Our Marriott on wheels!
That may be one of those oxymorons to buy an RV on a budget, but you can still get the best deals if you just devote a little time in finding what you want.
We officially started camping with a small 14' Fun Finder in June of 2009. Since that date, we have discovered that camping can be addictive.
There's just something about being away from home for a weekend, or even a couple more days that gets into one's soul.
For us it's the total relaxation and the ability to catch fish on many bodies of water we most likely wouldn't get to try. It's like taking a short vacation since you're out of your house and daily routine.
Well, after almost three years of a fairly cramped space during camping, we made a decision to upgrade our RV. So, I started researching hundreds of travel trailers, not just locally, but looking almost daily online on a nationwide basis.
I even sent off for several brochures for the floor plans we decided we would like. Naturally, I studied them over and over checking out even the smallest detail. Many RV's are similar in size, but the floor plans change and finding one that you like is the best feeling for RV shoppers.
After all that research, we finally came up with a floor plan we wanted. We had narrowed our search down to a Kodiak, Aerolite or Bullet. Our decision not to sell our Fun Finder ourselves led us to contracting with a local consignment RV lot.
January 2012 was the last time we camped with our Fun Finder, then the search escalated to find our "dream RV".
I searched and searched all over the web looking for what we had dreamed about and had put on our goal board in my office. We had pretty much narrowed our search to a Keystone Bullet because of its floor plan and quality of construction.
One weekend we had decided to drive over to a Camping World which was not far from our house just to look at some other models. Low and behold, they actually had a 2010 Keystone Bullet in the floor plan we wanted so we gave it a serious looking over. The minute we walked into the Bullet, our hearts skipped a beat almost simultaneously. It just happened to be EXACTLY what we had dreamed about for our next RV. We tried not to show our excitement to the salesman, but it was like the cat that ate the mouse, we just couldn't stop smiling.
Naturally the salesman was interested in selling us this RV, but we had decided not to buy just yet. Especially since they were asking around $25,000. Which, for us, was just plain out of the budget we'd set up for this type of purchase.
That one single day started a frenzy of researching for a Keystone Bullet with a rear bath, single slide out and center wall complete with spin around TV that separated the sleeping area from living area.
I scoured the Internet looking at RV sites all over the US before finally finding a manufactures representative lot in Michigan called Lakeshore RV. My contact was a guy named Mike and we started our endless barrage of questions. One of the things we learned was that they wanted $2200 to deliver a new RV to our home in Florida.
It took about a month of discussion before we finalized our options, price and shipping arrangements. And because of all the options it already came with, we only added a larger A/C, a slide out awning and an E2 equalizer hitch to handle this less than 5,000 lb. ultra light RV.
One of our major decision making points for the Bullet was that Lakeshore RV had told me they sell less in the winter months, so they had a special price with lot's of options and overall it worked out to be some $6,000 less than most lots were asking.
The day was fast approaching before we headed up North to pick up our new Bullet. After logging on to Map quest, I found out how many miles we had to drive roundtrip, so that gave me an idea of what our gas costs would be. So we decided to drive up North and personally pick up our new "Marriott on wheels".
We left our house in Cape Coral, Florida at 6:00 AM on a Saturday. With our GPS mounted and set up for someplace in Northern Georgia, plus my trusty laptop on the ready to search out places to sleep for the nights we'd be gone, we departed.
It was a beautiful day to drive, and some ten hours later with only one small rainstorm in Southern Georgia, we arrived in Dalton, GA. where we booked into a Motel 6. Laugh all you want, but they are great, inexpensive places to stay, and usually located close to a restaurant or two. We're not out to buy the hotel; we just want to rent a clean room for sleeping.
The next morning we started out again around 6:00 AM and drove through the hills of Tennessee, Kentucky and into Indiana before reaching our next destination, South Bend, IN, where again we found a Motel 6 online at an affordable price. Luckily for us, this one even gave me a senior citizen discount on top of the low rate.
On day three, our research showed us our destination was a mere 150 miles North. It had taken us two full days and a few hours in the AM of the 3rd day before we arrived at our final destination. Our very first stop was at a Wal-Mart to buy some large pillows. Then we continued on to the RV lot, which was only a few more miles away. Needless to say, both our hearts were racing when we finally drove into Lakeshore RV in Muskegon, Michigan.
Since it was still in winter mode, the temperature was in the low 50's, so to us it was literally freezing. We had planned for the coldness and had our sweatshirts with us, but I didn't want to carry long pants so my legs did get a little chilled.
Lakeshore RV told us we could stay on their lot for the night if we wanted just to check things out before heading south.
Since I had the weather channel saved on my laptop, I had checked the weather for this particular day and it was showing a very cold front coming our way. So, we made the decision to continue our drive into warmer climate. So, after finishing up the contract, we drove off the lot with our 2012 28' Keystone Bullet. Needless to say, my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating since I was thinking this monster behind our Tundra was going to be super hard to adjust to, but I quickly found out that it was as easy as the 14' RV we had sold.
It didn't take long before Karen broke out our Passport America camping guide and located a campground in Indiana, so that was our goal for day 1 of our return home.
About 4:00 PM that afternoon, we arrived at the Caboose Lake Campground near Remington, Indiana and set up for the first time. It was cold but beautiful blue skies, so we located our assigned space and set up our Bullet for the first time.
At least we got a chance to operate our propane heater and fortunately for us it worked perfectly. The best part was that it only cost us about $15.00 because of the 50% discounts Passport America gives to its members.
On day two we made it to Tennessee and booked into the Nashville Country RV Park near Goodlettsville and we still arrived in the early afternoon. Since it was in the Central time zone, we actually arrived an hour or so earlier than expected, so we walked around this beautiful park and took some pictures. We paid a little more here but it was a lot less than a hotel and we knew our room would be very upscale!
Day three was also an early start of around 6:00 AM, and again, 10 hours later, we drove into another Passport America listed park called Florida Gateway RV Resort near Jasper, FL. It's a beautiful park with wide-open spaces and some small cabins for rent. We only paid $20 to stay at this beautiful park and as usual this includes water, sewer and electric. Some parks even have Internet if you need it.
It wasn't until day four that we finally reached our final destination, Sun-n-Shade RV resort near Punta Gorda, FL. Which just happens to be a mere 16 miles from our house.
It was here that we finally got to stay for more than one night. And after setting up, which only took us about 15 minutes, we drove home and picked up our Sea Eagle boat so we could finally do some fishing and just enjoy our time in one place.
And on that Sunday, April 1st, we hooked up for the last time during this trip and drove our "Marriott on wheels" to our pre-arranged storage lot.
Today, we camp about every two weeks and are still addicted to this lifestyle. Most of our camping in State & Federal parks cost us anywhere from $11 to $13 per night because I can use my Interagency Senior Pass, and the private parks usually run $20 a night and up, depending on where you want to stay.
