DJ'S JOURNAL

At the end of my last journal entry, "Our Christmas Adventure", I said that we “have been negotiating to trade our MDT and fifth wheel for a motorhome”, and I posted a “sneak peek” of our new home. Since then, I have received a number of emails asking why we were making the change, especially after doing so much research before going fulltime. Here is one answer that I wrote:

Why the change, you ask........because everything is much easier on Ron, and I can back up a motorhome. Yes, our living space has diminished, and our inside storage space is considerably less, but we have a huge basement that is full. We did get rid of a lot of stuff by donating to the Salvation Army or selling at a "yard" sale while up in Conroe. There was stuff in that trailer and truck that neither of us had seen in 4 years, and there were clothes in the bedroom that we hadn't worn in 4 years. It's all gone now!!! Other than that, Ron pushes a button to level the coach, the electric cord is on a pushbutton reel, and the slides move out without worrying if something is off. The awning is even pushbutton!!!! Driving this coach is like driving a Cadillac compared to the truck, and believe me, Ron doesn't miss the truck at all. Another concern was if something happened to him, for whatever reason, I could back up the motorhome, but I could never back up the other rig, even if my life depended on it.

That should explain the motivation behind our decision, something that we had really been discussing off and on for over a year, even before the transplant. In early December, while we were still parked south of Houston, and we had a landline, I again started doing some research. We were considering an Alpine Coach or certain Dutch Star models. I quickly found out that Newmar no longer offers the stacked washer and dryer in their Dutch Star units, so that left just the Alpine Coach. Now, to many of you, the “stacked washer and dryer” issue may seem to be a trivial thing, but to me, after having them for over four years in our fifth wheel, it was very important.

First, I visited as many dealer websites as I could find and found that most dealers don’t put all the specifics of their inventories on the websites. So, I emailed the largest Alpine Coach dealer, located in Oregon, and asked if they had the particular model that we wanted, the 40MDTS (40’ mid-door triple slide). Turns out that are very scarce. Of the fourteen 40’ Alpines that they had in stock, only one was the model that we were looking for. We emailed back and forth many, many times. I asked questions, but they wouldn’t answer them specifically. I asked again, until I finally got the answers that I was looking for. After a few days, we felt that we really wanted to pursue the purchase of this coach.

I then asked for some pictures, which were promptly sent. Of the six color schemes that Alpine offered, this coach had the colors both inside and out that we would have picked if we were ordering!!!! The cabinets were about the same color as what we had in the fifth wheel, and the Pergo floor was maybe a shade darker, but looked great. The cockpit chairs and the Euro-chair were beige leather and looked soooo comfy!!! There was too much “mirror” for my taste….in the kitchen and the entry wall, but I could live with it.

Next, I emailed the salesman, asking what sort of deal we could make and gave him some information on our rig. Then we received an email asking about the “financial” concerns, which I turned over to Ron. He sent all the particulars, but the email that we received back took us a bit by surprise. It was a “retail to retail” offer!!! Having the mindset of 25% off MSRP, this wasn’t fitting into our brains!!!! Ron sent another email asking for an explanation of how they arrived at the value of our rig. Again, after a number of emails back and forth, we arrived at the bottomline. This all happened within a week from my first inquiry.

Now, we then needed to get down to the “nitty gritty”!!!! Our first request was that the coach be delivered to their lot in Indio, CA. After all, we were in Texas, and the coach was in Oregon. That didn’t present a problem, and we knew that it had been done before. When we were asked about our timeframe as to when we would arrive in Indio, we told the dealer that we could not be there until the middle of January. Also, since there was no washer and dryer in the coach, we wanted our units from the fifth wheel to be installed in the coach. We were assured that this could be done also. There were some other possible changes that we asked about, but we decided against them.

The salesman, still via email, asked about the dimensions of our washer and dryer to make sure that they would fit in the space provided in the coach. I looked at the picture that he had sent us again and realized that the cabinet was built for the combo washer/dryer, not the stacked units. So, after a week of emails, we finally called him to explain the situation. That was the best thing that we could’ve done!!!! He didn’t realize what type of washer and dryer that we have, but once we explained the situation, he realized what we were asking. The cabinet doors would need to be changed, and a new shelf would have to be installed for the dryer plus a vent for the dryer would also need to be installed.

Basically, at this point, everything seemed to be falling into place with regard to our motorhome purchase, but we still had to deal with some other things before this whole thing could actually happen. Ron had his Clinic appointment at the hospital on December 13 and was cleared until January 6. So, the plan was to head west as soon after that as possible. We made plans to leave Almost Heaven RVP, after 4 months, and go to Bay View WHR for the holidays. That is what my article, "Our Christmas Adventure", is all about!!!

During those two weeks, we were still submitting credit applications, applying for insurance, and requesting purchase orders. As you all know, the paperwork and phone calls to complete a long-distance transaction can be somewhat of a huge nightmare, especially for a fulltimer. By January 5, our loan application had been approved, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, we would be motorhome owners in about 10 days.

In preparation for the move from the fifth wheel to a motorhome, we rented a storage locker in Conroe. Ron emptied all of his tools and other stuff out of the truck and into the locker. We also emptied almost everything out of the trailer basement and took that stuff to the locker. The bikes went to the locker. There was still plenty of stuff in the cupboards and closets of the trailer that would have to be moved later.

But, before I move on to the next part of our “motorhome odyssey”, I want to interject one more thing that we decided to do. For quite some time, we had also been contemplating the purchase of a Direcway satellite internet system since we usually spend at least 2 weeks at a park. While I was researching Alpine websites and making inquiries, I was also emailing Maxwell Satellite on the recommendation of a very good friend. At first, we asked that the system be shipped to us, but because they were waiting for parts, and we weren’t sure of our schedule, we just put everything on hold for awhile and kept in touch by email.

A couple of weeks later, I checked the Maxwell Satellite website and found that they would be in Indio at the FMCA rally at the same time that we were anticipating delivery of our new motorhome. So, we made arrangements to pick up the dish there and receive our instructions on how to operate the system. We will be in contact when we finally arrive out west!!!

Now, go to Part 2......"Our Trip West and Delivery"!!!!