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ron.dittmer
I Will Be Dancing With The Stars On 1/23
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Joined: 02/26/2007
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teknomad wrote:vinny68 wrote:teknomad wrote:As it is, he is not convinced that an RV is a good way to spend a lot of money.
You need to assure your husband that buying an RV is a GREAT way to spend a lot of money!  Do you have a suggestion as to how to do that vinny? Because the numbers simply do not add up. Even for a small used vehicle one would have to pay $ 50,000.- plus.
One can rent a lot of hotel suites or apartments for that—with views, lots of floor space, kitchens and maid service. 
Seriously, help me out here. Okay, here I go.
If your husband loves motels and restraunts, you won't be able to convince him. If he loves the big city hotel experience, you are in trouble just the same. But if he loves to "come home" at the end of a big day spent in the outdoors, then he really should like an RV.....the "Right" RV. You said you owned a Toyota motor home for many years, so he knows what he has given up when selling the Toyota. It sounds like he wants to close the RV chapter of his life.
A little story here about my wife and me. I think there might be some similarities to you.
We bought This Little Toyota motor home, new in 1983 when we were 25 years old. It was very stripped down, costing us $12,250 plus sales tax back then. We owned it 24 years, and quite frankly, approaching 50 years of age, it wasn't meeting the need any longer. No a/c of either kind, no furnace, no fridge, no stove, no bathroom, heck it was so stripped, it had a stick shift transmission and no power steering. Oh yes, the bed was very uncomfortable too, waking up every morning with a poor night's sleep.
The last trip we took with our Toyota was in 2006. Driving through South Dakota was the last straw. It was 117 degrees outside and we without a/c drove down I-90 with the windows up because it was less hot than with the windows down. My wife with Multiple Sclerosis (very mild so far) nearly passed out.
It was a difficult decision for us to consider spending $30,000 to $35,000 on a lightly used motor home with full ammenities. We had started going on cruises in the Carabean and thought $30k-$35k will cover a whole lot of them. We wanted to cruise in Alaska and the Mediterranean too.
We concluded we were not ready to give up the outdoors, but we couldn't do that any longer in the Toyota. So I started a national search for a good quality used motor home that fit inside our garage. This limited us to a select few brands and models. After 7 months searching, in despiration I started calling around the country to new RV dealers that sold new units we wanted in used fashion, hoping someone traded in an older one for a newer one.
In the end, I sold my low mileage 2001 Corvette convertible to add to the funds in buying "EXACTLY" what we wanted, Special Ordered Brand New This Phoenix Cruiser 2350 with plans to keep it until we are too dangerous to drive it. At 51 years old today, and two years into our ownership, we should be able to get more from this RV than the first one of 24 years.
I learned a lesson from this RV experience. Get the right thing, enjoy it, and don't worry about what could go wrong. Just make sure you can afford what you are doing.
We go on a cruise once a year (cheap through accumulated VISA points), and a cross-country road/camping trip once a year too. The kids are now gone, so it's a lot about eachother again.
We are doing our best in enjoying life a number of different ways. We both do some volunteer work through Our Church. Helping others is very rewarding. I especially have a passion in This Ministry. Be sure to click on the two videos on that web page. We even picked up ballroom dancing at a local Fred Astaire Dance Studio and have gotten very good at the Rumba, Waltz, Cha-cha, Push-pull Hustle, and the Fox Trot. That skill comes in real handy on a cruise ship. We are one of six couples competing in a "Dancing With The Stars" local fund raising event for P.A.D.S of Elgin, IL.
If you ask me why I mentioned all this, then you missed my point in making a decision about an RV.
* This post was
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edited 10/24/09 03:32pm by ron.dittmer *
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My wife & I are "Dancing With The Stars" for PADS on 1/23
Read about it in my "View Profile"
Then scroll down to "More About Me"
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winnietrey
seattle
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Joined: 03/26/2005
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I agree with Ron.
3 things, I think, 5 years of hard use and 40k on our little Coachman, not many complains. Should have bought a huge pack of screws and those little plastic inserts and glue though. Stuff like that does not bug me though. Others it would so you have that.
I and DW both prefer the RV over Hotels, resorts, boats and cruises Been there done that. And that little Rv has gotten us more exploring adventure and family fun then all the others combined.
We to are financally conservative, but one must guard against being to much so.
No disagreement "the numbers don't add up' But the other part of equation is the never discussed concept of usage. If you use if you have great fun with it then that more the offsets any cost. So many folks never spend a dime, always looking for the cheapest way. But there comes a time when we are just too old to sick or whatever to do anything.
So what if you've got millions in the bank, I for one don't want to look back and say well we should have done this or that. But I just would not spend the money at the time.
Just my 2 cents
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