Have an Itch,Then Itch it

Is this 28' 2005 Dynamax Isata 280 with 26,000 miles our traveling home for the future?  We should know next week after we make a quick (or not so quick) trip to Texas for a visit to PPL Motors, where we got out first motorhome back in 2011. 

  

Yesterday (Thursday) we went to Tampa to Lazydays to look at a BT Cruiser and a Phoenix Cruiser.  We liked the Phoenix Cruiser better than the BT Cruiser, but the Phoenix Cruiser has some serious paint issues on the drivers side….it looked like either it was too near a fire, or it was parked where the sun reflected off a “mirrored glass building” and melted some of the paint….yes, melted.  I was ashamed of Lazydays for having such a vehicle up on their website for $65,168  (yes, that price with the mark out) and then “Contact Lazydays for Even More Discounts and Benefits”.  Did they, at one point, really think someone would buy it for that “old price” in this type of condition???  Makes you wonder….and again, if you have a website, ADVERTISE your asking price.  This is not rocket science here.

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On our way home from Tampa we heard from Blue Sky’s insurance adjuster.  We sent our signed title to them today, and we should have a check issued next week, with one on it way for personal property loss already.  We are satisfied with the outcome.  Once home we called PPL, and found out someone had put an offer in for the Isata we have been looking at for the last week or so, just a few hours earlier that same morning.  What a let down.  So we planned a trip to Jacksonville to see another Phoenix Cruiser and a Forest River Lexington GTS for today….then I told Marcia that since we had to get the title in the mail, and my emotions were all twisted up after seeing that Isata slip through our fingers that I wanted to wait until after Church on Sunday to head to Jacksonville, stay the night and come back home on Monday.  

As believers we have relied upon prayer to help us through this entire endeavor.  It has brought us peace and comfort…and today we feel blessed when the previous prospective buyers of the Isata pulled out of the deal when the owner would not come down on the price.  Now I had done extensive research on this, and we both felt that the price being asked was a fair price.  So as I awaited one final communication from the Blue Sky adjuster I called PPL to check on the status of the Isata…and low and behold, they had pulled their offer because the owner would not come down any further.  (Remember, nearly all of the RV’s at PPL are on consignment).  So we got an email application for putting up earnest funds on our credit card, and after church on Sunday we are headed west.  Do we have to buy it, no.  Do we want to buy, we sure hope so.  Will it need a little work, yes, but not much, and put what possible work it needs together with the price and we will be a few thousand under what the insurance company is going to pay us just for the loss of the Jayco if we do go ahead with the sale.

Hitch-itch Syndrome

I have heard so many RV’ers talk about “Hitch-itch”…the overwhelming need or want to hitch up and go down the road.  We don’t “hitch-up” a Trailer or 5th Wheel like many, but we do “hitch-up” our car to be pulled by the motorhome.   

 
We pulled our HHR with our first motorhome too.  We sure liked that one, but it was a bit much for us.  Marcia had to use a lift to get up in it, the length and height made it harder to drive and handle….we couldn’t even tell the car was back there except for seeing it in the rear-view camera. 

Of course, our hitch was still attached to the Jayco Melbourne and went up in the fire….which leads me to the real subject at hand.  How does one deal with “Hitch-itch” without anything to hitch-up to or hitch-up with?  To compound this situation, we took the HHR into the shop for a break job Tuesday morning, after checking with the guy on Friday who assured me that he would get it in and out in one day….well, that did not happen.  Thank goodness they are only a mile away so I just walked back to the condo after dropping it off…but with the lightening and thunder rolling in, and a bit more than a sprinkle at times, it was not a fun walk.  His new promise is that it will be ready mid-morning on Wednesday.

Of course, we have been spending our time looking and looking and looking at RV’s over the Internet.  Looking for another “Class B+”, which is really a Class C but many places are calling these type of Class C which has no overhead sleeping compartment with a “van” look to them a “Class B+”.  Found a couple which are local (in Tampa) which we want to look at.  Both have two slide outs, but are shorter by a few more feet so the weight is about the same.  We don’t mind slide outs which are small, and don’t include any kitchen items, such as stove, microwave, refrigerator and/or sink.  They also need to be good slides.  The slide on my 5th wheel was not very good, the one on our Jayco Melbourne was just right.  These two look right too…but you never know until you see them in person.  We also saw a few in Houston at PPL Motors where we bought our American Eagle.  We really like that place, and they seem to have one of the better websites.  Just hate the RV websites which say, “Call for price….”  Why have a website if you are not going to use it for advertisement to its fullest?  Just does not make it sense to either of us.

Of course, I didn’t mean to leave Marcia out of the fun…she is looking too and is into it even more than I was at first.  She is pretty good with a computer you know, after all, that is how we met some 40+ months ago. 

As for the “Hitch-itch”, it has gotten to the point that I am starting to replace song lyrics with RV lyrics.

Brad Paisley's "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)" has been going through my mind....his lyrics at the end of the song goes like this:  "Yeah, I'm gonna miss her....Oh, lookie there, I've Got A Bite"

My lyrics are something like this:  "Yeah, I really miss her....Oh, lookie there, another motor home"

I could go on, but I will spare the reader…