RV Shopping

There has been a big gap in my blog.  Sorry about that.  Life has been good.  My promise is to be much more regular going forward.

When last we communicated, I had decided to shop for an RV.  Key requirements were diesel pusher, washer/dryer, separate living areas, and not more than $120,000.  That drove me to older vehicles.

Getting practical, my real first shopping stop was to see if I even liked RVs.  My Dad’s side of the family owned RVs many years ago. I have no recollection what kind or what power source.   I can remember visiting inside one of the RVs one day.  My only memory of that visit was that the bathroom was kind of gross. Gross bathrooms would be a show stopper!

My first shopping stop was at Gander RV in Wichita.  The goal was to determine that an RV was even a possibility for my living situation.  They had some brand new RVs – oh how I love the smell of new.  One was so new they didn’t even know the price.  I think what they had were mostly gasoline propulsion.  From that visit I figured out that it was worth continuing to shop.  The bathrooms weren’t gross!

My second shopping stop was Harper Camperland in Park City, Kansas (close to home).  They had some older diesel pushers in my price range.  The one that was most acceptable was a Tiffin Phaeton.  It just didn’t quite excite me.  I had been looking online at Harper Camperland also in Great Bend, Kansas.  They had three units, one of which was especially interesting.  The salesman in Park City called Great Bend to make sure the units were still available, and the next day I headed out to look.

My favorite choice in Great Bend had already been sold (that’s how fast RVs were selling in August 2020!).  The other two were not too interesting.  I thought I would be waiting and watching and potentially having to travel further away from home.  But it didn’t work out that way.  As we were starting to head back to the office, the salesman pointed to another RV and said, “We just got this one in on consignment yesterday.  We haven’t even cleaned it up yet, but I can show it to you.”  We looked.  The outside looked nice.

When we went inside, I was blown away.  No cleaning was required.  It was clean and sparkling!  I loved the cherry wood, the glass, the mirrors, and the gold (always have been a traditionalist!). 

The RV has a living room/kitchen area, a bathroom with a vanity and a stool (not at all gross), a separate full-size shower, and a bedroom.  There are three slide outs – one on each side of the bedroom and one in the living room.  There is a TV in the living room and another in the bedroom.  I didn’t get my theater seats, but there is a great Euro-style reclining chair and footstool that was my obvious reading station (one of my goals for retirement is to read the books I have stuffed in my house). 

The kitchen table is a real dining room table with four chairs (two fixed and two folding).  The table has a leaf to expand to accommodate all four chairs.  I was much happier with that than a booth.  I loose sleeping space but have much more flexibility using the table.  Writing is my other goal for retirement – the kitchen table is a great writing space when it is not used for dining. 

Speaking of sleeping space, there is a queen bed in the back and a jackknife sofa in the living room which folds down and could accommodate two but really sleeps one very comfortably.  An RV 40 feet long and only room to sleep three – turns out that meets my needs since my most likely company are my sister and brother-in-law. 

This 2005 RV had 32,104 miles on it – barely broken in.  It is a 40 ft Newmar Mountain Aire with one owner who bought it from Harper Camperland, had the maintenance done there, and stored it inside.  The only negative was the Michelin tires were the originals from 2005.  The cracking was evident.  The really excellent thing was the price was $51,000 below the top of my budget, and $31,000 below my original goal. I would have room to fix things and make improvements!

Buying on consignment, everything was as is.  As a naïve RV buyer, I should have engaged an RV inspector to check everything out.  I didn’t do that.  I have no regrets this time – the coach was as well-cared for as it looked.  But next time…

Knowing how fast RVs were selling (and this one seemed like an unbelievable deal), I put a deposit down that morning and worked out the plan for delivery.  Harper Camperland needed two weeks to deliver; they had a new windshield on order to install.  The owners also changed all the fluids.  My salesman gave me the contacts for two tire companies in Great Bend that could put tires on for me.  I negotiated the deal, and the salesman got the bus to the desired tire company so it would have new tires when I took delivery.

I also had to negotiate a plan to get a tow package on my car.  It wouldn’t work so well to drive to Great Bend, take delivery, and leave my car 140 miles away from home. We worked it out that I would take delivery on a Wednesday afternoon, stay at their camping area, and get the tow package on the car on Friday.  It all came together as planned.

Stay tuned for my next post on taking delivery and teaching myself to drive the RV.