Why I Decided to Buy an RV

 I woke up one day and realized that I was on my own, over 60 and sitting in my chair way too much.  Retirement was in my near future, and I had no idea what that meant for me.

Over the years I’ve tried my hand at quilting, coloring, gardening and everything else I could think of to keep myself busy.  I made several quilts for the family but found they no longer had quite the same meaning they did when my grandmother made mine.  Now, even I would have to admit, I would rather curl up in a fleece blanket to watch TV or read a book. 

I always loved to travel, but I am still working, and the price of a plane ticket and hotel room are ridiculous for someone on a fixed income.  And really, how many trips would I be able to make using vacation days?  Retirement is right around the corner, which would allow me the time, but how would I finance it?

Then thanks to my grandsons, I discovered YouTube!  When searching for places to visit out west, I stumbled upon people my age, 60 something, that were living and traveling in RV’s!  Could I? Should I? Would I be crazy to do that at my age, alone? Throw everything, I couldn’t part with in storage and take off???

I had previously owned a small camper, a pop-up and a horse trailer which had a small living quarters in it, so I knew I could handle pulling a trailer but it had been years and going west with mountains and the unknown would be entirely different.

I knew I wanted something small, but I had to have a stove, refrigerator and a bathroom.  Ruffing it is one thing, but I’m far beyond making several trips to the outhouse in the middle of the night!

So, my search began.  I watched so many videos, searched campers and reviews on google and looked at a lot of campers. 

There are so many out there to choose from, making it very confusing.  My biggest problem was finding one that was under 3000lbs with everything I needed.  I didn’t want to buy a new tow vehicle.  I was told when I bought my jeep that it could pull 4500lbs.  I should have done more research.  They saw me coming!

For the next year I continued to research and pray for guidance.  I needed to save for a down payment and had planned on buying in the spring.

I had finally settled on a NuCamp 320 boondock.  Other than an Airstream, which I couldn’t afford, they appeared to be well made with excellent reviews.  It had everything I wanted plus rugged tires, a pitched axel for those back roads and could sleep two in case a grandchild wanted to come along. 

I searched for deals constantly and dreamt of the day I could finally buy one.  I ran across a deal 8 hours away from me for a 2022 brand new 320 for less money than a used one.  I made the phone call and guess what?  I drove 8 hours, signed the papers, hooked it up and drove 8 hours home!

As I mentioned earlier, I had pulled a couple trailers in the past, so I knew this didn’t feel quite right.  When I got home, I opened my hood and sure enough, it was the smaller engine, which couldn’t have pulled this camper up a mountain if someone was pushing from behind!  The dealer saw me coming!

Within the week, I had purchased a 2020 Chevrolet Colorado.  I was all set. I didn’t think about all the things you need to get started.  

I had 2 years before I planned to retire and take off full time, bills to pay off and a lot of exciting plans to make. 

Do I really know what I’m doing?  Do you really need to know?  Isn’t learning part of the adventure? 

I hope you follow me on this journey so we can learn, live and laugh together.