Need some kind of RV…

We have many memories around our pop-up camper [that’s still in Virginia],
however we’re quickly outgrowing it. The kids are so much bigger now; it seems
like their stuff expands to fill all available space. Yep, we are ready to move
up to a motorhome!

Initially we investigated renting (vs-buying). Rentals cost about $190/day
plus 45-cents a mile. For a three-day-weekend, this is not unreasonable, but
now I’m thinking that our “trip” may become a longer “journey.” Therefore,
renting at these high rates can get out of hand in no time.

Susan came up with the idea of buying an RV, then selling it after
the trip. Do the math, we believe this to be the best option — and it affords
us the flexibility we need.

Hunting for the right RV. eBay and other on-line research helped with
valuation/pricing, but the classifieds were our best source. We looked at three
Class-C RVs from the paper (not counting a rental unit that we had originally
seen). In the end we bought a 30-foot 1995 “Fourwinds” from Betty Bennett of
Kansas City who decided she was too old for camping (at 73). She was anxious to
have the vehicle sold before leaving for a long vacation cruise to Alaska.

This rig has only 42K miles on the odometer and the interior was clean and
had less wear than expected. Ray (Susan’s Dad) visited on Memorial Day weekend
and helped me test all the components. We found the generator, water heater,
and furnace in need of service. [Betty did a good job selling. I did a poor
job of inspecting!]

Here is a picture of Ray supervising the cleaning and maintenance (I’m on the
ladder):

Susan did help too, she has some legs!
🙂

Michael & Rachel are the best! They work hard and maintain a good
attitude. This day they had much fun
cleaning:

GPS (Global Positioning System)

There were several people recommending I get a GPS (not the least of which
was Papa Larry). So after some research I chose the
Garmin
Nuvi 360. This was highly rated in
Consumer
Reports.

Small Sailboat

We are going to be at Lake Tahoe for a week so I wanted to provide the kids
with a challenge. This sailboat
is portable, yet big enought to carry all four:

(Of course I’m so excited to try this sailboat out myself!)