Getting Ready To Live The Dream!
Part 1:
About six weeks ago I, Katie, awoke in the middle of the night with a crazy idea. Instead of continuing to look for land in central Oklahoma to build a home with over 2000 square feet on, to buy an RV and travel America with the family.
This was crazy...we had been seriously looking for land for several months and had already spoken to a home builder about which floor plan would be perfect for us to entertain family, friends & to continue our foster parenting journey.
So, I thought on it and kept it to myself for a couple of days before sharing it with Keith. I told him that I wanted to tell him about an idea I had the other night & that I only wanted him to listen to my scattered thoughts, think on them, pray about it, then come back and tell me if it was an absolutely crazy notion or a doable adventure.
Three days later we had our monthly budget meeting. He showed me our current plan and had worked up a plan for full time RV living. I was so excited to see that my idea wasn't crazy at all (well maybe it is a little but hey! it's me) and that he was excited about it as well.
We began our research looking into RV's and which was, in our opinion, best for a family to travel & live in full time. We read all sorts of blogs and articles by full time families and the RV community in general, our favorites were; Living The RV Dream by John & Kathy Huggins who also have a great podcast and FullTime Families by Kimberly & Chris Travaglino.
It was decided that a Fifth Wheel (or in RV lingo, a 5'er) would be ideal for us. We liked the idea of separate living spaces for us & the kids with the kitchen/dining/living area in the center. We also liked the idea that if we ever needed to have repairs made on either our towing vehicle or our home, we would not be homeless while repairs were made or without a means to get around town while the home was in the shop.
After looking at various floor plans on the internet we decided it would be a great idea to attend a RV Show to see them in person and wouldn't you know it..one was set to be in our area in a few weeks!
In the mean time we kept looking online daily for advice and reviews and joined several Facebook groups about RV Living. It's amazing how many groups there are out there with so many people either living it or planning to launch soon.
While waiting for the RV Show we began our search for a tow vehicle. Keith did all the research on that one and found us an outstanding buy on Ebay with a local individual. We bought a F-350 Crew Cab 7.3L Powerstroke Diesel Lariat Dually. Most people, from what we understand, buy their RV first then look for the right towing rig however since we bought the biggest truck we could find we figured we'd be okay with whatever RV we decided on. <wink>
By the day of the RV Show we had done a lot of homework, set a budget, made a list of must haves, would like to have, and "bonus" features that would be nice but not necessary. Armed with "THE List", a bag full of snacks, a diaper bag, 2 tween girls, 2 rowdy boys, 1 toddler & a baby in a stroller, we made our way across the parking lot at the fairgrounds to find our ideal new home, but in a nice used edition of course!
We were happy to see that our plan of going on Thursday, the first day of show, was a great plan! It was pretty much just us & about a dozen other couples/families there looking in 3 huge buildings & a couple of giant parking lots. With it being so few people we pretty much always had the sales people to ourselves everywhere we stopped to visit & look.
Our two favorite company representatives were: Lewis RV Center of OKC and Oklahoma RV Center of Moore. These are the two dealers who spent the most one on one time with us answering our questions, giving us tips & ideas and a no pressure sales line. We really felt like they listened to us, our desire to buy used and assuring us we could stay on our firm budget AND get an RV with all our must haves & even a few of the bonus things listed.
Well by the end of the day the kids were ready for supper time! We headed over to Cici's Pizza so we could feed the herd & sit at a separate table, spread out all the brochures & discuss the notes we had taken. Our heads were swimming with so much information! We just needed a little time to sit & digest it all. While going through all the brochures we found one we were interested in getting more information about but there wasn't a dealer stamp on it. We had no clue where we had picked it up at. Call us crazy, but we decided to load up the wild bunch (who had settled down considerably with bellies full of pizza) and head back out to the fairgrounds & find who it belonged to. We had narrowed it down to the 2 dealers listed above but wanted to make sure.
Once we found who it belonged to we decided it was time to head home, bathe kids, tuck them in bed and do some more online homework.
After an hour on the laptops, looking at used models available by the dealers we met at the show, we decided to call it a night. Our heads were swimming wildly with floor plans, company names, model numbers & all sorts of other RV lingo items.
We also needed to get up early for our drive to Broken Arrow, OK to pick up our new towing rig!
No comments:
Post a Comment