In August of 2017 our daughter told us she was due to deliver our first grandchild in March, 2018.
We'd talked about taking a grand tour of the American West. It had been a someday thing. That bit of news gave us a sense of urgency. We have two children. We'd seen the changes in the first few years of life and didn't want to miss that with our daughter's little one. That weekend we started looking at RVs on local lots and on line.
1. We started out thinking we would buy a used Mercedes Sprinter outfitted by Airstream.
Pricey, yes, but we anticipated no problems with "materials and workmanship." We thought we could keep it a long time and it would retain it's value. We could drive it right up to any attraction or restaurant. We ended up going the other way. The Mercedes/Airstreams do hold their value. Great if you're selling, not so great when you're buying. More important to our decision was that they are
really small inside. Seems evident, since they're small outside, compared to other RVs, but we're small people and thought it could be okay. Nope. Too tight to live in day in day out for six months. If you're weekending, may be great for you.
2. We didn't want to tow another vehicle.
Since the kids started driving we've only had small cars. My wife, Maureen, has a Prius. I have a Volt. (Yes, we're
those kinds of people. Our son had a
Smart ForTwo; made ours look like land-yachts.) We wanted a single vehicle we could drive on the interstates, on city streets, park and unhook with ease. Another nope. We couldn't find an RV with enough room inside without being too big on the outside to let us comfortably traverse busy city streets - or curving, precipitous mountain roads. But, we really didn't want to be driving some long multi-segmented rig. Too bad. That's what we have.
3. OK, we're going to have to tow something.
Buying a travel trailer is very popular. You get more square foots for the monies. We didn't own anything big enough to pull one. We have owned minivans, Daddy-mobiles, Mom's Taxi, etc. So, thought about buying an SUV. Learned, however, that trailers pulled behind an SUV, etc. are not nearly as stable as a fifth-wheel. Much more susceptible to swaying, fish-tailing, oscillating back there until it comes around and you look out the side window and see your trailer gaining on you. Bad situation. Fifth-wheels put the pivot point in front of the tow vehicle's rear wheels. So, you put a big ol' fifth wheel hitch in the bed of your pick-up and you
are ready to hit the road. Get to the campsite, put down the levelers,
unhook the pick-up and drive off to see the park or check out a
restaurant in town in your pick-me-up. However, we didn't own a pick-up, so two things to buy and a car to sell. Ugh.
4. Motor homes are class conscious.
Self-propelled motor homes come in different classes, each with some variations. Class A's are the big bus-sized boxes. Most are "diesel pushers" meaning they have a diesel engine in the very back - like a bus. Class Bs are small - often fitted-out vans: the Mercedes Sprinter or the VW Vanagon. Class C's are built on truck "chassis" and are in between. The RV manufacturer buys a truck front end with the long chassis behind it. Then they build a box on the back that is the living area, called the "coach." Those are the two parts of RVs - chassis and coach.
5. Class A's don't have airbags.
You haven't seen me drive.
Maureen has. (As we travel the US I realize that's a more stressful spectator sport than I'd thought.) We were sitting in the big, plush seats of a Class A
admiring that massive windshield. I was thinking of the views of
mountains, prairies and pounding surf we'd see through all that glass.
She was thinking how close and hard it was and how we'd look like bugs
on the inside of it if I drove into a stopped semi. We asked about
airbags and crush zones. The salesman said you don't need them on a
Class A, you have an I-beam wrapped around you - about knee high.
Yeah.
The reason modern cars are so much safer than the boxy behemoths of my
youth is they crush - and have airbags. Crushing sure raises repair
costs, but it absorbs the energy of the crash. The front bumper hits the
other object at full speed, that bumper, the hood and fenders start crumpling and
the cabin, where you're sitting, slows. The engine is shoved under the
floorboards. By the time the crash gets to you (milliseconds later)
you're not traveling as fast as your bumper was. You then hit the
airbags and settle back in your seat to say something like "Damn!"
(Exclamation may vary.)
6. Class C's have a shadow hanging over them.
One of the defining characteristics of a Class C is they put a bed over the driver and passenger seats. Sometimes it drops down, sometimes it's fixed, but starting right behind the two front seats is a full size bed that juts out over the windshield. We crawled down into the cockpit of a nice Class C and looked out through the windshield. No views up canyon walls from there. Sure, it'll keep the sun out of your eyes most to the day, but, it's dark under there. And, we only needed one bed. Just us two, thank you.
7. This is America - everything has options.
There is a type of Class C they call a Class B Plus. That's not confusing is it? Class B+s are almost the same size as C's but don't have the neanderthal uni-brow. They put storage over the cockpit and the top front of the coach pretty much follows the line of the windshield. Not as impressive a view as a Class A, but more see than a C. We decided on a 32 ft.
Gulf Stream BTouring Cruiser - a B+.
8. RV Manufacturers just send "kits" to the dealers.
This is a real boom time for RVs. This happens, the RV industry is really susceptible to boom and bust. The stock market has been climbing almost unabated for nine years. People have been feeling flush for quite a while. They used to think home prices only go up. They now believe the stock market only goes up. So they buy something fun - an RV. While they are so busy, and maybe before, the manufacturers slap all the parts together and rush the units out the door to the dealers.
Never ever pick up a new RV on which the dealer has not had two or three or more days to perform a full PDI;
Pre-Delivery Inspection. We didn't do that. Being the cagey negotiator I am, I didn't want to seem too eager until we'd really checked out the unit and talked price, etc. As soon as we agreed, the dealer -
Sunny Island RV in Rockford, Illinois - said, "We'll need two full days to do an inspection and have it ready for you." They were six hours from our home - 'nother story. We had appointments the next day at home. They spent three hours going through it and explaining it to us. Wasn't enough. Once we were on the road we discovered we had missing cables, furnace didn't work, coach battery wouldn't charge, gray tank leaked, levelers wouldn't level, sink traps leaked, hot and cold faucets reversed, water heater didn't work, water connector leaked, etc., etc., etc. It really needed the two days. We've learned a lot more about RVs than we expected. Luckily we're both pretty calm, logical and handy. Still, it's taken three months and a lot of effort and stress to get our RV to a point where it's a pleasure, not a challenge.
9. Spend the time now or spend (more) time later.
We drove it home and over the next couple days, as we tried it out and loaded it, started noticing things. We made a list and immediately sent it to our dealer. The head of service - who must spend the entire day, every day on the phone - called us back to walk us through the questions. That helped some. Less than two weeks after we bought our new 32 ft. Class B+ we took off from home towing our son's Smart ForTwo. It's now nearly three months into our trip. Our RV just spent three weeks having one of its slides fixed. We planned to be close to friends when we put it in for service. If we hadn't had great, generous, patient friends nearby we would have been living in a hotel all that time.
10. Dealers only want to work on what they sold.
We just keep learning. Think of this, number 10, as a bonus.
We mentioned that boom time that the RV industry is now enjoying? It has service departments backed up by months. If you have a bad water pump or your furnace doesn't work and you're at home you can not go camping or take short jaunts to warm places. If you're on a six month grand tour over deserts and mountains you gotta have water, heat, cool, etc. And, like with ours we needed to have our slides go out and come back in. Luckily we found some nice guys in Mesa, Arizona -
Scottsdale Motor Group - seems they'd be in Scottsdale, right? Nope; RVs. They were willing to work on our screwed up coach, even though they weren't the selling dealers and the factory was being difficult.
We're happy we're out here. We're happy with the unit now that it's working. We would have done some things differently if we knew then what we know now. Hey, experience. Right?
