Warning: Long Post
After reading this forum for awhile, it has become very apparent that we (rustyrivet and I) really lucked out with our new to us A/S (now known as sempi2).
Last year I got this bee in my bonnet and decided that we should get a travel trailer, as we are nearing retirement, and seeing the country was up there near the top of our to do list. Mind you this is my idea and I have no clue why I thought this was a good idea. Maybe it was all the talk about the economy, high gas prices, good time to buy a TT.
So off we go to the local RV dealers.
Our tow rig is a 2003 4runner, which we believe has a 5000# towing capacity. We start looking at SOB small TT. After looking for awhile, my husband (Jim) talked to a fishing friend of his who has a later model CCD and suggested we look into the airstream. In fact he & his wife found us a model just like his just a 4 hour drive from us.
Off again, when we arrive to look at this rig it was a hugh disappointment for me. 1) We drive 4 hours and the owner doesn't have the electricity working. 2) Someone had to climb over another to get out of bed. 3) a desk and chair in back (wasted space in my mind - we preparing to retire) give me storage. 4) The toliet was in the shower - ack!! wet toliet paper?
Needless to say, we had lunch & drove home the 4 hours.
After we got home Jim emailed his friend and said he thought A/S was out.
We seemed to be at an impasse. He wanted the A/S. I wasn't too sure. After looking at Airstream online and seeing some different floor plans, decided I was open to looking at a different model. Jim checked craigslist and found a 2005 Safari in our back yard, less than 30 mins away.
Here we go again. This time at least they have electricity. Showed me that there is a shower curtain to take care of the wet TP. And a bed I could get out of and Jim could scoot out of also, no climbing over.
We made a low ball offer, which was declined. We were looking at it on the first day it was posted. We left and when we got home I told Jim that actually I could live with this model. Called the seller back and told them we would take it.
Now here is the lucky part. We did not check out anything in the rig. Nothing. The only thing we knew was the battery operated the lights. They had the coveted manual. It was only 3 years old, so what could possibly be wrong with it? Plus the only camping I have done was tent was camping about 100 years ago. What on earth were we thinking??
So far we have taken 4 trips.
So far the only thing that has had to be taken care of was a bent axle. Discovered the possiblity of that by the wear on the tires. We expected to have to spend thousands and thousands for that, but it was a relatively inexpensive fix.
Everything else works and works well. So far.
Therefore we have decided that we were destine to be Airstreamers!!!!
PS, We have more tails to tell. Like the first park job
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