It is time for a major update!
And right now we have 28 more days until we will start another southern adventure. Just that there will be some changes this year.
For many years we have been pulling our Forest River Flagstaff trailer thousands of miles through the country. It has been fun, but we also had troubles. two winters ago we had to replace both trailer axles, which not only was a lot of expense, but also stress for us. Then last spring we "lost" our transmission on the way home. Another {extremely} expensive and stressful stop along the way.
Our trusty Chevrolet Express, which also is a business vehicle is now sporting close to 200K miles. If we would continue to use the van for the long haul to California we might risk other very expensive repairs, and could lose it as a business vehicle. We thought this to be too risky.
So we had two choices:
1. giving up to travel south alltogether
2. Getting a different tow vehicle (diesel truck?)
3. leaving the trailer at home and getting a motorhome.
#1: Would be a bummer to stay home. (Life is too short)
#2: Diesel trucks are expensive and we still have to pull the trailer
#3: A Class-A Diesel Pusher would solve our problem.It has enough power to pull up mountains, it is comfortable to drive, and we know that type of rig as we had one years ago.But isn't it too expensive?
Nobody wants to "break the bank".
So it can't be a new one. But it has to be one which can be trusted, like a brand with a top reputation for quality.
Where can we find it?
Facebook offers "Market Place" with thousands of adds all over the world. But many of these adds are plain scams, and FB doesn't do anything about it.
You probably have seen adds where newer rigs are offered for pennies on the dollar. Or they have dubious email and contact data. (the rig belongs to my aunt)....followed by a strange email address. PHISHING ALERT!!!
So it does take some scrutiny to make sure the add and the seller is real and the rig is theirs.
So when we found an add in our area we thought it would be great to take an in-person-look. And it was good we did that. While the rig wasn't too old and had low miles, it still had been sitting behind a shed in a garden and was now showing signs of decay.
Back to square one, I restarted the search. After studying hundreds of adds I came across a Beaver Motor Home sitting 2400miles away in Colorado. 20 years old and with 120K miles it seemed too old at first, but well maintained and well-used it would be in better shape than the previous one in our area. And it wouldn't break the bank.
Our trusty van will still drive us to Colorado - but without the travel trailer. Instead, it will pull an auto transport trailer, which will then carry the van behind the MH after reaching Colorado.
When we got our trailer in 2020 we couldn't travel as the borders where closed because of Covid. So we started to rent out the trailer as an AirBnB. Since then the trailer has paid for itself. We now plan to do the same with the motor home, and we will keep the trailer as well.
We are very excited about the new way of travel and can't wait for the next 30 days to pass.
Until then there are still a "million" things to do.
Bea needs to put her garden to sleep, room-plants need to be brought to our friend's place, the van needs to be prepared for travel and the house for the winter.
We also have to finish the Tourist season. Tours are still going on and October will see the arrival of three Cruise ships. The first one came on September 3. It was huge and had 3600 passengers. The "Enchanted Princess" has been starring as the "Love Boat". It was too big to use the Eastport, ME breakwater, so it anchored midways in the bay.
