Our puller a 2008 Ford F-450, often called the BAT mobile (Big Azz Truck) is just as pristine as you would ever want your truck to be. We were lucky to find this monster on Ebay being sold by a young man in Maryland. Little did we know that he had OCD when it came to his truck. He kept it in the garage and cleaned the thing meticulously, nay I say religiously. It was so clean you could eat off of the engine.
It came with almost new front tires but the rears were worn pretty badly and it only had 38,000 miles on it. Seemed strange to me as everything about the truck seemed like it just came off the show room floor. So now I have to find 4 new tires for on the rear of the monster hauler. Man have you priced tires lately? Because this is the monster King Ranch hauler (33,000 lb. tow capable) we have to have 19.5 inch tires. Seems they run somewhere in the $300 a piece range for the good tires, 200 to 250 for just so - so tires.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm for new shoes but I'm just not sure I need Florsheim's, can't I just do with some Buster Browns? Then I got to thinking about it, I'm hauling my HOME around behind me, do I really want to skimp on tires? So I think I'm going to have to save up some beans and go for the more expensive tires and hope that they last for ever.
And just how long is forever? I think we should get 50 - 60 thousand miles out of them and if we spend 15 - 20 thousand miles a year on the road then we are looking at 3 to 4 years of traveling. Now that only happens if you:
1. Keep the tires inflated to the proper temperature.
2. Don't suffer any puncture, scuffs or sidewall damage.
One of the things we plan to do to lower the yearly mileage is haul the motorcycle with us and use it when we are camped.
The motorcycle is a Goldwing trike that we've had for 6 years now. Three years as a two wheel and three as a three wheel motorcycle. When ever we go somewhere on it, it's a real conversation starter. So if you see a big white BAT mobile pull in and unload and drop a blue Goldwing trike, come over and say hi........we don't bite!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Cleaning out the house.....
So you want to get on the road and enjoy the free life style yea? What about all that "stuff" you have? Well we had over twenty years together of accumulated stuff plus what ever was left over from our previous lives (both married previously). Now I want to tell you that when we first got married we had a lot more room than the house we live in now. In our previous three moves we had pretty much down sized each time but you won't believe how much we've been able to acquire.
So how do you go about getting everything in the RV? That is: how can Houdini make what's in a 2100 sq. ft. house fit into a 375 sq. ft. 5th wheel? Poof - it's done. Not quite. Let me introduce you to Yard Sales, craigslist, ebay and Re-Uz-It Centers. If you still have items left over then your local donation center like Good Will or Red Cross will take it and redistribute it to those who need it.
We've had three yard sales so far to down size but we still have several to go. And along with this our house is on the market so the wife doesn't want to empty out the furniture that needs to go. I'm still not convinced that not having a full house of furniture is a bad thing when it comes to showing your house. But we do still need to live there for a few more weeks.
At some point you too might be left with this question. When do you decide should cleaning out the house be the priority or leaving the furniture in it as buyers want to see how your "home" looks? I hope you don't have to make this decision.
Managing the down sizing of your household items and selling your home can be a full time job besides all the other jobs you must handle. If you are doing this like we are then you too have your hands full. Don't forget to take some time off for yourself. Burn out isn't a pretty sight. We are taking time off to go sight seeing.
Anecdotally I find it funny that items I have sold at our yard sale, that people haggled over the price, show up at the local auction house for sale. A case in point is a Ryobi battery operated drill that I sold for $10. The guy wanted to give me 7 but I told him no way. This week at the auction I saw the same drill for auction. What did it go for? I didn't stick around to find out but I'm sure his reserve on it was more than the $10 he paid me. But I'm not griping, I got what I wanted for it.
And what is it with these early birds? We advertise the sale starts at 7 A.M. and we start to put things out at 6:30. We no more than open our garage door and people are walking in to look at evreything before we've got it out. Can't they wait to purchase it? No not really, I think they're afraid they might miss something EVERYBODY else wants and will get their hands on it first. But alas, the item isn't there.
And be ready to talk at length with one of your patrons. Inevitably someone will want to talk your leg off either because they think you are their long lost friend or in reality they have very few other people to talk with. At each of our yard sales I've had just such an opportunity. One of them was a neighbor who lives over a block. He's not married, drives a truck making deliveries and I guess doesn't have many friends. But I heard all about his week. But he is a nice guy and what the heck, I'm only sitting here hoping someone will buy some stuff. Oh, he did and said he really needed it!
Enough for this time but just wanted to warn you about getting rid of your stuff - start way before you think you will need to start, price it to go (not necessarily what you think it's worth) and do it often and you will see results as your house empties out.
So how do you go about getting everything in the RV? That is: how can Houdini make what's in a 2100 sq. ft. house fit into a 375 sq. ft. 5th wheel? Poof - it's done. Not quite. Let me introduce you to Yard Sales, craigslist, ebay and Re-Uz-It Centers. If you still have items left over then your local donation center like Good Will or Red Cross will take it and redistribute it to those who need it.
We've had three yard sales so far to down size but we still have several to go. And along with this our house is on the market so the wife doesn't want to empty out the furniture that needs to go. I'm still not convinced that not having a full house of furniture is a bad thing when it comes to showing your house. But we do still need to live there for a few more weeks.
At some point you too might be left with this question. When do you decide should cleaning out the house be the priority or leaving the furniture in it as buyers want to see how your "home" looks? I hope you don't have to make this decision.
Managing the down sizing of your household items and selling your home can be a full time job besides all the other jobs you must handle. If you are doing this like we are then you too have your hands full. Don't forget to take some time off for yourself. Burn out isn't a pretty sight. We are taking time off to go sight seeing.
Anecdotally I find it funny that items I have sold at our yard sale, that people haggled over the price, show up at the local auction house for sale. A case in point is a Ryobi battery operated drill that I sold for $10. The guy wanted to give me 7 but I told him no way. This week at the auction I saw the same drill for auction. What did it go for? I didn't stick around to find out but I'm sure his reserve on it was more than the $10 he paid me. But I'm not griping, I got what I wanted for it.
And what is it with these early birds? We advertise the sale starts at 7 A.M. and we start to put things out at 6:30. We no more than open our garage door and people are walking in to look at evreything before we've got it out. Can't they wait to purchase it? No not really, I think they're afraid they might miss something EVERYBODY else wants and will get their hands on it first. But alas, the item isn't there.
And be ready to talk at length with one of your patrons. Inevitably someone will want to talk your leg off either because they think you are their long lost friend or in reality they have very few other people to talk with. At each of our yard sales I've had just such an opportunity. One of them was a neighbor who lives over a block. He's not married, drives a truck making deliveries and I guess doesn't have many friends. But I heard all about his week. But he is a nice guy and what the heck, I'm only sitting here hoping someone will buy some stuff. Oh, he did and said he really needed it!
Enough for this time but just wanted to warn you about getting rid of your stuff - start way before you think you will need to start, price it to go (not necessarily what you think it's worth) and do it often and you will see results as your house empties out.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Double shot of 5th ?
Once we had decided that we wanted to do this, we started talking about what type of vehicle we wanted to use. As a child I had grown up with my family "going camping" in everything from a tent to a travel trailer. Then when my kids were little, I continued with tent camping, a converted van and even a trailer. But Bonnie and I had only been camping on bike rides and that was in a tent. We knew that wasn't in the cards. So we started looking at Class A's ("no don't want to drive a bus" - Bonnie. Class C's were out too). That left us with travel trailers and 5th wheels. I took the challenge and started researching what were the advantages and disadvantages of living in either one. Some of the pro's of the 5th wheel were: storage (it has a basement), more floor designs with more space and they pulled much better than a 36' travel trailer on the back of a pick up.
We also knew that we would have to come up with a vehicle to tow with. This meant getting rid of our beloved Subaru Outback we had purchased new in 2004. We absolutely loved this car. It did everything we asked of it, hauling our bikes, carrying hundreds of pounds of mulch in the back, giving us great gas mileage when you got it revved up (yea it got better mileage at 75 than it did at any lower speed).
But what vehicle do we get to replace it? That all depended on the RV we would choose. We finally decided on a large 5th wheel after looking at twenty or so manufacturers offerings. We were set on the Carriage's model Cameo. But Bonnie said that maybe we might want to stay in the north until after Thanksgiving, which meant we would need a 5th that would withstand the cold. I did some more research and found that for a little more money we could get a DRV's model Mobile Suite (see it at: http://www.doubletreervsuites.com/products.php?suites_id=2) that had much better insulation. We went to the Hershey show and looked at all the models we liked but still we were convinced that our original choice, the MS, was the one. Now we knew what we would be pulling so we could make a decision on what vehicle we would need to pull it.
I started looking for a F-350 or F-450 truck. We found a 350 in the town next to us and went to look at it. We really liked it but the dealer would not make us a good deal on the Subaru. We had the top of the line LL Bean model and they wanted to buy it for a Legacy price. We decided we would sell the Ru on our own. Two days after we listed it, it sold BUT the 350 was gone. Looking around I found a beautifully kept F-450 near by in Maryland. We went to look at it and found out the young man had OCD when it came to taking care of the truck. It looked like it was on a show room floor, even the engine was clean enough to eat off of. We purchased it but couldn't get it until a couple of weeks later due to bank mess up on our funds.
We had a truck but no RV! We talked with our local dealer, looked at their offerings and asked about price. Sure they gave us some discount off of MSRP but only about 10%, not enough for me since I knew what we would pay at other dealers on the internet. I sent out request for pricing to several dealers in Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and Florida. Since we would be on the road full time we didn't need a local dealer. RV's for Less in Tennessee stepped up with a price that was a full 25% off of MSRP. Butch and Karen are also a good Christian couple to deal with, they treat you like they would want to be treated. In January, 2011 we ordered our unit. We will not however pick it up until July.
Our double shot of 5th then was our mid thought change from a Cameo to a Mobile Suite. It is a fantastically built unit that will fulfill our needs for the next few years.
We also knew that we would have to come up with a vehicle to tow with. This meant getting rid of our beloved Subaru Outback we had purchased new in 2004. We absolutely loved this car. It did everything we asked of it, hauling our bikes, carrying hundreds of pounds of mulch in the back, giving us great gas mileage when you got it revved up (yea it got better mileage at 75 than it did at any lower speed).
But what vehicle do we get to replace it? That all depended on the RV we would choose. We finally decided on a large 5th wheel after looking at twenty or so manufacturers offerings. We were set on the Carriage's model Cameo. But Bonnie said that maybe we might want to stay in the north until after Thanksgiving, which meant we would need a 5th that would withstand the cold. I did some more research and found that for a little more money we could get a DRV's model Mobile Suite (see it at: http://www.doubletreervsuites.com/products.php?suites_id=2) that had much better insulation. We went to the Hershey show and looked at all the models we liked but still we were convinced that our original choice, the MS, was the one. Now we knew what we would be pulling so we could make a decision on what vehicle we would need to pull it.
I started looking for a F-350 or F-450 truck. We found a 350 in the town next to us and went to look at it. We really liked it but the dealer would not make us a good deal on the Subaru. We had the top of the line LL Bean model and they wanted to buy it for a Legacy price. We decided we would sell the Ru on our own. Two days after we listed it, it sold BUT the 350 was gone. Looking around I found a beautifully kept F-450 near by in Maryland. We went to look at it and found out the young man had OCD when it came to taking care of the truck. It looked like it was on a show room floor, even the engine was clean enough to eat off of. We purchased it but couldn't get it until a couple of weeks later due to bank mess up on our funds.
We had a truck but no RV! We talked with our local dealer, looked at their offerings and asked about price. Sure they gave us some discount off of MSRP but only about 10%, not enough for me since I knew what we would pay at other dealers on the internet. I sent out request for pricing to several dealers in Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and Florida. Since we would be on the road full time we didn't need a local dealer. RV's for Less in Tennessee stepped up with a price that was a full 25% off of MSRP. Butch and Karen are also a good Christian couple to deal with, they treat you like they would want to be treated. In January, 2011 we ordered our unit. We will not however pick it up until July.
Our double shot of 5th then was our mid thought change from a Cameo to a Mobile Suite. It is a fantastically built unit that will fulfill our needs for the next few years.
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