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.
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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.
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.
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