RVing On A Budget
How We Got Hooked
Susan and I have always loved to take road trips whenever time and our wallets would afford, but we were called to the road in a different way when Susan's sister and brother-in-law acquired an old tent-trailer (pop-up camper). I overlooked the most important attribute of their purchase and focused solely on how old it was. Immediately my wife fell in love; not with their trailer, but with the sense of freedom it provided. She mentioned regularly of how nice it would be to head out on a road trip and be able to take our home with us. I was not receptive at first. I was convinced that it would be another purchase that would seldom be used and we would grow tired of it. It wasn't until we moved to a new house and I met our neighbors that my thoughts began to change. I quickly noticed the thirty-foot Prowler travel trailer they had parked behind their house. My first thought was, "Oh great! We'll have to get a RV now." It turned out to be one of the best things to happen to us. Our neighbors are really good people and the more I talked to them, the more I learned about their RV and camping experiences.
During the first two years in our home, we watch our neighbors hook up their truck and RV and pull out repeatedly, not to be seen until four or five days later. They would do this once or twice each month from the start of Spring till the end of fall. In February 2004, as if I was being targeted, ads for RV shows began flooding TV, Radio and print. I had never heard of such before or maybe I never noticed. Whatever it was and with Susan's convincing, I took it as sign that it was time to start looking for a RV. Susan was excited, because up until that point, I cited financial reasons for not getting a RV even though we could narrowly swing it.
We went to the shows and the dealers, but were a little overwhelmed by the selection and the prices. We could have spent as little as $4500 up to $250,000. Our budget helped us make our choice as we could only afford something in the $13,000 range. Luckily, like automobiles (maybe even more so), RVs have quite a bit of mark-up. We settled on a 29.5' Springdale 2004 travel trailer. It had everything we wanted including: bunk beds for our two girls and a slide-out for extra square footage. The one thing that it had and we didn't want was weight. This thing was 5800 lbs dry, but our 7200 lb-rated Toyota Tundra was up to the task. We quickly took delivery of the trailer, once I had purchased and installed the proper towing equipment.
With lots of help and tips from my neighbors I was able to back the trailer into our driveway. Over the next couple of weeks we familiarize ourselves with the RV and loaded it with food and supplies. Once we were fairly comfortable with its operation we just waited for a weekend with some nice weather. When that weekend came we hitched up and pulled out. We were bound for Holly Bay on Laurel Lake near London, KY. We were invited to the campground by a school teacher I worked with who was a host at the campground. Even though the weather was still a little cool (early April), we had a great time. We met some new people, spent time with nature, but best of all was the time we spent together. It wasn't until the hustle and bustle of our lives was put on hold that we realized how withdrawn from each other we had become. Our RV purchase helped us realize the importance of time spent together.
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