and we had just stopped in at the office to check in. As we were walking to our car we saw a nice, brand new Airstream trailer being towed by an SUV coming into the parking area. You could tell they were new to towing a vehicle. You have to take your turns a little wider than you would just normal driving. The Airstream ran into a concrete bollard and ripped a big long gash into the aluminum. It was sickening to see this happen!! I felt so bad for them. They just turned around and left.
Research it and do analysis
So knowing that it only takes one time for disaster to strike, we have come up with the Top Ten items that us new RV’ers should have for that first trip. Let’s do some analysis (I always had to do analysis in the Navy, and my current job is as a Project Analyst). When you go camping that first time in your RV what are the most basic things to do? Well you have to PARK it, hook up WATER, hook up ELECTRICITY and hook up SEWER. Our top ten list is going to cover these 4 things. These are in no particular order as they are all equally important.
Park it
#1. After you PARK the RV, you must prevent it from rolling away when you unhook. You have to chock it and level it. After some research, we found X-Chocks and Anderson Levelers should do this job nicely. Wedge style chocks could work, but for overall safety and stability we went with X-chocks.
Water it
#2. WATER pressure regulator. Not all water spigots are equal, and water pressure varies from campground to campground, heck it even varies within campgrounds! High water pressure can damage or destroy your fittings or internal plumbing components. This should go on the water source spigot before the filter and hose. Easy to install and easy to set. 60 PSI should do fine.
#3. WATER Filter. This is the next water component and should be hooked up to the regulator. An in-line filter like a Camco water filter should do nicely. Even though the water hook up is potable water, that doesn’t mean it’ll taste good. The filter removes sediment, taste (like chlorine), and odors. We intend to eventually have an Acuva LED UV under the kitchen sink, but for starters this will work.
#4. WATER hose, the third and last item in the water line. You shouldn’t just grab your water hose from your yard. This needs to be a food grade hose. Most of those are colored either white or blue. We think 50 ft should be adequate. Along with this hose, we have a regular hose (that we DID grab from the yard) to use for the black tank flush.
Charge it
#5. ELECTRICAL surge protector. It only takes one surge to destroy your electronics! Ironically, it’s not so much the surges that do damage but rather under voltage like in a brown out that will impact you most. A surge protector should protect against both over and under voltage. Progressive Industries makes multiple models, both fixed and portable. We are going with the hard wired version. That way we don’t have to worry about theft or forgetfulness.
#6. ELECTRICAL adapters. Not all campground power is the same. You will run into a situation where your RV electrical system will not match the campground receptacle. The most common two adapters needed are a 50 to 30 amp, and a 30 to 50 amp. Just do some research and know your limitations if you use an adapter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=81&v=5tC-G2Vrr9s is a good source of info if you need it.
Smell it…well hopefully not!
#7. SEWER hose. Most RV’s come with one, but many are too short or too flimsy. A 20’ hose with an additional 15” section for “Just in case”, along with a support should get us through almost any situation. If not, then I need to move the RV!! Camco also makes this, but you can find many on Amazon. Also a supply of disposable gloves is a must!
#8. Spare propane regulator. This is probably not your typical top ten item, but they fail often enough and are inexpensive, so why not be prepared?
Tools
#9. Cordless drill with spare battery, a charger, and correct sockets for X-chock and stabilizers. This will also come in handy for a whole lot of other issues I imagine. The key is to always have at least one battery fully charged.
#10. This is a toss-up between a good tool kit and a hitch lock, so let’s say this is “Trailer hitch lock with tools need to install it”. I think in all honesty the tool kit wins because it has more utility but I see posts often enough that say, “Our RV was stolen! Be on the lookout for this…”, that a lock needs to be mentioned and I sneakily just did that. My problem with the tools is deciding which ones to leave behind because I have a bunch.
We are total newbies to the RV lifestyle. In fact we are experts at being newbie. We have watched hundreds and hundreds of You Tube videos on everything about RV’s. We are going to take you through our process and how/why we are doing what we are doing. Our RV content will be on the BLOG page and the TIPS & TRICKS page, so check us out and leave some comments! 
Small town newspapers often have a crime section. Our newspaper lists local crimes and who was arrested for them. They usually list what section of the county those arrested are from. Many of them are listed as No Fixed Address. LOL, we are not criminals, but it also fits the full time RV lifestyle,