It's been a while, I know.
Don't think I haven't thought about it - you know, run away and live in the woods. Every post I read back thru after we've had a big gap in camping trips admonishes me the same way: I say over and over again how much I love camping, how it brings me back to center, how it calms the deep currents running thru my soul.
(This is the point where I normally would say "But....." and give some reason about life and work and trying to balance things, etc, etc. Ehn. Let's just not and say we did. Cool? Ok.)
I think RDB and I realized pretty quickly that the Rubicon wasn't our best set-up for camping. Yes, we loved having the bike with us, and yes, it fit a need - but we weren't camping. When you're sleeping in separate bunks, and not using the shower, well, we needed a change.
So, we did a thing (you knew this was coming, right?!)
Say hello to Beauty and the BEAST.
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| Ahhh, new truck smell. |
I'll save the "How We Saved $5000 on the RAM by Driving 350 Miles" saga for some time around the campfire and get right to the story of our new, beautiful 30' Forest River Wildcat.
Once again, we used PPL for the purchase, and really appreciate the way they're set up: go online, find a unit you'd like to look at, show up on the lot and spend as much time as you want hanging out inspecting it, then get paired up with a sales person who will walk you thru the paperwork. I think it was less than two weeks from start to finish.
Only, y'all, we ain't no where near finished yet. That was February.
Now....?
(Sorry - gotta keep laughing or I'm gonna cry.) We've not slept one. single. night. in our new-to-us camper. Mind you, yes, there IS a global pandemic going on, but THAT actually isn't the problem.
Let's start back the beginning again:
So, we used PPL for the purchase - knowing it was a used camper, and that the prior owner disclosed that the living room slide had "issues" and the gray tank value was leaking. Ok, we thought, that's doable; the floor plan of the unit was what we wanted, we can have those two items fixed.
We didn't even take possession of the camper the day we closed - we just went straight from sales over to service at PPL and left them the keys to work out those issues. Four (or was it five?) weeks, and several thousands of dollars later, we finally took possession of our camper - with the slide still broken. When the service guy tells you to come pick it up at 5pm on a Friday, and you find out from his colleagues that he leaves at 4:30, that's probably your first clue that you've been swindled. (When the service manager never returns your calls, that's probably the second clue...)
RDB started poking around underneath the slide that weekend trying to determine the cause - and y'all, in less than 30 minutes, he'd undone this and detached that and found a gear that had missing teeth which was likely what was making the awful banging noise when the slide went in and out. (When it takes your hubby only 30 MINUTES to find what the likely problem was, that's probably clue #3 that you've been hosed. Three strikes, PPL. You're out!!)
Running down random parts for the underbelly of a '15 Forest River Wildcat is its own story y'all. I'll just leave it here that RDB is INCREDIBLY PATIENT.
Ok, so, while he was working on the outside, I had big plans for the inside. I've never re-decor'd any of our campers - but this one? I couldn't wait to paint walls, replace furnishings, and really make it the retreat that we'll enjoy for the next decade of our camping adventures.
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| A little pre-view of my vision for the Beauty. |
So, Diesel and I began a bit of prep work - clearing out the old and making way for the new. With painting, I wanted to make sure I prepped it correctly (there are a lot of horror stories of peeling paint and worse!). Needless to say, Diesel likes "his spot" in the new place already!
Speaking of spots.... notice the kinda rough looking wallpaper there by Rich's elbow? Well, before I painted, I wanted to make sure that random texture like that - it was on that wall by the slide and then over the top of the kitchen slide as well - wouldn't show up with the new paint job, so, I pulled a little bit back to see what was causing the rumpling in the wallpaper beneath.
The more experienced camper owner at this point knows the music in the back ground has just turned ominous; for the, well, less in-tuned (ahem, me) you'll be just as surprised as I was to find....
MOLD.
With a capital OLD. This was no recent one-time incident. This stuff had been there for a while, and likely? The past owners knew about it. Knew about it, and sold it as-is, with no disclosure.
So, I'm gonna stop the story there for a while. Because that's exactly what happen - we just.... stopped.
Our Beauty had turned, rightly so, into a beast.
(Are you one of those who likes to flip ahead to the end of the story? Then go here.)
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