Deciding what we want

Okay, we said to each other, let’s just back off and take it easy today.  But once we’d made the decision to have an RV we both were like hounds on the scent.  We spent hours at the computers, searching floor plans, prices, and features.  Was it best to buy old and cheap and be prepared to put money into it?  Was it better to buy small, easy to maneuver, and make do with little space.  Or is big better?  Was it a good decision to buy one at all?

We were soon driving off to look at more.  We drove all the way to Camdenton where we looked at a very old one.  I could live with an old RV.  I live with an old man.  The old RV had good tires, a new manifold system and had been re-plumbed.  And it was cheap.  But it had absolutely no storage. I couldn't find a place to keep my heating pad, my bottle of aspirin, or tube of Ben-Gay.

We looked and looked. They were all too long, too short, too beat up, too expensive, too many miles, too nasty, bad tires.  Maybe we needed to look at the jinxed one again.

But it was a bus RV, no passenger doors.  I had to crawl over the engine cover.  I don’t crawl well over anything.  I also felt claustrophobic with no doors. I was beginning to want an RV with driver and passenger doors.  And; It still had bad karma!

Worn out from looking at RV’s, we agreed to ease off the search.  But, after Tom went to bed that night I heard an RV calling to me, so I fired up the computer and there it was.  A beauty.   A little pricey, but it was the one. At three o’clock in the morning I e-mailed the auto sales lot and told them we were very interested. Next morning, bright and early, some guy called to tell us this baby had everything.  We’re on our way to look at it, we told him.  He told us the “coach”…(like Cinderella’s, I thought) was being sent to the shop for detailing and we wouldn't be able to see it for a few days.

We were almost glad we didn't have to go look at it because we were exhausted and befuddled at all we’d seen.  This delay gave us time to think about and to consider all we’d seen and learned.  Let’s just not even think about it this weekend, we said.  Let’s go fishing instead.

But we couldn't keep our minds off RV’s.  The voices were speaking to us.   We’d learned a lot we didn't know about RV’s and we were beginning to settle on little details.   It definitely had to be between 25 and 30 feet.  It had to be low mileage.  It had to have good tires.  And I was getting stubborn…it had to have doors.

And the more I thought about it, the more I was beginning to think automatic levelers were really important, too.  The thoughts of two old broken down people, trying to park a 30 ft RV wheel on a board and a brick, in the dark, after a day on the road was not an appealing vision.  I shared this vision with Tom; him yelling at me to pile the boards just right so he could back the RV onto them.  Maybe he’d be the one to pile boards while I tried to perch the RV wheel on the board pile.   We agreed we wouldn't buy one without automatic levelers.

So, okay, narrowing it down some…must have automatic hydraulic levelers and must have doors.  We called the guy with the perfect pricey one.  Sorry, doesn’t have automatic hydraulic levelers.   But, you said it had everything.  Well, he said, frankly I don’t think you’ll find the kind of RV you’re looking for with automatic levelers.