Window Shopping

I had second thoughts about publishing this post because I know everyone has their own preferences and feelings about their own rigs.  Every brand has pluses and minuses.  These are just my feelings about what I have looked at.


When my thoughts turned from dreaming about "Full time RV living," to  "Any time once he retires, " my ideas about what kind of RV we should be looking for has changed.
Full Time = diesel
Full Time= Class A, minimum 35' but could go longer
Full Time = 3 years or newer
Full Time = Warranties!
Full Time = Tiffin or Winnebago
Full Time = $10K repair/tire fund

Any Time = ???

I don't think we need to get a huge class A for shorter trips.  And we don't need to have as much cargo space.  I think it would be sensible to buy something smaller, easier to maneuver, and less expensive.  Something we could park on the upper drive.

There are two things I know I must have:
A walk around queen bed, and a reasonable cooking area.

Everything else is up in the air.

Any Time = Class C, or Class A
Any Time = Gas
Any Time = 29'-32'
Any Time = 3 + years (or maybe newer)
Any Time = Probably buy extended Warranty
Any Time = Open to other brands
Any Time = Good price + $10K repair fund

I've been doing a lot of browsing on the internet and making a spread sheet of what I find interesting.  I bounce back and forth between class A's and class C's.    I've been pretty busy during the day working on the six animal order, but on Wednesday I took a day off and went shopping.  The nearest RV dealers are about 25 - 35 miles from here.  There are four dealers within a few mile of each other.

My day did not start very well.  I went to the Camping World because they had an Add that said if you took some kind of survey and listened to their product presentation you would get a $25 coupon on anything in the store.  Well, since that location did not have any RV's I couldn't get the coupon!

I did see a nice outdoor rocking chair that I might want someday. In fact it was what I was going to buy if I had been able to get the coupon.

Next door to Camping World is a Used RV dealer. " See Grins."  I looked at several 29' - 31' class C's and a couple of 32' class A's but they were all pretty old and depressing.   I did like one Minnie Winnie, and one Tioga that had an entertainment system up and over instead of the bed.  I gave the sales man my name and told him to call me if a Minnie Winnie with a similiar entertainment system, or better yet just storage cabenitry came in.

They are moving to a new location next week, where they will have a larger lot.  It would have been impossible to take a test drive today the way the inventory was jammed onto the lot.  I'm not writing them off, but was totally unimpressed with the place today.

My next stop was to a dealer that had a new 2012 Georgetown 28'.  I had seen it on the internet and thought it might be interesting.  Not.  Even though it was brand new it didn't appeal to me.  Pieces of paneling were already peeling up.  I also did not like the fact that there was a raised section next to what would be my side of the bed. I need to get up several times a night and I don't want to have to crawl off the end.

There was nothing else on his lot of interet.

The third place was all light trailers so I didn't stop.

The fourth place was on my list as having a new 30W  Winnebago Vista.    It turns out this is the Winnebago Dealer for our area, and everything they had in my size range was new.  I also looked at a 32' Sightseer and at a couple of Access (What they are calling Minnie Winnies these days.)

I really like the Winnebago product line.  Everything just felt so much nicer tome than some of the other brands.  Of course except for the Georgetown, the others were used and not really clean.

I brought home some brochures for Craig to look at.  He of course was drawn to the 37' floor plan.

Sometime in the next few weeks I will be driving up to Livermore, about 40 miles from here.  There are several dealers up in that direction and a couple of brands I want to see.

Eventually Craig will go with me for some test drives.

I hope to finish the last of the animal heads by Friday, and will post another work in process then.

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July.