This could be lengthy so please bear with me as my thoughts may be jumbled and I may ramble a bit, but here goes. My wife and I will both be retired in the next 3 to 5 years.
We both would like to see all or as much as possible of what this great country has to offer, from the majestically beautiful national parks to the numerous regional attractions and festivals east to west and north to south.
But this post is not to solicit suggestions of where to travel. That will come later. What I am seeking is advice on how to get started enjoying the RV lifestyle.
We have never owned any type of RV, although I have on numerous occasions rented a class C motor home with several buddies to travel to NASCAR events and Football games for as long as 5 days and am very comfortable with all that goes with it.
Not wanting to wait until we are both retired to venture into this; we have begun over the last year and a half to attend RV shows in our area to see what the industry has to offer. In that time we have come to the conclusion that although there are some very nice travel trailers, 5th wheels and class C units out there, we would prefer the creature comforts and convenience that a class A has to offer.
Our problem at this point is that even if we knew exactly what we wanted Make, Model, New, Used etc. Our current schedules would preclude any kind of serious use.
While my schedule allows me the time to get away during the spring and summer, my wife’s job as a General Manager at a country club restricts her ability to get away for any extended length of time from April to mid October.
I have suggested to her that initially to see if we were going to like the lifestyle and all that goes with it we would probably want to look into renting a unit several times for various lengths of time as time would allow. The problem with this is that this can cost anywhere from $1500 to $2500 a week depending on the season.
This is certainly cheaper than purchasing a unit, even a used unit that would sit more than it would get used giving rise to all the problems that can crop up associated with an idle unit. The $7000 to $12000 you might spend over the 3 to 5 years renting could be better served towards a down payment on something.
That being said does anyone know if there are any programs out there that would allow some one to purchase from a dealer, a motor home that when not being used by the owner would go into the dealers rental fleet to help offset the cost eventually being used towards a trade in, if so, any thoughts, Pro’s Con’s etc?
By the way even when we are both retired, because of kids, grandkids etc I don’t see us being full timers immediately but would anticipate disappearing for 4 to 5 weeks at a time.
Thanks for any thoughts, advice, opinions, experiences.
Again sorry for the lengthy rambling.
[SIZE= 12pt]BeerMan[/SIZE]
We both would like to see all or as much as possible of what this great country has to offer, from the majestically beautiful national parks to the numerous regional attractions and festivals east to west and north to south.
But this post is not to solicit suggestions of where to travel. That will come later. What I am seeking is advice on how to get started enjoying the RV lifestyle.
We have never owned any type of RV, although I have on numerous occasions rented a class C motor home with several buddies to travel to NASCAR events and Football games for as long as 5 days and am very comfortable with all that goes with it.
Not wanting to wait until we are both retired to venture into this; we have begun over the last year and a half to attend RV shows in our area to see what the industry has to offer. In that time we have come to the conclusion that although there are some very nice travel trailers, 5th wheels and class C units out there, we would prefer the creature comforts and convenience that a class A has to offer.
Our problem at this point is that even if we knew exactly what we wanted Make, Model, New, Used etc. Our current schedules would preclude any kind of serious use.
While my schedule allows me the time to get away during the spring and summer, my wife’s job as a General Manager at a country club restricts her ability to get away for any extended length of time from April to mid October.
I have suggested to her that initially to see if we were going to like the lifestyle and all that goes with it we would probably want to look into renting a unit several times for various lengths of time as time would allow. The problem with this is that this can cost anywhere from $1500 to $2500 a week depending on the season.
This is certainly cheaper than purchasing a unit, even a used unit that would sit more than it would get used giving rise to all the problems that can crop up associated with an idle unit. The $7000 to $12000 you might spend over the 3 to 5 years renting could be better served towards a down payment on something.
That being said does anyone know if there are any programs out there that would allow some one to purchase from a dealer, a motor home that when not being used by the owner would go into the dealers rental fleet to help offset the cost eventually being used towards a trade in, if so, any thoughts, Pro’s Con’s etc?
By the way even when we are both retired, because of kids, grandkids etc I don’t see us being full timers immediately but would anticipate disappearing for 4 to 5 weeks at a time.
Thanks for any thoughts, advice, opinions, experiences.
Again sorry for the lengthy rambling.
[SIZE= 12pt]BeerMan[/SIZE]