What An Experience!

[TnT09]

After retiring from professional executive and medical careers, DH decided to fulfill HIS childhood “bucket list goal” and earn HIS CDL, then drive a “BIG RIG” semi tractor/trailer cross-country, for fun... HUH? Talked me into joining HIS “bucket goal”,  tagging along AS A TEAM DRIVER... YIKES, FOR REAL???? 2 CDLs and 2 years “on the road”, later, I DECIDED WE had fulfilled HIS bucket list goal!! After all, staying in a hotel WITHOUT ROOM SERVICE was my idea of “roughing it”!!! After years of extensive national career travel, I had become “high maintenance” when it came to weekly “all expense paid” work related air and hotel travel. With the BIG RIG GIG over, NEXT STOP: as “SNOWBIRDS”, we would sell mid-west lake home, purchase older MH, gut & go “over the road” in our own “MH rig”, across North USA & Canada during hot FL summers. Plan: intermittently pull car, boat, motorcycles... CRAZY, maybe? FUN??? .... GOTTA BE a BLAST! Summer 2017: Sell lake home by owner, drive across USA looking for MH to purchase (which we knew NOTHING about),  purchase, hire interior designer (design is wayyyyy out of OUR wheelhouse), learn who does quality MH work and let the good times roll (from shop to shop to gut and rebuild). 4 1/2 months in a hotel, 20 shops specializing in each detail, 2 FULL pages of upgraded items later, and NOT A SINGLE OVERNIGHT in the MH, and it was time to “put ‘er to bed” for Winter, 2017/2018. YEP, what a frustrating, fun, exciting learning experience...LOL. 2 final weeks of decorating & renovations this month (May 2018), and we will “test ‘er from head to toe”, then embark upon the latest “bucket list” journey.  Hope to see some of you “on the road again...”, this time in our own MH RIG!  Goodness, do we feel blessed... Questions, Comments?? reply to: teri@snowlake.net

[wildebill308]

Welcome to the forum. For your first adventure I recommend a close campground or your driveway. Have a tablet and a pen so you can write down everything you have forgotten to stock and things that need attention. I think a local full hookup campground would be good so you can get experience setting up and tearing down. Being close also lets you do your setup when you are not tired from a day of travel. It makes it lots less stressful. 

Where are you located? If you have questions just ask.

Bill

[TnT09]

14 hours ago, WILDEBILL308 said:

Welcome to the forum. For your first adventure I recommend a close campground or your driveway. Have a tablet and a pen so you can write down everything you have forgotten to stock and things that need attention. I think a local full hookup campground would be good so you can get experience setting up and tearing down. Being close also lets you do your setup when you are not tired from a day of travel. It makes it lots less stressful. 

Where are you located? If you have questions just ask.

Bill

Thanks, Bill. Great suggestions; we would NOT have thought of them... YIKES! Nothing substitutes for experience in any venture. We are in N.E. IN and S.W. FL. We’ll be starting our inaugural adventure from N.E. IN (the Angola lake area)... Any nice campgrounds anyone can suggest in the Fort Wayne or Angola areas until we know all systems are a “GO” for venturing out?  

[rfsod48]

There are a couple of good campgrounds near Shipshewana which is just down the road from you. Fun area to visit.

Roland

[TnT09]

1 hour ago, rfsod48 said:

There are a couple of good campgrounds near Shipshewana which is just down the road from you. Fun area to visit.

Roland

Thanks, much, Roland. We’ll check them out.

[jleamont]

I don't know why but that body style American Dream is my favorite, I love the front. Tried to purchase one a few years ago but most were so badly neglected it wasn't worth it.

nice upgrades, beautiful coach!

[manholt]

The inside is great, but only as good as the foundation it's riding on!  Have you had the engine, transmission, chassis, drive  axle, u-joints and generator serviced?  How about the DOT number for age of all tires?  Batteries...AGM or Acid?  Does it have a built in Surge protection??

[TnT09]

14 hours ago, jleamont said:

I don't know why but that body style American Dream is my favorite, I love the front. Tried to purchase one a few years ago but most were so badly neglected it wasn't worth it.

nice upgrades, beautiful coach!

Thanks for your comments! We literally criss-crossed the USA in our p/u truck In search of the right, older coach for our 1st MH. Saw the coach in FL that we eventually purchased, but was NOT for sale, at the time. Thought we had seen plenty of photos & asked all important questions before driving to another state, looking for a pristine (outside & mechanically) older American Eagle. Red flags were raised on each prospect, as the search continued... Several months later, the FL coach we had seen that was NOT for sale at the time, became available: 1-owner who was an Engineer, exterior & mechanicals were his passion, all service and trip records, stored inside his garage, never met snow. Health problems forced sale and need for nearly complete interior gut and remodel. We also had many mechanicals replaced/updated or repaired. We believe we were fortunate to have found this coach...ask us again after we travel in it... LOL! Safe travels.

[TnT09]

13 hours ago, manholt said:

The inside is great, but only as good as the foundation it's riding on!  Have you had the engine, transmission, chassis, drive  axle, u-joints and generator serviced?  How about the DOT number for age of all tires?  Batteries...AGM or Acid?  Does it have a built in Surge protection??

Thanks for your kind sentiment and the more important cautions! Yes, we had the chassis completely inspected and serviced by Onan-Cummins in Elkhart, IN, and all other mechanicals evaluated and replaced/repaired, as needed.... Hopefully, no stone left unturned! DOT number & tires checked out A-OK for 1-2 more years. All lead-acid batteries checked and replaced, as recommended. We will have shop check them again when we de-winterized this mo. Ah, we will have to check on surge protector... Great suggestion & we don't know!