WE BOUGHT AN RV... Yep, I said it... WE BOUGHT AN RV!!

Here we are about to drive off the lot, ready to "Go RV'ing!"

Coming from a lifelong love of boating, I'd always looked on to the shore of those poor landlocked people in their big white boxes with pity, thinking they were missing out on the joys we were having on the water. Well, I can now say... I WAS WRONG!

They had it right all along. I used to say one of the things I loved about boating was where ever you went, you took your belongings/home with you. But so do people in RVs.

I also used to think "How can they be so close to the water and not be in it/on it?" Well, now I also know, you can do both!

Stacey next to our "rig" for scale, this thing is BIG!

So here is the thinking in our new endeavor: We will be RVr's, We will be Sailors! We can do both.

Stacey has been researching Class C RVs for a few months now, but it was only until last weekend that we started shopping. Initially we stopped at a place in Conway, looked at the only C Class they had. It was alright, but not quite right.

For those of you not familiar with RVs, they come in different Classes and configurations. Class A is that big mungo jumbo bus sized motorhome you see usually pulling another car behind. Class B is the conversion van or specialty built van sized motorhome. Class C is more like a moving truck with an industrial sized van/truck front end on a long chassis with dualie rear-end. They usually have a cab-over bunk and long overhang on the rear.

We stopped by another place on Sunday, coming back from Hot Springs, passing through Benton, called RV City. I mean, really, what better place to really get started! "We're going down to RV City baby!" ha ha

Well, there we looked at several Class C's they had, some used, some new. Meh. Nothing really caught our fancy. Then he showed us the Forest River built Leprechaun by Coachmen RV. Used with 4700 miles on it, still had plastic on many of the fixtures and looked brand new! Our salesman, Ken Schweitzer, (you can call him at 501-350-4300) explained that the previous owner bought it when his wife was away and turns out she wanted a Class A. So they took the loss, got what they needed and here was a great opportunity for us to save.

This model had a different layout. Different than anything we'd seen, or even knew existed. It's called a "Side Aisle" layout. Which means, the hallway, that usually runs down the center of most motorhomes, runs down the passenger side leaving a lot more room on the drivers side for a larger kitchen, enclosed toilet with shower and vanity, and a queen sized master bedroom! It was love at first sight, but...

These shots, courtesy of RV City, are from when our rig was originally sold.

Tons of storage!

Nice roomy living room!

Comfy dinette!

An actual, usable kitchen space!

This is what the "Side Aisle" is all about! 

A nice sized stand-up shower stall.

China commode that is human-sized, not like the tiny "funnel" on the powerboat!

Nice little vanity

TV & DVD in our master bedroom

Spacious master bedroom with a nice large closet (thanks to the slide out!)

That's a queen sized bed!

Light and airy, easy to move around in. We Love it!

I didn't think we were going to spend that much money, I had assumed we'd buy something more used and less expensive. The caveat of doing that is you might end up with systems that fail or on the verge of failing. And sadly, I'm really tried of working on things, I just want to relax!

So we talked it over when we got home, weighed the pros and cons, then we decided something quite shocking! WE WOULD SELL THE BIGGER BOAT AND THE HOUSE IN GAINESVILLE! We would replace both with this RV and trailer the sailboat when needed. This way we won't be stuck always feeling obligated to use our time off going to Gainesville, or dealing with a boat we only get to see/use every 3-4 weeks for 3-4 months a year, and one we usually have to fix something or clean each time we go to "relax"!

I love the idea. I hate the reality of now having to deal with selling both. A lot of work will come to make this happen. But first things first... LET'S BUY THE RV BEFORE THE DEAL IS GONE!

So I called Ken back, put a deposit on the RV, lined up money with USAA online, insurance with Progressive online, verified on Monday, money sent to them on Wednesday and we picked it up Saturday!! We move quick around here!

We also decided we'd take it immediately to an RV campsite and enjoy it, get to know it and our new lifestyle. For our first outing, I found Catherine's Landing on the GoodSam website. It got 10 out of 10 marks. More about this in the next post!

Stay Tuned…