Mesa, AZ - Movin' In

 Our walk through went fine especially since Gary and I had spent a lot of time in the RV prior to our purchase and knew lots about it. We also had spent lots of time opening every window shade, blind, window, drawer and cupboard. We also had tried the AC, the heat, the TV’s, the burners on the stove, the microwave, etc. Secondly, we know lots more about RV’s now and I didn’t have to take so many notes. I certainly didn’t have to ask about how to operate the toilet. We had already put together a list of several little things that we thought needed to be fixed and went through this with him. He agreed and hopped to it right after the walk-through.

I've put in some pictures of our new home so you can see where we're living now.

Today we move in to our new ‘home.’ First we have the walk-through where the official ‘Walk Through’ person goes around and through the coach with you pointing out the features and making sure everything works. That’s your chance to try something and, if it doesn’t work, you can tell him and get it fixed on the company dime. Of course, you’ve only got 2 hours with him so it’s difficult to check everything.

I remember the first ‘walk-through’ that Gary and I ever had. Now, Gary and I had never owned an RV nor lived in an RV - ever in our lives. We’ve walked through some RV’s at the Iowa State Fair but that is hardly a thorough examination. So, I’m taking notes while the guy is talking and Gary is listening, trying to get every word and every hint so we know how to work the huge thing we’ve just bought. When the guy gets to the bathroom, he says dismissively: ‘there’s the toilet’ as if everyone knows about the toilet operation and he needn’t say any more. I’m looking at it, noticing that there is no handle for the flush - but there is a foot lever. Not wanting to demonstrate my ignorance, I let it go, hoping against hope that I would be able to operate this thing later. But, of course, there was always the Operations Manual. Right, as if an opertions manual would have that little detail.

Our walk-through is scheduled for 10:00 - 12:00 so we readied our Simba for travel (our last time in it), got to Camping World where we had purchased our new RV and parked.

While he’s working on these, we were sitting in with the finance guy paying for the thing. They gave us a $50 gift certificate and some stuff for the RV also. And, of course, they wanted to sell us the special extended care insurance policy from Good Sam (which specializes in RV services, information, products, etc.) which retailed for only $8995 for 4 years or 48,000 miles but - special for us - only $5995. Yep, I’ve just handed them a check for the RV and they want $6000 more? Not on your tintype. By the way - when I didn’t bite, he offered us the same policy 2 days later for $5100 - because he wanted to ‘help us out’ and ‘ensure that we had insurance’. Hmmm. Rught, and how did the price get from $8995 to $5100? Actually, we had already bought an extended care policy (from Good Sam) from an agent whom we’ve met at several rallies. So, we’re covered. Same company, different agent.

And, then the fun began. They parked our old RV door to door with the new RV and we got to move in.

We had the whole afternoon to do it. Huh? Is that all? Gary put our outdoor patio mat down between the steps of the two RV’s so we wouldn’t track sand or dirt into either RV and we began loading up and hauling in. I then got to find spots for all the stuff. Now, this RV is 34’ 7” whereas our previous RV was 35’ 9”. This one is a bit smaller so it was not always easy to cram things in. Our previous RV also seemed to have better storage so I’m having a bit of trouble finding spots - especially going so fast. But, did I ever stuff. Luckily the refrigerator was exactly the same so I knew how to pack it.

So, if the RV is shorter, why in the world did we want it? Well, firstly, it has everything we wanted: an attached awning, working slides, a windshield firmly attached to a metal framework, and a roof that is spotless. Well, actually we want more but it did solve those problems.

Secondly, it is much nicer - it started out at a higher price point that our previous RV and, though used, has been very gently used and it is difficult to see where the previous owners made any scratches or dents. I, at one time wondered, if they had ever used it but, yes, there is some dust, some cat hair, some cat scratches and, what we in the RV community call a POD, pyramid of death (I will delicately refer to it as a guano pyramid in the black tank.) So, yes gently used, but used none-the less and at a price point we can stomach.

It also has a much nicer ride, handling, braking, a basement AC which is much quieter than a roof-top AC, and quite a few other features that we really like. It might be a bit shorter but is truly a step up from what we had.

We got moved in to the main coach - it was not pretty but it was done and I continued to find places for everything. Gary, meanwhile, after dinner, continued to work in the dark with his head lamp finding places to put all his ‘basement’ stuff into the new coach’s basement storage areas. He finally finished near 9:30 and came in. We had to toss a few things that were might have been needed in the Simba but we did not need in the new Journey since they were already part of it.

And, tired, we fell into bed.