A Few Answers

Well now that I had a night sleep, I'm a bit less nervous.  It did take me a long time and a sleep aid to finally drop off, but I felt so much better this morning.


The Alfa should be at the Livermore CA La Mesa by tuesday, but I won't get up to see it until Thursday, Friday, or Saturday depending on when Craig wants to go, or if I want to go up alone first.

I am flying down to San Diego to see our daughter and grandsons on Sunday, and will be returning on Wednesday.  


Before this one came up she had asked if I wanted to go look at some RVs on Sunday, and told the boys we were going to do that.  They are very excited and curious since they have never seen the inside of one of those big boxes.  


In any event it is going to be a long tense week.


As of today, I am much calmer about if "this is the one" or not.  I know we cannot be pushed to purchase one that is not just right, and I am quite comfortable about the "refundable" deposit for two reasons:
  1. It is on my American Express and American Express takes good care of it's customers.  And 
2. There is at least one major fact about the rig that is on the printed version of the listing and what the salesman told me on the phone, that is not true.


We wanted a 35' for parking reasons.  The Alfa is listed on their ad as 35' length.  He told me it was a 35'.  But in the specifications that I have found online, they did not make a 35'.  The specs say the shortest the made was 37'5"


Quite honestly, this will not make a  difference if we really love the coach, but it will make it easy to get out of the deal if we don't and don't have any better reasons.


I need to keep these things in mind to stay calm.


Craig seems to be doing OK with all of this.  He doesn't show excitement or worry, but I can tell he isn't sleeping all that well either.

Deposit put down

EEK!

I put a deposit down on a Motor Home today.

This is it: Alfa 

The salesman from La Mesa called me.  He is in Tucson and he called about it.  He says the deposit is refundable, based on our seeing it, driving it, and both approving of it.
We had to put a deposit on it for it to be brought to California for us to see.

He says it is refundable.  It had better be!

Craig said it was OK.

I am so scared.

I'm sick to my stomach.
 
It is at the top of what we want to spend.
It has most of what we want.

Baby Moose at play

I get a lot of fun things in email, this one just had to be shared ...

http://www.wimp.com/babymoose

Craig looked too ...

We went up to the La Mesa parking lot show this afternoon and Craig looked at the National Tropi-Cal.  He said he liked  it, but not enough to want to take a test drive.

We also looked at a 2007 Itasca Meridian 36', and took it out for a drive.  The breaks were horrible.  They squeaked and made a loud "clunking' noise.  Of course the salesman said they just needed to be adjusted.

 It also made a lot of rattling noises. The salesman said it was because the road was rough.  It was a normal city street.   Craig did not like that.  So he did not drive it.

The salesman did most of the driving, except at the end when I drove it around the parking lot a little.

I told the salesman that we felt we had to drive several different models before we could make a decision.  He said they all drove pretty much the same.  I don't agree.  The National was  smoother.

I like the Meridian interior, and they have a lot of basement space. But now that this one sounded so bad inside I don't know what to think.

The National would be great for "any timing" and would be a nice traveling coach, but the Meridian would be so much better for full timing.  (Craig says that is the goal, but I won't hold my breath on getting the house sold.)

Time to step back and just work on the house for a while.  No rush.

I don't think Craig and the salesman  hit it off very well.  As we took a second walk around the outside of the Tropi-Cal I said I thought the price was a bit high.  (Karen sent me some information on a similar coach at Lazy Days that could be had for $5000 less, and was a little bigger.)  The salesman acted like I was insulting his mother.

So, I don't know if he will follow up on my request to let me know if anything else comes in our size and price range.  He would be foolish if he doesn't.  He knows we are getting closer to being "ready" and we have no need for financing.  He seemed so much nicer on Wednesday.  Maybe he was just tired of people by late Sunday afternoon.  I know I would be.

But, it is a buyers market, and we are  qualified, motivated buyers.  I do expect to be able to get a very good buy.

He kept telling us that because we are looking for a diesel that is 35' or less we just don't have many choices.  Well fine.  What we do have is plenty of time.

Now I have to find a 35'  Tiffin to drive, and maybe another Meridian.

The day was not a total disappointment.  We got to stop at the Berkeley Bowl and bought tons of produce.  We will eat healthy this week that's for sure.

Mail Order Bride

I wrote this post one evening last week:

Although there are a lot of diesel coaches for sale, it seems there are not a lot of them in the 33' - 35' within an easy drive from here, so for now most of my shopping and learning is being done online.

I'm beginning to feel a bit like I'm looking for a "mail order bride."
A lonely miner scanning the latest newspaper from the East.

There are so many listings. I spend several hours each day going thru them, looking for the perfect match.  I know there are a lot of salesmen out there that would love to be our match maker, but we are not ready for that yet.

First we have to decide exactly what we want.

Not too young nor too old:  2008 -2004
Not too short or too tall:  33' -35'
From a good family:  Winnebago, Itasca, or Tiffin, but will consider others
Good body:   No dents or dings
Nice smile:  Full body paint would be nice
Inner beauty:   Nice decor
Strong:  Diesel
Healthy: Pass the  inspections
Able to cook:  Pleasing kitchen arrangement
Compliant:  Easy to steer, good test drive
Intelligent:  Has back up cameras, tire pressure sensors, GPS
Amusing:  Entertainment center
Good teeth:  New tires?
Practical: No white carpeting!  Tile or Allure would be nice
Good in bed:  A good bed
A big heart:  A big basement
Has something extra:  Four door refrigerator

And then there  is the nagging question:  Why is she being sold? Is something wrong with her? Did her people trade her in on a newer model?  Will she be more trouble than she's worth?

We could buy an RV next week, or next month, or not until springtime, but we are going to buy one in the next six months.  

That is about all I'm sure of right now.

I know eventually we are going to have to get out and meet some of these beautiful ladies in person.  And we will, but right now Craig is getting lots of work done on his jobs around the house and I don't want to slow him down.  Almost making an offer on that one felt so right that it has really motivated him.  I don't want to rock that boat. 

We have plenty of time.
 I know we have to keep looking, she won't just show up in our driveway one fine day.

Not A Match

I am back home from my test drive and have a headache!  I never get headaches.  I guess it was from the stress and excitement.


As you can guess from my title, the National Tropi-Cal was not a match.  Actually it almost was for me, but Craig wants to look further and I think he is a little leery of the "orphan" status of the Manufacturer.  I did do a lot of research last night, and got some good comments on the RV Dreamers forum "Buying and RV" thread.


The coach I test drove is 33' 10".  A good size for a first coach, and a good size for two people who are "any-timing."  It has a good amount of Cargo Carrying Capacity, and a reasonable  amount of basement storage.  The kitchen counter was larger than many that I've seen, and there was a good amount of cupboard and pantry space.


One minus was it had only a two door refrigerator freezer.  I would like a four door.  


A plus was there was no carpeting on the floors except for in the bedroom.  A minus, the vinyl tile looked a bit tired.


I know most people like the tables, but I have no objection to a booth and it had additional storage in the booth seats.


The driver's and passenger seats looked good, but the upholstery on the couch was a less than pleasant brownish green and looked worn.  I could live with that.  Reupholstering would be easy for me.


It drove wonderfully!  The turn radius was unbelievable.  It has a 55* wheel cut, and I felt like I could turn a complete circle without much more radius than it's length.  No long overhanging tail.


Craig says we need to see  more, and drive more before buying.  I guess I agree.  This one was very close, but last week the Itasca was #1.  Will I fall for every one I see?  


It's so scary.  It's so much money! 


One good thing that came out of the day is I have established a relationship with two salesmen at La Mesa.  One that I talked to on the telephone, and one that I had talked to at an RV show last year, and remembered me.  They work as a team, the second one took me for the test drive.  They are both named "Bob."  I asked how it would work if I did buy the coach, and Bob said they split commissions.  They both treated me with sufficient respect and I  feel they took me seriously even if I was a female.


I have been honest with all salesmen, if I'm looking alone I tell them that if I like it, my husband has to see it as well, but if I don't he doesn't need to.  


In other words, I have found a dealership that I'm comfortable with and that I think will look for a coach to fit our needs.  At least I hope they do.


Another small "happy."  When I checked email when I got home I have another order.  A Large Buffalo for Park City Utah.  Shipped an armadillo yesterday!  Had him done already and just put him in a box and mailed him off.

National Tropi-Cal

Does anyone have or know much about the National brand of motorhomes?


I'm going to test drive one on Wednesday.


I called the La Mesa Dealership today because I wanted some information about the Itasca brand and they were listed as the local Itasca dealer.


After talking to a salesman for a bit and explaining what I was looking for he told me they had a 2007 National 35' on the lot and suggested I come look at it.  I told him I would, but only if I got to drive it.  I told him that the deal is that I have to be able to drive any motor home we buy.


I know he would like it better if both Craig and I went up to look at it, but I explained that I was doing the researcher, and if I like it I would bring Craig up over the weekend. Salesmen might want to work with a single woman, but they often give less than their all to a wife alone.  I hope this guy realizes he has to work with me if he want a possible sale either for this or for a future rig.  La Mesa is one of the few dealer in the area that has good reviews, so I hope we connect.


I told him I was primarily interested in Winnebago, Itasca and Tiffin because they were still in business and have good reviews.


I can't find anything objectionable about National online, but I don't feel comfortable buying a motor home made by a company that went bankrupt and is gone.  


We talked a bit about the shorter Tiffin "FRED"s.  I mentioned that they seemed to have more basement than other shorter rigs.  He explained that was because they had a front diesel engine and did not have air ride.  He said they were terrible to drive.


I don't know if that is because he has this National to sell.  Would his thoughts be different if he had a Tiffin FRED on the lot?


Any input is appreciated.  No offer will be tendered tomorrow, but from the pictures it does have a nice kitchen.