Looking at RVs

Well we went to our first RV dealer to look at units on Sunday after church. We were looking at used RVs of course, and looked at travel trailers, a 5th wheel, and several motor homes.

The one thing that stands out in my mind about the experience is that 2 of the units had such a strong mold smell that we could barely get in the door; in fact we turned around and left before we did get fully inside.

This lot is a consignment lot, they also do service there, so it makes sense that they'd have a few duds.

The main reason we stopped there was so that I could once again get a mental image of space. We really are leaning more and more toward a Class A, probably an older-but-in-decent-shape model; we don't expect perfection in an older model but some of them are really well cared for, and it shows!

Something that I figured out was that it doesn't always matter how pretty they are; an RV can clean up pretty nice but still not be in great shape. Checking out every nook and cranny will be essential if we end up buying a used RV.

Anyway, we could manage without a slide in our first rig, but after being in a bunch of them we realized we don't really want to. I can imagine that, in rainy or cold weather when we are both indoors for a while, it would get old if we can't pass each other when walking through!

Something else we decided is that we could build a 2-tiered platform of sorts over the couch for our bird cages. One, we're not couch sitters; we both like chairs, and most Class A's have 3, including the driver and passenger chairs that turn around to be part of the living area. Plus we'll have the dinette. Two, the number of bird cages will decrease with time. In fact, 3 of our current flock are older, and we don't anticipate they will be around for a lot more years; while that is sad on a personal level, it is something to bear in mind when planning for cage space in an RV. We anticipate that, before too long, we will be down to 3 parrots, which is a much more manageable number in a small space than 7 is.

Of course, a bunk house or toy hauler would be the best way to go. But maybe not the only way.

As a side note/followup: We are still talking about a trade, as mentioned in this post. In fact we both feel that this is something we need to put out feelers about, maybe even put up a post on Craig's list expressing interest. We are definitely going to have someone come in and give us an appraisal on our house, probably yet this month, as a first step.

If you have thoughts on the subject, I'd love to hear them!