Becoming Retirement RVers

The visit with Dave and Joy at their campsite on Camel Lake, near Bristol, FL, got Anne and me thinking, “What if we looked into getting an RV for ourselves?” The three week stay in the Class B Europa had helped us definitely decide that we didn’t want a coach of that small size.

When we returned to Medford we began filtering through web pages and driving to local RV dealers to try to start eliminating styles and sizes we didn’t wish to have. That still left a zillion options for units which seemed ok. This was getting us nowhere in making a decision.

Anne called her cousin, Christine, in Eugene, to beg a stay at their home for the weekend of the RV show at the Lane County Fair Grounds. Chris, and her husband, David, live just two blocks from the fairgrounds; a perfect place to stay.

Saturday morning came and over breakfast I decided that instead of visiting the many different dealers and their new units at the fairgrounds, I would prefer to drive to Junction City and look over the new and used RVs at Guaranty RV.  Guaranty is the largest RV dealer in the northwest, and they have a very good reputation for products and service. That is what we did.

Guaranty RV has a large lot for each genre of recreational vehicle. They have a lot for motor homes of all classes. They have a lot for 5^th wheel units of all lengths and features. And they have a lot for trailers of all variety. At this time, Anne and I had pretty much decided we would have a Class A motor home or a 5^th wheel. We didn’t cotton to the idea of towing a trailer.

 

The first lot we came to was the motor home village for Guaranty. The representative we linked up with, Chris Vaughn, showed us several beautiful used motor homes. Anne was very specific in her need for the RV to have ample facility for her to do her sewing craft work once we tied down at a campsite. The floor plans were quite varied. We toured one used Winnebago Horizon that met Anne’s tough interior standards.  Plus, it seemed very clean and livable. Chris suggested I take it for a test drive. Oh boy.

The Winnebago has 43,000 miles on it and it came to Guaranty as a bank repro. The thought of motoring this 40 foot behemoth onto the city’s streets brought me a bit of anxiety. My only experience with large vehicles was driving Christopher’s 40 foot motor home conversion bus when we visited them last time in Savannah. His bus seemed to have a mind of its own and it didn’t want to stay cleanly in its own lane. That was a tough drive.

The Winnebago handled and rode like a dream: no wandering, no leaning, smooth automatic shifting through its six speeds and it seemed to want to go faster than I anticipated. There was no feeling that I had a huge thing following behind me. This was motoring nirvana. Wow, this was going to be hard to beat with a 5^th wheel.

We thanked Chris Vaughn and drove to the 5^th wheel lot. There we met Clay, an award winning sales veteran for Guaranty. In Clay’s office we outlined what Anne and I were looking for in a 5^th wheel unit. Clay hit on an idea right away. His suggestion was the Road Warrior.

The Road Warrior is manufactured by Heartland, which meant nothing to either of us. But the beauty of the units is the design. This is a 5^th wheel with well appointed expandable bedroom and living room and it has a separated 8’ wide by 10’ long section at the rear which is an open floor garage. Not any garage. This one has its own side entrance and a fold down end that serves either as a ramp or a deck. When the ATV or golf cart has been off loaded two queen size beds can be lowered from the ceiling to form queen-over-queen bunks.

We aren’t interested in toting along an ATV, but the 8’ x 10’ space could be turned into a wonderful craft room. The lower of the two beds will fold up into long dinette like seats and there is a six person table which plugs into the floor between the seats. This would serve both our entertainment and crafting needs.

The next step, when considering a 5^th wheel, is to look into what you are going to tow it with. One of Guaranty’s lots was packed with used diesel pickups of all sizes. I was firm in the belief that a large 5^th wheel was going to be pulled most comfortably with a truck fitted with dual rear wheels. Clay had a 2007 Ford F-450 on the lot which was in like new condition. We took it for a test drive and it seemed to handle ok.

As I put the Ford through its paces on a back road to nowhere, I remembered the feel of the small 5^th wheel we owned many years ago. I could feel the 5^th wheel trying to continue to go straight as I made the gentle left turn. I could remember the frustration as I repeatedly tried to coax it into a narrow campsite at Lake of the Woods. Flash backs came of the process of disconnecting from the pickup and setting up the RV in its new temporary home site. We had a 25 foot Coachmen 5^th wheel. It wasn’t near the size and potential temperament the 36 foot Road Warrior was going to be.

The price tag for the truck and 5^th wheel came to a push compared to the motor home we liked. We drove back to the first lot to have a second look. Yes, it still suited our initial needs but it would need to have a small car towed along to allow us to comfortably sightsee and perform replenishment shopping tasks. However, with a Class A motor home the horse was before the cart. The 30 plus thousand pound Freightliner chassis and Winnebago coach combination, with its 350 hp Cummins turbo diesel engine, were not going to notice a small 3,000 pound puppy at its rear. With a 5^th wheel, the tail is always wagging the dog. The decision was made. We were going to own a used Class A motor home. Yippee!

We met with Elaine at the Guaranty business office and the completed necessary paperwork. The Winnebago would take a few days to detail to our expectations and it would be ready to pick up next weekend.

Next Friday soon came and we drove back to Eugene to once again partake of the hospitality of Cousin Chris and David.  The next day was going to be busy and we needed a good round of pinochle to help stave off the dread of having to accept a new toy. David and I soundly tromped the ladies. Sorry about that.

At Guaranty we were introduced to Bob. Bob is a lead man in the service department. His job today was to walk us through our new investment and to answer our questions. Bob started at the front door. Approximately four hours later we had covered everything and had been shown how to operate all of the Winnebago’s many onboard systems. Whew, that was exhausting.

We made a last stop at the business office to sign off on some insurance papers, said goodbyes to Elaine and Clay and drove back to collect the Horizon. Anne wanted to stop at a nearby sewing machine store so we agreed to meet back at Chris and David’s.

I had planned the return route to the house carefully to avoid too many narrow right or left turns, all worked fine.

The next morning we left right after breakfast. My first stop was to be in Creswell to top the fuel tank. Guaranty had provided more than a half tank of diesel and a full tank of propane. I wanted to begin full so I could meter the mpg. It took 35 gallons to fill it up.

The bus cruised very kindly at 60 mph. The trip from Eugene to Medford was a good test for how it could be expected to perform up and down hills and around sharp freeway bends.

The RV is factory equipped with four walkie-talkies stored in a recharging bay on the dash. We checked our channels and with the radios Anne and I could talk as she followed behind. At Canyonville she exited. This is where Three Feathers Casino is located. It was time for her to take a slot machine break. I drove on home.

Jim met me at the rear of the house to help guide me onto the back parking pad. The RV has a rear mounted camera and that helped me aim the back of the rig through the opened railing. The rail was designed to swing open to permit a rig to extend over the edge of the pad. This helps put the whole 40 foot bus on level ground for its parking.

The Winnebago Horizon Itasca has found its new home. Now, we need to get it outfitted for Bob and Anne’s first big road adventure.

I just discovered something. With the RV parked on the pad, I can easily drain the oil - maybe not.