Remember when you were a kid and Christmas was within sight? Did you search for the presents your parents had tucked away from curious children? Did you ever sit by the Christmas tree, picking up gifts and trying to guess what each package contained? Did you ever loosen the tape just enough so you could get a little peek inside? That anticipation, the excitement of children at Christmas just cannot be duplicated. It’s a magical time of joy and celebration.
And yet, that’s pretty much what happened last week at our house.
We received a call from our RV dealer telling us that our trailer had arrived. At first, we told them we would wait until after the first of the year to pick it up. They are going to be closed over the holidays and would have stored the trailer inside their shop. Nice and cozy. Except. We.Couldn’t.Wait! We tried. We told ourselves that it was practical to wait until January. Then over coffee one morning, Tim said, “I’m like a kid at Christmas about this trailer!”. I felt exactly the same.
Traveling with an RV is something we’ve imagined for more than 30 years. We’ve researched, visited RV shows, rented RVs, subscribed to blogs/vlogs/podcasts, joined FB forums. When the much anticipated moment arrived on December 4th with the call from our dealer, “Your trailer came in. When would you like to do your walk-through?” We couldn’t resist. We couldn’t wait.
Introducing
Our Winnebago 2427RB Voyage. She’s 27′ long, weighs 6460 pounds and we are so excited! There are a lot of wonderful RV’s on the market. But as we narrowed our list of possibilities to come up with a shortlist, we realized that at some level, purchasing an RV is an emotional decision.
You envision yourselves sitting by a lovely campfire, roasting marshmallows, sipping hot chocolate (which just might be an adult version), young, beautiful, perfectly relaxed, marvelously rested. OK. Fantasy stops here. I may be imaginative, but I am not delusional. 😀
Yet Winnebago is a bit of an emotional decision. Tim was raised in a small town 60 miles from Forest City, Iowa – the home of Winnebago. Even though their travel trailers are built in Indiana, those Iowa roots run deep in that dark, rich soil.
Besides, this trailer somehow had everything that was on our short list. We made that list and not only have checked it twice, we’ve checked, revised, rewritten until the paper was falling apart. The trailer size seems right. The ceiling is tall enough to comfortably accommodate the 6’2″ man of the house. The bed is a king and long enough that no one’s feet need to dangle off the end. The shower is tall enough that no one needs to duck. There are heating pads on the huge holding tanks, factory-installed solar, ducted A/C, a walk-in pantry. On paper, it seems to have exceeded our expectations.
On our first visit to the dealer, we surprised ourselves. “Shocked” would be more like it! We put a down payment on it. That. Very. Day! You may be puzzling saying, “Yeah, they made a down payment, what’s the big deal?” For the two of us? The Enneagram Controlling Eight and the Imaginative, Enthusiastic Seven? Good Golly, Miss Molly! We agreed! We liked it! We were amazed!
How Much Stuff Can You Stuff?
So while we were waiting for the trailer to arrive from the factory we began collecting the stuff we had been reading about on FB Forums, hearing about in podcasts, reading about on blogs, and seeing on countless YouTube videos. We became fans of The Long, Long Honeymoon (LoLoHo); Adventurous Way; Grand Adventure; Technomadia; RV Lifestyle; Less Junk, More Journey; Changing Lanes RV; and many others.
We watched “training” videos like “RV” with Robin Williams; “The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez; and our seasonal favorite, National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”. We laughed until we cried. See, we’ve done enough camping, glamping, and renting RV’s that we are rather well-acquainted with some of the realities. Because of that, we believe that the most important item to take with us is a sense of humor. That’s the one thing we must not forget to pack.
So while Santa and his elves are gearing up to load his sleigh, we’ve been collecting, gathering the “stuff” on our lists. We are like kids at Christmas. We can hardly wait and our wait is almost over.
We do our walk-through tomorrow morning and we take her with us!
Finally! After 30+ years of talking, planning, dreaming, and imagining. Finally! After a difficult year – the pandemic of 2020 has impacted every single one of us in some way. Finally! After more RV shows that I can count. Finally! After considering Class A’s, C’s, B+’s. B’s, conversion vans, and even Skoolies, we have landed on the trailer that will allow us to travel and remain self-contained as we cautiously, respectfully resume our dream of experiencing our beautiful country and its people.
Tomorrow morning this journey officially begins! We do not know what the road ahead has in store. But we are as excited as kids at Christmas to get started!
Join us on our journey – regular updates will appear on Instagram.