“What would you think about buying an RV?” This is the question that Brian asked me in late August/early September after our short Michigan sailing season became even shorter as a result of a fuel tank leak. For some years, we’ve said that we would retire on a boat in five years. The only problem was that five years never became four years. And while this still sounds like it could be fun, it didn’t seem like it would work given our jobs and health issues. In fact, with Brian being diagnosed with A-Fib and my recent battle with sciatica, living on a boat scares me. Mostly it scares me because we are potentially hours away from land and hospitals and because living a life where needed physical activity to support healthy living is challenging to get.
I answered simply, “That’s an interesting idea.” And I meant it. The idea of living in an RV eliminated some of the concerns that I had about living on a boat. Brian went to an RV show one weekend in September while I attended my niece’s bachelorette party. In early October, the day after my niece’s wedding, we went to an RV show together. Stepping on to a 35-foot RV is certainly different than climbing down into the cabin of our 35-foot sailboat. Damn, there’s a lot of room! We got on and off a few RVs there at the show and got a feel for what we liked and what we didn’t like.
The question evolved and we both have watched a lot of YouTube videos from vloggers who are full-timing in their RVs. And Brian, the researcher of our family, spent countless hours creating a budget and a massive spreadsheet to compare RV brands.
Our canceled Labor Day sailing trip was rescheduled as a vacation to visit four of the manufacturers that Brian identified as potential for us. First stop, Grand Rapids, Michigan (about 2 hours from our house) where we overnighted before an early stop at Mid-Way RV Dealership to look at a couple of new and used models. From there, we drove down to the factory tour for Newmar in Nappanne, Indiana. We spent the night in a nice very pet-friendly resort, Oakwood Resort. Next stop was the factory tour at Entegra. From there, we drove down for a weekend of fun in Nashville. Sunday afternoon we drove down to the Alabama/Mississippi border to overnight before a tour at Tiffin. A long drive back to Indiana on Monday allowed us to tour Fleetwood on Tuesday morning.
While it was a lot of time in the car, it was fun to dream. Now, we work to make the dream reality!
