RVing Background
We dreamed of buying a motorhome and traveling the U.S. for a very long time. A slide-on cab-over camper on a truck that pulled a ski boat when our kids were teenagers provided memories that we all treasure. In 2011, we decided it was time. In January we treated ourselves to four days at Lazy Days in Tampa, Florida. Lazy Days is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) RV dealers in the U.S. What a great place to get educated again! Lots had changed since we bought the truck and camper in 1976. Lazy Days gave us a great opportunity to meet a lot of RVers who have been doing it for a very long time and to ask lots and lots of questions.
Do you know how many RVs you can walk through in four days? Enough to know what we liked and didn't like! And what we could afford and not afford! We both took an RV driving course that was fantastic! Three hours in the morning were spent in a classroom setting with a very competent instructor. Then we actually drove a big 38-foot diesel pusher through the campground, through tight turns and around obstacles. We expected Gerry to do most of the driving, but I needed to know how to drive one as well. Any apprehension I may have had was put to rest.
The next step was getting the house ready to put on the market. With ten houses for sale on our street, we did all the little extras and some big extras (like the 4 or 5 step process of painting the garage floor). The house sold in 19 days. Closing was scheduled for less than a month later, leaving lots to do in a very short time. We sold all the furniture except my mother's rocking chair and a cedar chest Gerry gave me for my 17th birthday. The buyers of our home bought quite a bit of our furniture, and a garage sale helped us get rid of other "stuff." A little bit went into storage, and then we moved into a friend's condo. Talk about downsizing! Next, we sold our car and bought a little Saturn that we could tow with a motorhome. . . . More