The RV buying experience

This has been many years in the making.  During our years of tent camping we spent many evening in campsites walking and drooling over the RVs and all the cool things they had to offer.  Granted we found tent camping enjoyable in the same way as one might enjoy an endurance test 😏.  But we could not help but feel a bit envious of those that did not have to make that dreaded midnight walk to the bath house when it was a way too cool for sleep shorts.  And how could we ever miss the air mattress routine and the inevitable loss of comfort as the air contracts through the night and lowers one to the thickness of a backyard pool float no matter how thick it started.  Again we thoroughly enjoyed quite a few years of primitive camping and we even added to our "creature comfort" arsenal as the years went by.

But all good things must come to end and our time in the tent ran its course.  So about 6 years ago we started the process of deciding on how we would spend our future travel years.  Originally I was adamant on the Class A Diesel Pusher and for the past couple years we researched everything about them.  Looked at them at expos and did price estimates.  Last summer we agreed that Feb 2018 we would fly to Texas and buy a used Class A from PPL RV dealer.  I continually searched their website looking at floor plans and prices.  We had a few musts:  queen bed, outside kitchen and TV, pantry, washer/dryer, low miles, diesel and less than 35 feet.  Of course the ones we looked at locally were all new and very luxurious. Our price range was 75 - 85k and we planned on pulling my F150 as a "toad" with our Goldwing in the bed of the truck.  We shared this plan over and over talking about the logistics and preplanning.  The fallacy in our plan was that those we physical looked at had all the things we were looking for but had a price tag in the 125k range.  We fell into the trap of budgeting for one thing but continually looking at another...bad strategy.  When we actually started looking for one to inquire about at PPL in our price range they were woefully out of date and lacked pretty much anything modern or "cool".

During another disappointing walk through Camping World looking at Class A rigs out of our price range my wife said "have you ever thought about a trailer type RV?"  I was taken aback and felt betrayed that she was straying from "the plan".  But I reluctantly entered a huge 5th wheel they had on display.  I grew up around people that had travel trailers and my experience in them were not much removed from the cardboard forts or tree houses of days past.  Man was I shocked.  It was fabulous and the living area was much more appealing than a Class A.  I tell ya it was nicer than some homes that I have visited...so "the plan" started to change.  After some very candid discussion for us it came down to what kind of RVing we wanted to do. We came to realize that it was not about the driving experience as much as it was about the living experience once we arrived at a new destination. The pull behind was hands down the better fit for us as it had more living space and just felt more like home.

From there our research and planning shifted to an all out blitz on solving the classic travel trailer vs 5th wheel argument.  The typical weight vs. living space vs. towing vehicle requirements. We were set on having the ability to transport our Gold Wing motorcycle in our travels so that eliminated the 5th wheel really quick as I needed the truck bed space and did not want to end up with a toy hauler as the motorcycle is not the focus of our travels though we do like to ride.   The sheer weight and size of a 5th wheel was another consideration.  I was not keen on pulling a mobile home behind me that was as high as some semis.  So we concentrated on travel trailers and looked at many floor plans.  We wanted an open floor plan and loved the rear living plan with the kitchen island.  After many trips to local dealers and looking online we found a 2017 RLS272 30 minutes from home.  We researched the company and loved everything except the fact it was more weight than my F150 could easily handle. 

Our search then switched to a bigger tow vehicle and last October we found a 2014 F250  Super duty gas with a 6.2 liter engine with plenty of towing capability for the 8k pound travel trailer.  We discussed the reality of towing a 36 foot trailer and though we loved it we also found out that we would be too long to fit in most national parks...bummer.  In November I saw a listing in Michigan for a brand new floor plan, the LT275RLS. It had everything we wanted, was a thousand pounds lighter and 3 feet shorter for 30k. 

The week before we were going to drive to Michigan I found the same trailer in Cincinnati, OH for the same price and 8 hours closer to home. On the day we were driving to Cincinnati a dealer in Lexington, KY called me and asked if we would be interested in a new floor model that he just received....yes a LT275RLS for the same price. We changed directions and left that night the proud new owners of an Open Range LT275RLS.  Have we really done it...?Have we really just committed this home on wheels as our primary source of entertainment for the next few years?  After all the research, planning, and the looking were we really done?  It was exciting and scary at the same time.

The actual buying experience was very simple and the sales folks at Blue Grass RV in Lexington KY were very helpful.  Gary was our sales rep and he understood exactly what we wanted to end up with. We signed all the paperwork and set up for a walkthrough inspection the next day.  We did the walkthrough  and I would highly suggest you ask questions as they go pretty quick.  Consider using your phone to video the event for future reference.   We purchased the best weight distribution hitch they had as I did not want to take a chance on our towing ability or should I say my lack there of.  Just go to YouTube and search for "how not to tow an RV" that will be all the incentive you need.  We also bought the extended warranty which was a bit expensive but covered everything no matter where we were traveling.  I normally do not ever take the extended warranty on a vehicle but we just wanted to have stress free traveling.   The technician winterized our unit, unhooked the power and water, installed my hitch and before we knew it were all alone with 7k pounds of future retirement life hooked to my truck.  I nervously pulled out of the dealer and into Lexington KY traffic.  White knuckled was an understatement as Jennifer was watching for anything that may give me trouble.

We had previously acquired an outside storage location locally that had a gated entry for security so we eased our way down the highway eager to get this thing safely home.  Things had gone too well up to this point and we should have known it would not last.  We arrive at the storage facility, Jennifer gets out and punches in the gate code.  This massive gate rolls horizontally back allowing me to enter.  I study the entry figuring out the best angle to get to our parking...ease over the curb very carefully and what do I see out my driver window...the gate closing as I am halfway in the facility.  I could not react quickly enough to clear the gate and the next thing I hear is the breaking of glass as the only metal part on the rubber covered gate hits directly on the bedroom tempered glass window.  Dang we are now a statistic of those that failed to get home without an incident.  Jennifer was quickly punching in the code to retract the gate as I haphazardly rushed into the lot fearing another incident.  After the initial shock wore off we were puzzled as to why the gate did not have a motion detector that kept it open unit we got in. Shock turned to anger then to sadness as we looked at our injured new family member.  Jennifer called the dealer and said "you are not going to believe this"...Gary was so helpful and genuinely felt sorry for us.  He reassured us that they would could make it all new again.  We card boarded up the window and returned it the next day.  Within a couple weeks we had it back good as new.  We realized that the RV life was going to be full of ups and downs and everything was not going to be perfect all the time....things happen.  Accepting this was sort of comforting as it removed a lot of the stress and anxiety of owning a new RV.  It actually worked out for the best as we found RV storage 5 minutes from home that was much more accessible and had a manual gate 😊.  Now we just had to wait on spring.