I took time on Saturday to hit the road, looking at RV's on 3 different lots. The closest lot was small, family owned but only had travel trailers and 5th wheels. Drove around the lot and did not see anything worth getting out of my car for. I then headed 45 miles east to Indianapolis to Colerain RV's and Camping World because I knew with their large inventory I could check on about every RV and trailer that I have considered. That proved to be the case.
Just as I planned, I was fortunate to walk both lots without a salesman and only my iPhone to take short notes on what I saw. Sure, I looked at the 2013's but with no intentions of buying them and not even buying anything. With cars I am too impulsive but not with RVs.
I was able to see 2 Class B's, both 2005's. The Coachman Concord and the Gulfstream BT Cruiser both had slides, 27' - 29' and believe it or not had enough space for me and my hounds or more space than some C's. I liked the BT Cruiser better, it was 29' and I had it rated higher for having enough room for me and my hounds. For a smaller rig I have always liked them.
I looked at 3 different Class A's. 2 of them were 30' long and the old old Fleetwood Southwind was 34'. I looked at that not only because I wanted to see an older model with no slides but also it was the same model my friend had full-timed in as recently as 2005. The other two were both Winnebago's Sightseer. Of course they felt bigger inside than a 29' Class C because they are higher and appeared to be a little wider. Yet, when I sat in the driver seat and compared the feeling of sitting in a Class C or Class B ... it just seemed too big and not something I would want to be driving in the places that I want to be going.
I looked at 6 Class C's. From a 2002 - 2012, 28'-31' and even checked out a 23' just to see if it would work with my dogs. The best and favorite of all of the C's was the 2012 Jayco Melbourne. It had 2 slides, was 30' and had every feature that I wanted but was listed at $105,000, more than I want to spend. The 2007 Forest River Sun Seeker really had a good floor plan but really nowhere to install a computer desk by replacing a couch or a kitchen table. The 2002 Jayco Designer had a great floor plan and it must have been a good RV because it had be used and used a lot. It was 31' with a slide but the overall condition was not something I would want to deal with.
The last 3 C's I looked at were all Thor's. I am not sure of the reliability of their reputation but I liked all of their floor plans and have even when seeing them online. The 2012 23' surprised me with the room it had and while I was sitting there looking around, walking around I really felt that it might be a possibility with 3 dogs on the days that we were stuck inside due to weather. I might be wrong after I get out on the road, but if the weather is good, I plan on being outside most of the time. It proved to be an option to look at later. The 2005 Thor 4Winds was in really great shape, the entertainment center was in the overhead compartment, was 30' long with a couple of slides. The 2013 Thor Freedom Elite was 28', had the best "trunk" storage I had ever seen and of course being a new model, had everything you would need. Looked great.
Then as a lowest start up cost option, I looked at a 2012 Jayco Feather Travel Trailer and believe it or not I could see that working with dogs and me. Had a queen size bed in the front, kitchen in the rear. At the same time it may not be made for 365 day rving. The other Jayco trailers I looked at were great but to go that route I would need to buy a 4x4 truck to tow it with.
On the way back I had about 90 miles of country highway to cruise and think, unlike my trip to Indy on I-70 was more like a high speed race and no time was allowed to day dream. It is beautiful scenery in southern Indiana and the highway I travled felt like times I driven cross country. I wanted to see what kind of reaction I had when I got back to my small town and the house I have lived in since 1997. I wanted to see if these past few weeks of saying I am packing up and leaving or in my recent posts, talking of selling everything but the hounds and hitting the road, would make that feeling different as I drove up the drive way to the top of the 80' hill.
In the past, after day trips like these, I was always happy to get back home and it felt good, even if the snow flew or the sun was out and it was hot. I noticed today it was different. I have really had no attachment to this town living a few miles outside of it and knowing no one ... and I didn't feel any different driving through town today either. The town is so cliquish, that it has created it's own privacy with me and that has been that I liked while living here. I am more of a loner than people I know, think ... so it may be a huge reason I have stayed in this location for 15 years. As far as the house, it felt like it was time to go. All I could think about was what I needed to do to put it on the market and things I needed to do to sell everything that I am not going to take.
Didn't surprise me with that reaction but it was different than in the past.
So today was a good day, a recycling run, more clothes ready to be dropped off at Goodwill tomorrow in a town 25 miles away, sun was out all day and I was able to check on floor plans of every kind of RV I had been looking at online. So I am now in the stage of clearing out the house by selling, donating or throwing away and preparing to sell the house by owner.
I am thinking of putting the sign out tomorrow afternoon in case I find that buyer that would rather do their own improvements (ie: painting interior in their favorite colors) rather than not putting the sign out until I have everything cleaned out, painted and pretty well empty before showing it. It only takes 1 to buy and the highway I live on gets a ton of traffic.
As always your thoughts and comments are appreciated and very helpful.