Sunday was a Baaad Day

Sunday was really a bad luck day.  


I didn't have anything to do with RVs at all.


Craig and I were going to work on staining some new doors for the hall outside the middle bathroom, so I went out to make room in the  garage by pulling out his prius and my van.


I pulled out the prius onto the driveway just outside the door.

Then I got into my big old van, thinking about something not related to driving and backed it out.


Usually when I back out I swing to the left to turn it around.

Not thinking I automatically turned, and creamed the front fender of the prius!


I couldn't have been moving at more than 5 mph. but I did $700 worth of damage. I went for an estimate yesterday at my favorite body shop. They actually gave me a discount because I've been there several times in the last 20 years.


I know it could happen to anyone.  But I really felt bad.


We worked on  staining one of the doors (3 more to do) and decided to have an early dinner.


I'm really a good cook, and can pull a nice meal together out of an odd set of ingredients.  Sunday I decided to use some scallops I had in the freezer, plus a couple of things from the fridge.  My idea was a disaster.  The sauce I put together would have been ineatable had I served it.


Instead I decided to make some quick pasta and toss it with broccoli and  cheese, and serve that as a side to the scallops which were already cooking.


  I had a nice chunk of parmesan  that was almost to the end and had a thick rind.  I didn't have time to grate it by hand so I decided to toss it in the blender.  Before I could do that I need to cut the rind off.

I have (had) a very special knife.  It is (was) a black Kyocera ceramic.  A beautiful tool. It cut like a razor, and I used it for everything.  
One thing you must not do is twist it.  Apparently I did. I started cutting into the cheese and it snapped!  


All I can say is bad luck is said to come in threes, and I sure had my three in one day.  

Need to ask another question ..

Help!  I am trying to figure out which company for an extended warrantee and for Road Service.
Are they separate policies?

The one thru Go RV Network  looks pretty good.  Not as inclusive as what the dealer is selling, but not as expensive either.  I have to study the differences in coverage a bit.

Good Sam's warranty seemed priced pretty high.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom as to who to stay away from?

The good news is Alstate, my current car/house/earthquake coverage is quoting me a pretty low rate on the RV.  I talked to my agent and asked "what if a tree falls on it and it is damaged?  Se said that would be covered under the comprehensive part of the policy.  So maybe I'm less worried about parking it here  in the "Merikay Woods."

 I have a request out for a couple of other quotes, but I think I'll go with them rather than the unknown.  That part is easier because we are not full timers.  I hear you need different insurance when you are.

SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT! I told Craig it's like buying a puppy. The purchase price is just the beginning!  I've had more than one "free puppy" that broke the budget.  But we loved them and we will love our RV.

I bought plastic waste basket bags today for the Alfa.  And looked at foam mattress pads at COSTCO.

I had a terrible day yesterday.  I'll probably write about it sometime soon.  I'm also holding off on writing about the details of the Alfa until it passes the inspection and all is settled.  Don't want to jinks it.

The "not so great" Purchase Experience

For those of you who have had RVs of one sort or another over the years, all the things I have been rambling about may seem like a bit of "deja vu," but for me everything is new and writing posts about it has helped me a great deal.  I also hope that if other "newbies" read my posts, they might either be helped or comforted knowing they are not the only ones who feel a bit lost at times.

So this is how Saturday went:

First off, I think I did my homework:

•  I checked out the Nada price information, and decided the price was both fair and within our desired range.
• I searched for any ratings for the Alfa line and found it rated well, higher than Winnebago, but not as high at Tiffin.
• I looked for any comments on forums etc. and didn't find to much negative.
• I made a two page list of what we wanted and questions about this particular coach.
• I lined up an RV inspector (maybe not the best, but who I could find available at this time.)

We stopped for breakfast on the way there so we were comfortable in our bodies.  Food always makes me happier.

When we got to the dealership we found the Alfa up front, with the door open and the generator running and our name on the window.  Good presentation!

We did a quick look around the outside and went in, soon to be joined by our smiling salesman.  I have little sense of time, but I think we spent about a half hour looking at things with him and asking a few of the easier questions before we took a test drive.

The salesman drove first with Craig up front and me in the recliner.  Knowing how sensitive Craig is to rattles, I identified one big one as being the top of the stove burners, removed it and held it on my lap.

Craig's drive started on a country road, then onto the freeway, which was moving very slow, and then onto a surface street area.  He didn't like the exhaust breaking very much so turned it off, and liked the feel of that better.

I drove it on some surface streets and then back to the dealership doing a turn around at the end of the street in a large cul de sac, and then parked it next to a curb at the dealers lot.  Nothing hard.  (my evaluation was that the National drove a little smoother, but the Alfa was pretty good.  Craig was OK with it and said it didn't feel too big.)  


The salesman answered a few more questions and then left us alone to talk and look some more.  Neither one of us was at the "we have to have this one or die of disappointment" point.   We could have walked away with regrets, but decided to take the next step. We had agreed on the need to get an inspection the night before.

So we called the salesman in and said yes, with some conditions.  We all sat down and he began putting our agreed on fixes in writing.  A new windshield,  clean a spot on the ceiling, repair of the engine cover door, and giving us an estimate on repairing the bottom edge of the from bumper which is scuffed up and cracked.
He told me about it last week from Arizona and it was as he described.  He told me then they would not fix it, but I'm hoping to get a good price on the work as part of the sale.

All of this went smoothly, BUT when we stated the condition of having an independent inspection, the whole thing almost fell apart.

The salesman called in the manager and they both went on about how they had never heard of such a thing.  Why call in someone from the outside when they did a complete inspection using their experts! That if you bought a coach from "La Mesa" you didn't need any one else's opinion.  They were very "arrogant."

Craig  said that that was one of our requirements and there was no other way we would buy the coach.

The manager said he had two other customers that wanted that coach, and he couldn't hold it for us any longer. We said fine, sell it to them and  give us our  refund.  (It turned out they had never run my credit card, and all there was in our folder was a note with our credit card number etc. that I had given the salesman over the phone when he called me from Arizona. I do have to check my American Express account tomorrow however just to make sure.)

Then the manager said a few other things that I ignored, but whatever he said, it made Craig very angry, and he said he could never do business with "that man" and stormed out to the car. Craig later told me he thought the manager was being very verbally abusive to me.  I just heard it as sale "bluster" and was willing to call their bluff on canceling the possible sale.

So, I went out too, and we sat in our car for a few minutes to cool off.
 It is never good to drive while upset. I'm not sure we wanted to leave it at that either.

Our salesman came out to talk to us and tried to smooth things over.  By then the manager had agreed to include the condition of our "approval" of an independent inspection report, if it could be done by Wednesday.  So we went back in and put it under contract, with everything in writing. This time giving them a deposit by check.

Once that was done there were handshakes and congratulations all around.

No used RV is perfect.  We know some of the imperfections of the Alfa, mostly due to it being almost five years old.  We do not expect out inspector to reveal anything, but if he does we will still can walk away.  I hope!

Next post:  The pluses and minuses.  Why we choose this one.

Need I Say More

More information tomorrow!

Tomorrow ???

Well, tomorrow morning will be interesting and scary.


  Our salesman, Bob, called Craig Wednesday morning to ask when we were coming to see the Alfa.  I had told him I would be in San Diego thru Wednesday, but I hardly intended to rush from the airport to the dealership.


Craig is involved in something "very interesting" at work this week and didn't want to take time away from his project, so he told Bob we would come up Saturday.

This morning Craig said he would not have a problem saying: "no" to the sale if it wasn't the right one, but that he would have a problem saying "yes" unless we put a condition of having an independent RV inspection done on it.

So today I scrambled to find someone who did RV inspections in this part of the state.

Using Google, I  found a company that had "affiliates" throughout the country for  auto, boat, and RV pre-purchase inspections.  I talked to their area "affiliate" and got an idea of what he would do.  It sounded great, but unfortunately he was not available until the end of September.  I don't think La Mesa would go for holding that coach out of inventory for that long.


That guy suggested that I arrange to take it to another dealer to look over.  I found one  that listed pre-purchase inspections on their web page, and are  near-by.  I talked to someone in their service department and got their information.  They said they could do it next week, but we would have to arrange to bring the Alfa there.  I know that although they do  sell some used class As, they primarily deal in trailers and fifth wheels,  so I wasn't sure if this is who we wanted. 

Then I  found a guy that is independent, and does RV repairs  renovations, an inspections.  He said he could go to La Mesa and do a complete body and appliance inspection.   He said he would certainly run the engine and give us an opinion, but  that he is not a diesel mechanic.


Considering the size of the investment, and our lack of experience, we feel having someone else look it over is a smart move.  La Mesa does a "45 point inspection" and a 30 day warrantee, so they shouldn't object to another pair of eyes.  If they did we would not walk away, we would RUN!


I think all of this due diligence will serve us well wether we choose this one or another down the way.


Keep your fingers crossed for us, On one hand I'm tired of shopping, and on the other I don't feel like I've seen enough.

I also finished a unicorn order today, 

and researched my medicare supplement options!  

My head is spinning.

Just a quick post

Everyone else has dog pictures to post, and dog stories to tell.  So today I took a snap of my "granddog" Sandy.

She is a really sweet girl, ignore the weird eyes!  She Did not fall down these stairs!  She just looks like it.




Craig  watched the  Lazy Days Drivers Confidence Course Videos while I have been in San Diego.  He says they were very good, but his conclusion is that I should be the driver.  Why?  Because in the videos the wife is driving and the husband is outside doing the direction.


I told him it is because women take the course.  Men don't take it until they have had a fender bender!


We are going to see the Alfa on Saturday.  If it is not the one, we are going to take a break from shopping and perhaps go down to Tucson after Lazy Days AZ opens.  I would really like that, but I am going to be as open as I can to the Alfa.  


Someone said they couldn't follow the link I put up.  It seems they took it off their web site.  I guess the deposit puts it into the "sold" category.  It is not!


Saturday should be interesting!

San Diego

I flew down to San Diego on Sunday afternoon and my daughter, Deidre, two grandsons, Jeremy and Dylan, and I went off to the SD La Mesa RV dealership for a bit of shopping.

Neither the boys nor my daughter had ever been in a Class A so it was a bit of an adventure for them.  I had figured out they had three coaches in my size and price range and we asked to see them.  I told the salesmen about working with the Livermore La Mesa and that I had a deposit on a coach that I had not yet seen.  They were cool with that.  If I had found my dream coach Craig would be willing to fly down too.

There are so many MORE dealers in San Diego - LA than there are up by us.  

We looked at three.  Two Monaco La Palmas and a Neptune.  None really seriously, but in keeping with my goal to DRIVE and assortment of rigs I did get to take the 35' La Palma out.  I really liked the generous "pass thru" basement storage it offered, as well as the large shower and four door fridge.  

 The ride was relatively quiet, not to many rattles, but there was one BIG drawback.  It doesn't have the “air drive.” (That may be the wrong words.)  Anyway the result was that it drove like a truck and I think it would be very tiring to drive very long.  In a way it felt like a bigger, heavier version of my van.

I felt reasonably comfortable with it and drove on the freeway, on a busy street, changed lanes and turned left at a few intersections.  By the time we got back I was able to pull into a parking slot at the dealership.

The salesman said I did fine compared to many he has taken out.

I just don’t understand why the different salesmen keep telling me they all “drive pretty much the same.”  Each has been a different ride, and I understand why.

In this case the trade off is more basement storage for a harder drive.

But another slight negative to the La Palma was that the “Cargo Carrying Capacity” was much smaller than some of the others I have looked at.  As Karen once wrote “It doesn’t mater how big the basement is, if all you can carry is marshmallows!”

The boys had a really good time.  They checked out every RV that had a door open! (We made sure it was OK with the salesman.) I wanted them to be able to see the insides so they would know what to expect at Christmas.  We looked at some class C’s as well because if we don’t find a coach by then, we will be renting a Cruise America.

My daughter spotted one that was close to $300K, (Used) that had marble floors, a dishwasher, and two bathrooms. We decided it was too “posh” for Craig and me, and  I would need a housekeeper for it.

The boys were surprised to see the bunk bed model, and liked climbing into the loft of a toy hauler.  We agree that there is more living space in the fivers, and Deidre was impressed with the kitchens and fireplaces.

When we were done I let the salesmen know that if things didn’t work out up North, I would probably be back down in San Diego for more shopping.  I think it’s good to let them know my intentions.

When we got back to the house the boys told their father all about what they had seen.  Andrew seemed a bit surprised that I had driven a 35’ coach.  He asked them which they would rather have, a 37’ RV or a 37’ boat and the older one said a boat and the younger said an RV.  I told them they could tow the boat!

I talked to Craig last night and we talked about my trip to that dealership, and he says I’m becoming an “expert.”  Well I’m trying so I can make an informed decision.

It’s rather cloudy and cool in San Diego today.  Deidre lives two blocks from the ocean. 

  Right now I’m in the garage watching my younger grandson, Dylan, as he shows me his scooter and skateboard skills in the curvy and hilly alley way. The older one, Jeremy, is creating something to show me  on his computer upstairs. He was out with his rollerblades for a while.

I made sure I have the keys to the car and the map to the ER!  They are BOYS!