Hi Lance!
Welcome to the TM family. We have a '05 3023 that we bought new at M&M. We live in Wixom so at least there is another TM owner here in beautiful Detroit. This is the third summer for us and we love our TM. I have found the folks at M&M to be friendly and straight forward to deal with us. We had a few minor warranty items that they took care of us without any problem. They did a great job when we took delivery of our TM and I bet the delivery/walkthrough lasted close to 3 hours or so.
Over the past three years, we have logged close to 7,500 miles give or take. We have been to the Smoky Mountains twice ( both two week adventures including getting there and side trips) and we just got back from a two week adventure to Cape Cod. The TM held up well with the exception of a water leak around one of the vents on top. The chalking came loose so I cleaned off all the old chalk, cleaned with mineral spirits and rechalked.
We love our TM and have camped at various campgrounds in MI. We found a great family campground in Stockbridge called Heartland Woods that we really liked. We have also camped at Waterloo Recreation area, Holly Recreation area, Proud Lake ( 3 miles from our house!). We are heading up to Aloha State Park for a long Labor Day weekend adventure with three other families. We have also camped at Green Acres which is near Waterloo but did not care for it. It is a place with potential but there are over 700 seasonals there and a lot of those trailers have seen better days.
In terms of modifications, we added a microwave shelf above our stove which clears up valuable counter space. We have the extra silverware drawer that helps as well. The best piece of advise that I have is to get a system in place for storage of items during travel. Here is a list of storage things that we do.
1. We have Rubbermaid pull out drawers in all the cabinets where they fit.
2. We have a Rubbermaid pullout drawer that we keep to the right of the sink that we put a plug in Coleman cooler that serves as a second fridge when we're gone for more than 2 or three nights.
3. We have 2-18 gallon and 2-14 gallon Rubbermaid tubs that we store a lot of our miscellaneous items in such as lights, extra propane tanks for the portable grill, extension cords etc. We have found that we can put a 14 gallon and an 18 gallon container side by side between the couches. We then stake a 14-gallon container on top of the 18-gallon container and a 18-gallon on top of the 14 gallon. In short this allows use to stack the container two high and side by side. We then use a 60 gallon container for all the fishing gear, baseball gloves etc for the kids. By having everything in extension containers, it makes for an easy set-up and take down at the site. Once set up, we push the containers under the TM so that they are out of the way. With sealed lids, we've never had a leak problem nor has anything walked off the campsite.
Hopefully you'll find some of this information useful. If you ever have any questions, this site is a great place to throw them out for answers. The search tool is invaluable. Feel free to send a private message if you decide to join this group. The price of admission is cheap when you consider the amount of information you'll receive from the members.
Enjoy!
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