That was the response that came a couple of days after we texted Chase that we’d decided to celebrate the start of year five by buying a new RV. Unbeknownst to him, we’d been toying with the idea for a while, considering a couple of scenarios:
Should we trade in our fifth wheel and the BAT2 (Big Ass Truck #2) for a motorcoach and a smaller tow-behind vehicle that would be easier to navigate around the many cities we visit? The thought of having an electric or hybrid vehicle that would also fit into parking garages was an appealing one, especially as we watched diesel prices climb past the $5/gallon range.
If we were going to invest in a loft in San Diego or Palm Springs and spend 3 – 4 months there each year, could we survive in a smaller RV the rest of the year?
Would it make sense to stay with our current approach (40-foot fifth wheel + Ford F350 dually), but investigate a different layout — one that got my office out of the main living area?
Once we decided that we were not going to invest in property (for more on that story), option 2 was off the table.
With option 1 and 3 still in play, it was time to do a little RV shopping! In January, we took a drive from San Diego to Quartzsite Arizona for the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation, and RV show — one of the big annual shows. Quartzsite is legendary in RV circles as a winter RV paradise — the year round population of 2,500 swells to nearly a million people participating in gem shows, giant swap meets, and off-roading activities throughout the winter months. By the way, the movie (and book) Nomadland tells the stories of many of the folks who trek there, and the lives they lead.
RV shopping is equal parts inspiring, confusing, and exhausting. Hundreds of RVs are lined up in giant parking lots, and the day consists of walking up and down stairs into lots of different models, trying not to bump into people doing the same. After a while, they all start to blend together. Was that the one with the cool kitchen? Did we hate the lack of natural light in this one, or in that one? Wait…didn’t we tour this one four hours ago?
That being said, there is no substitute for doing the work of walking through the various models. And after walking through at least 25 motorcoaches, we realized that we don’t like the layout, and we don’t like the finishes. Well, we like the layouts for the really big ones, and we like the finishes on the really expensive ones. But “really big and really expensive” does not fit our travel plans, nor our budget.
We were down to option 3 — investigate other ways of carrying our current approach into year 5. As we were wrapping up our time in Coachella, Andrew decided to check out a couple of other RV shows in San Diego. He had the criteria: approximately the same size as our current rig, lots of natural light, residential finishes, with separate office space. As he walked out the door I laughingly said “I give you full purchase authority up to our agreed-upon budget limit.”
Later that afternoon, he called and said “I think I found our new RV”. That was the precursor to four hours of him taking me on an iPhone tour, negotiating with the sales rep and then the business manager, us having a heart to heart about how much we really wanted to spend — all managed remotely with awful wifi on his end.
We ended up with a Brinkley Model Z 3515. The entire back of the RV is my office (all windows and my own entry door!), the finishes are high quality, the color scheme is brighter than most competitive models, and the natural light is great, although not as amazing as our former rig.
There have been other tradeoffs. Adding a whole room to the back of the RV means that the other spaces are configured differently — we lost space in the living area, bedroom, and bathroom (but not much). There is a TON of storage space in the 3515, and right where we need it (we actually have a kitchen pantry now instead of having a closet that was ⅓ pantry, ⅓ linens, ⅓ Andrew’s sweatshirts). But there’s less storage underneath, which has necessitated some painful (for one of us) purging. The tech on this rig is better — we FINALLY have a backup camera (I still need to help with backing up) and Andrew can do just about anything he needs from his phone (including emptying our gray tanks from his recliner when I look over while washing the dishes and proclaim them full because the sink isn’t draining).
All in all, we are delighted with our new space. I love being able to close my office door at the end of the day, and Andrew loves not having to be a silent participant in every single Zoom call. This RV really feels like a home, even more so than our Alliance did. And now, all those little things that needed to be fixed up on a four year old well-traveled RV are being taken care of by the dealership who took in our trade!
By the way, once we assured Chase that we did, indeed, buy a new RV, his only question was “how comfortable is the pullout couch?”.
Hopefully, he’ll come see for himself soon.
Want to see our new home? Take a quick tour with us!
Want to see it up close? Check out our travel plans…we love visitors!
