We had such a pleasant experience buying our first trailer from Dean Peters (Schieks RV) a month ago, that we decided to repeat the process and asked if he could help us with a unit I found at another location on his dealer’s other lot. After driving to Manitowoc one blustery cold morning and then on to Green Bay to check out three others, I knew I had found my little abode so late that day it became ours as we did the negotiation with Dean in Red Granite, mere minutes from home.
It was the oldest one I looked at, but was a well taken care of one-owner and the best equipped with what I wanted which was a dedicated queen walk around bed (I detest having to make and then fold up a dinette style bed nightly or having to crawl across your partner to get out) and a full two door RV fridge and double kitchen sink. By good luck it also has a small slide so I got the bonus of a settee. Most trailers in the range of 19 feet don’t offer a couch. The only thing it lacked that I wanted was an oven. Something I wasn't expecting at all was dual axles which give it a good CCC of over 2400 pounds.
We’re in maximum countdown mode; me with cleaning, shopping for and packing two trailers for departure. Fortunately I had many extra items left from the Travel Supreme and Yuma park model; and Goodwill seems to be providing most of the rest. We’ll be leaving with the Freightliner and park model the very first part of December and then Marc will fly to Reno to meet his new company personnel and then back to WI where he will close up the house and bring my trailer to Yuma with his Dodge. He needs to have the Dodge out west to serve as his work truck.
Thanks to the generosity of my oldest and dearest friend Paulette, she agreed to sell us her Dodge half ton pickup, which she didn’t use all that much. It’s an oldie but goodie, with a very low mileage and quite dependable, so I feel as though it should work out fine to complete my “rig”. She will deliver it to us in Yuma in January and Marc will equip it with an equalizer and sway bar hitch. The total cost of both vehicles was about one third or one quarter of what I was expecting having to spend to obtain a decent motorhome with comparable mileage and at the end of the day I still have a truck I can use and keep, long after the trailer may be gone. A motorhome is great but has the downside of being a single use vehicle which doesn’t make much sense for someone like me who won’t be traveling all that much.
I admit that it is a tad exciting to think I will now have the means and freedom during summer months to be able to get out and explore my new neighborhood and this portion of the country; especially wanting to spend time around the Great Lakes. I’ll try and update the blog just before we leave, then do a recap of the trip once we are settled in Yuma. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
