Friday, July 26, 2013

Little Foxes

Song of Solomon 2:15 - "Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom."  In God's most poetic and beautiful book about marriage, He tells us to "catch the little foxes,"  the little irritating things in life that get us off track and distract our focus from the task at hand, i.e., building a loving relationship of service to our spouses.

Now, far be it from me to suggest that Topper and our pickup are anything like a marriage partner. On the other hand, there are always some "little foxes," when you buy a used vehicle.  When we purchased our used pickup, we knew that the power mirror switch was faulty. It would drive the mirrors in three of the four necessary directions to properly align them.  Unsatisfactory! A little fox.

This little fox was easily caught.  An order to Amazon for a new switch module. Two days for shipping. Five minutes to pop out the old switch and plug in the new one. Voila! The mirrors work. Now on to the task at hand: the transition from four vehicles to two = downsizing and simplifying our lives.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

The Adventure Begins


Written July 18, 2013

Today begins a new chapter in our RVing life and a new blog. Last winter, we made a trip in Sadie, our 1988 Hawkins Motor Coach, to Casey's RV park in Westfir, OR. While we were there, we talked about our dream of criss-crossing the good ol' US of A in an RV. I mentioned that, if we had a class B motor home (basically a converted van) we could easily drive wherever we wanted to go, Jill would be able to drive, and fuel costs would be more in line with our budget.

More to the point, we have been talking for some time about downsizing and simplifying our lives. We are retired, empty-nesters, and yet we license and insure 4 vehicles! That is outrageous. Nevertheless, we have felt we can't get along without a daily driver for Jill, a daily driver for me that doubles as our towed car when we travel in Sadie, a pickup for all the hauling we are called on to do to keep up our home and help the kids with their projects, and of course, our beloved Sadie.

That started a sequence of events that has led us to today's developments. First, we stopped at Guaranty RV in Junction City, on the way home from that trip. We looked at a number of class B and class B+ motor homes. Jill fell in love with a 23' Chinook B+. I must admit, I was drawn to it as well. For weeks, nay months, Jill looked online for similar coaches. She found numerous brands and models, any one of which might have filled the bill, except that none was in our price range. As I thought about this dilemma, it occurred to me that a B+ motor home would require us to tow a car behind, just as we have to do with Sadie, if we want to do all the exploring we like to do. That kind of blows our simplification plan.

In June, we circumnavigated the Olympic Peninsula in Sadie. We had a marvelous time. Along the way we encountered some ladies who call themselves “Sisters on the Fly.” They are a bunch of ladies who own small, restored, vintage travel trailers. They have an annual outing for women only. They take their travel trailers, leave husbands, kids and dogs at home and get away for a weekend. We were told they had to turn away ladies from a 100 space RV park!

That encounter got us thinking about perhaps downsizing to a small travel trailer. Jill would be able to drive a pickup as easily as a class B, we would have a smaller RV to maintain, and we could use the pickup to do our exploring. That solved the problem of too many vehicles. The pickup could become my daily driver, since I don't do much daily driving, and it would still be a pickup. Only thing is, I never was really relaxed when pulling a travel trailer; and there is that axle and wheels and wheel bearings.

So, I floated the idea of a truck camper. To say that Jill's reaction was icy would be stretching a point, but she was not, shall we say, enthusiastic. We talked about it, and eventually, she agreed to consider the idea. This week we looked at a used camper/pickup combo for sale at a VERY attractive price. I had never driven such a combo and was anxious for a test drive. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to drive. Jill was underwhelmed by the camper, which was old (23 years old to be exact) and not sparkling clean (he said euphemistically.) Nevertheless, the folks offering the setup were very nice and we considered it a blessing to have made their acquaintance. 19

Now, it would be incorrect to draw the conclusion that Jill was put off by this experience. On the contrary, she wanted to set out next morning and look at more campers. We made a drive to Junction City, the hub of RV sales in the Willamette Valley. We looked at dozens of campers, and oddly enough the one that caught Jill's eye was an older one that needs some cosmetic work. The price was certainly in the right range. Of course, the smallish problem we still had was lack of a suitable pickup to carry the thing. Jill sent an email to the dealership with some questions and was rapidly warming to the idea. I was crunching numbers to see if this project was feasible.

The reply from the dealership was encouraging, so Jill sent another email, and asked about the possibility of a package deal, since this dealership also owns used car lots. Unfortunately, we still have not had a reply. Fortunately, or also unfortunately, depending on your point of view, Jill found another camper on line, about which she said, “If it had air conditioning, this would be my dream camper.” I did a search on the NADA site to get an idea of the value of this unit. I was encouraged. So, guess where we went today! The camper has a perfect floor plan for our RV lifestyle. The dealership was not willing to move much on the price point, however, and I was seeing our pickup budget going down the drain.
Kevin, the salesman, did what he could and eventually made some concessions on the price of the camper and of an add-on AC unit. Then he put us in touch with an auto wholesaler who has done a lot of work for him. According to Kevin, Tim would be able to find us a suitable pickup within our budget. With Jill nearly in tears at the thought of losing this camper, I got Kevin to agree to a contingency deal. He will hold the camper for a few days while we search for a suitable pickup, if we will give him a refundable deposit. We signed on the dotted line.
Once we were back home, I called Tim, who promised to find a vehicle within our parameters and call back later in the day. True to his word, he called about 5 PM and said he had found the truck. It is a 2001 Ford F250 extended cab with a long box, overload springs, towing package and, surprise, a 7.3 liter Power Stroke diesel engine! I used to dream about owning this truck. It is slightly above my desired price point, but it looks like new and is close enough, price-wise. The bad news is that another party has made an offer. The good news for us (and I feel guilty saying this) is that they probably won't qualify for financing. We will find out tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. If their financing falls through, we will be headed to Gladstone to buy a new (to us) pickup (provided it passes muster.)

So stay tuned for further developments.

July 19th

OK. Here are the further developments. The other party's financing did go through, so we had to go back to the drawing board. Tim called with another truck about the same as the other one but newer, a 2007. The price was $6000 over budget, and while the price was a bargain for this truck, $6K over budget is still $6K over budget. I asked Tim to continue looking.

In the meantime, I got on Cars.com and started searching. I came across a 2000 Chevy Silverado 2500 that looked good on line. I called the dealership and made an inquiry. I was discouraged, because the salesman (Rick Carpenter) said it had a 6.0L “small block” V8. When I heard “small block,” I was thinking of my old GMC 305 cid. I knew that would not be powerful enough. Then as I thought about it, I realized that a 6.0L engine is bigger than the 5.4L V8 I had in a Ford pickup some time back. I called back and made an appointment to see the truck.

July 20th

We drove to Portland to look at the Silverado. We liked what we saw, and the salesman, (Rick DiVito), said, "Take it for a drive. Take as much time as you like."  I drove away from the dealership and headed for the freeway. I wanted to see how she did on the open road. Acceleration? Check! Highway speed? Check! Comfortable ride? Check! Quiet cabin? Check! 
We got off the freeway and drove up into a hilly area, with which we are familiar. Hill climbing? Check! The truck was solid, steering tight, no rattles, AC works, stereo works (what's with the missing knobs?).   Next it was Jill's turn to drive.  She has experience driving vans of various sizes, but it has been a while. We drove to the local park and ride lot, which was mercifully empty.  

Jill got into the driver's seat and said, "I can't see over the hood."  We checked the seat to see if it had a height adjustment. No such luck. Gingerly, she tried driving around the lot.  "I like the way it drives," she said, "but I can't see."  With heavy hearts we headed back to the lot. 

When we arrived, we told Rick about the things we found that were concerns: about a half dozen minor things on the order of the missing stereo knobs, and one major thing; Jill can't see over the hood. 

"Is that a deal breaker?" Rick said.  I resisted the urge to reply, "No, duh!" He looked at the driver's seat and agreed with us that it was noticeably lower than the passenger seat. "Suppose we got a new seat? Then could we talk about sending you home in the truck today?" He assured us that these seats are readily available used, even with the same upholstery color.  Then Rick said, "Why don't you go have coffee, and I will do some checking with some of my suppliers?" 

We spent a nervous hour at McDonald's (they have free wi-fi, you know).  When I called, Rick said come on back.  He greeted us and said, "I have great news." We don't have to replace the whole seat. The cushion is replaceable. Unfortunately, I can't get it done on the weekend." We agreed that, if the seat were fixed, we would buy the truck. 

Rick Carpenter did up the paperwork for us, and they told us we could pick the truck up on Monday. We did.  We are happy with our purchase, although, like any used vehicle, it has a few little items that will need attention. 

July 22nd

We returned to Portland and found that the seat had been fixed.  In addition to a badly broken-down cushion, the seat frame had a broken brace that had to be rewelded.  Jill climbed into the driver's seat and said, "Much better. I can see over the hood." 

I drove the truck home. Jill followed in the Mazda. We stopped to put some gas in the new acquisition. While I was at the pump, I got a text message. "You look great in that truck."  I texted back, "Call me some time." The reply? "You betcha! What a hunk!"  Well, I was sold! 

July 23rd

We delivered the new-to-us pickup to Highway Trailer Sales to be rigged to carry our new-to-us Adventurer 100 WBS camper. While we were on the lot, we went aboard the camper again, which you have no doubt figured out, we have dubbed Topper.  We liked it even more than when we first saw it. About the time we got thoroughly lost in our dreaming, a couple of technicians came along to figure out what was needed to put the camper and truck together. 

We bid Topper a fond farewell, knowing that we would be back tomorrow to pick her up and take her home. 

The day was not over yet. Along with the excitement of putting together the truck and camper package, we are embroiled in selling our old '96 F150, our '08 Nissan Versa, and our '88 Hawkins Motor Coach. Several things happened in the afternoon after we returned home. 

First, we got news from our dear daughter-in-law that she knew someone who might be interested in the Versa. That came as I was nearing completion of a serious detailing of said car. Next, we had several inquiries about the F150.  Long story short, we sold it!  Then we got another message from Katie, that our son Patrick's college roommate is looking for a reasonably priced motor home. Seems he and his wife and small daughter are feeling cramped living in a truck camper, while they are camp hosting. 

I didn't sleep much that night. My head  was spinning.

July 24th.

After a session with the dog trainer and our Lulu, I got a call saying that the new chairs for the sanctuary at our church had arrived, and help was needed to unload them. I spent about an hour and a half doing that. Then I came home and helped my darling bride with some household chores.

As soon as that was complete, we headed for the dealership. It turns out they were a little behind, so we wandered around the lot looking at RVs. At last, we were summoned to sign papers and have a walk through.  What a learning curve.  Who knew that a truck camper must be put on and taken off the truck? I'm glad we have RV experience, or we might have simply shrivelled up on the spot. 

At last, we headed home. I was pleased that the camper didn't seem especially top-heavy, I did notice, though, that the tail of the pickup was squatting a bit. I believe some airbags will remedy that problem. 

It was a long day. We tucked ourselves in and promptly fell asleep.  Today was no different, busyness-wise.  Jill had grocery shopping to do for our annual family beach trip tomorrow.  I needed to visit my Mom and help her with grocery shopping and a few other little items.

When we both arrived home, we whipped the house into shape; I mowed the lawn, and then I went out and moved the camper closer to the house. I plugged in the cord and tried out the AC.  It did fine on a 15A circuit.  The coach, which wasn't stiffling inside, despite the 89 degree temperature outside, quickly cooled off. 

Our kids, due to arrive from San Diego for the beach trip, were delayed, so Jill and I went out and sat in the camper.  We mentally stored things away and pictured ourselves parked by some lovely stream or lake. This we did in the comfort of our new air conditioner.  I think we are going to like this camper!

Oops! The kids and grandkids are here; gotta go, but stick around. The best is yet to come.