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This story is about our very first RV trip in our very first RV.
We were hooked on RV traveling when we returned from our European RV trip with my sister, Diane, and her husband, Heinrich, in Holland, Germany, and Austria. RVing isn't just for oldsters. OK, so we are oldsters now. OK, RVing is for oldsters, including us. Hey, but the 60s are the new 30s, right?
When Diane and Heinrich visited Wisconsin during the summer of 2016, we started doing some serious RV shopping. They were knowledgeable about RVs and eager to get us going in the RV world.
We checked out a lot of used RVs that were advertised as "mint condition." Their idea of mint did not match ours. When we were getting discouraged, I saw a nice-looking RV sitting at the corner of Highway X and Highway 17 in Gleason, Wisconsin, with a For Sale sign and phone number. It was old but in near-mint condition. I copied down the phone number.
Diane, Heinrich, Wanda, and I drove up to Gleason to give it a good "look-see." The owner was an auctioneer. He found this 1996 GMC 24' RV in a barn at an estate auction he was working. The original owners only put 23,000 miles on it before tucking it away in the barn. The auctioneer bought it himself, and now he wanted $15,000.
The RV was very clean and in excellent shape. The appliances worked, the cabinets were solid, the floor plan was decent, and all the manuals were included; at 24 feet, it was short for a Class A RV, which is what we wanted, the monster V-8 engine ran well, and the rig had that low mileage. The truck chassis was overbuilt and thoroughly impressed Heinrich. Did I mention that Heinrich has an Engineering Degree?
On the negative side, it was dated. The satellite dish was an antique, and the radio only sort of worked. The tires were probably dry-rotted, and there were six of them. The big built-in 4,000-watt generator wouldn't start. The carpeting had some stains, and the curtains were a little faded. The engine air-conditioner didn't seem to put out much cooling, and I wasn't sure about the heater (the "house" air-conditioner and furnace did work). It even had an old-time CB radio - "breaker, breaker RV Dude."
We bargained back and forth, hemmed and hawed, and finally drove it home for $11,500. Of course, anyone that knows anything about RVing knows that this initial cost is barely the beginning. Yes, we bought new tires. The alternator (not to be confused with that big 4,000-watt generator) immediately died. GMC quit supplying these alternators. Fortunately, NAPA still did. Heinrich and I installed the new alternator, and to my utter surprise, it worked like a champ.
The generator was tricky. We figured it was a gunked-up carburetor. Nothing we did worked. We found a guy in Wisconsin Rapids that rebuilds generators and electric motors. For $200, he got it running like a top. And yes, it was the carburetor.
I admit that I got a little "gadget-addicted." Heinrich and I installed a backup camera, a battery monitor for both the "house" and starter batteries and tire monitors. We converted all the indoor lights to LED and got a portable "suitcase" solar panel, etc. We picked up a new firm mattress and cool sheets and a comforter. We cut out a thin super-tight weave rug to place over the worn carpet - this worked surprisingly well. We got all kinds of collapsable food containers, mixing bowls, buckets, and pails - basically, anything that collapsed found a spot in the RV.
One advantage of RVing in Europe is that most RV campsites are just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from public transportation, usually an excellent modern train. Not so in the US. We needed some wheels once the RV was set up at a campground. That meant getting a car-dolly to drag along our little Chevy Sonic. The Sonic also doubled as our toy wagon. Our kayaks rode on top of the car. Our electric-assist bikes folded and rode inside the car. Lots of other "camping necessities" found their way into the vehicle. We would have brought the whole house with us if we could have. Ah, first-time RVers - you have to love them.
We fell in love with our tiny house on wheels and couldn't wait to hit the road. By the time we had the RV tricked out, it was near the end of October. I had never been to the Ozarks. Arkansas in November has to be a lot warmer than in Wisconsin. It was set - we were off to the Ozarks.
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