Shopping for our New RV Home

Well we've begun our shopping for our new home… The RV that will help us pursue our dream! Of course it is frustrating when shopping for used RV's as the Dealers rarely have any used rigs that are affordable. So that leaves you with shopping the "for sale by owner" rigs.

We have every day, with very little constraint on when we can go look at an RV. These people that have them for sale however, are still part of the working force and are not available. Don't they know that when I want to go look at their rig for sale and kick the tires that they are supposed to be home? LOL

We've looked at a few. We are mostly taking the approach of we'll know the right one when we see it. But that can be a dangerous approach! We went to look at one last night. All the way over in Porter Maine - it was about 75 miles away, not too far but far enough. The price on this rig was very reasonable. Thank goodness I've had the good sense to enlist the help of a friend who is a mechanic and is not getting caught up in the "lets get a rig and be ready" madness that Tonya and I are in. We looked this rig over, heard it start and run, asked questions, crawled under it, looked at the storage, the interior. Tonya and I loved most of what we saw. This rig was a Class A Motor Home a 33 footer. We talked it over privately for about 3 minutes and decided that for the asking price it was a steal! When my mechanic heard me tell the owners that we would take it - he made a funny face. I took that cue very seriously and he and I had a conference. He showed me some areas of concern that I had not seen. He had crawled under it in more spots than I had and had noticed one of the steel cross members was broken and rotted out. There was rust on the driver's side rear wheel well as well as some rot in other wooden areas.

So looking a little foolish, I told the owner that I was not sure. We took it for a very short drive to get a feel for the power of the Chevy 454 engine and the condition of the brakes. That Chevy engine is certainly a powerhouse. The brake were not bad. But as we talked it over there were many questions that the owners could not answer. They had never run this unit for camping. They had bought it from a friend with the intention of running it but as often happens - life got in their way. They did not know if the Generator even worked. They had never tried the furnace, the refrigerator was bad (this they had stated in the ad). Although they said the propane tank was empty the monitoring system showed it reading at Full. There was evidence of some historical water damage… There were lots of little things that either were wrong or that were unknown. The asking price was about half of what we have for a budget for our new home so doing some repairs is not a problem. We politely told them that we wanted to look at a few more before we decide because this was really the first one that we had REALLY looked at. The others were looked at from the outside or just with pictures and phone discussions.

This RV really was quite nice inside and we got carried away in the moment. Thank goodness I had my mechanic there to slap me back to reality.

The other experience that we have had is that I had e-mailed about another RV on Craig's list. A woman wrote me a very nice e-mail and attached 49 pictures of a PERFECT RV. I mean this thing was perfect! The outside of it was clean, the inside was beautiful and well… Perfect. This rig was so nice that when Tonya saw the pictures she said "Call the town office and find out how we get a temp registration plate to drive it home." That is how perfect this rig was. So I e-mailed this woman back and asked her to send me her phone number so we could set up a time to drive to Pittsfield Maine to look at this RV and hear it run and test the systems. Below is the reply I got from her:

"Dear Scott,

I am very glad to hear back from you. I'm a flight attendant at American Airlines and because I'm away most of the time I will not be able to deal in person. Before leaving I had pre-arranged the deal with eBay Buyer Protection program so my presence is not necessary. The vehicle is located in Omaha,NE in eBay`s custody at their shipping company,ready to be delivered to its hopefully future new owner. It will come with all the necessary paperwork (title, bill of sale, user's manual, keys etc). With eBay, you get free delivery and it will arrive at your address in 2 to 3 days. In addition, you will have 5 days to try out prior to making any purchase and if by any reason you find something you don't like about it you can send it back at my expense. I want to make it very clear, that eBay will hold your money, and I won't be receiving a single dollar unless you call and tell them to release the money to me.If you have any questions please call me at :

If you are ready to buy it, please reply with your whole name, address and phone # so I can notify eBay that you are selected as my buyer, and they will contact you right away."

Now understand, the sale price on this RV was $3,200.00! This sounds very fishy to me. I am not about to send a stranger all of my contact information and agree in any way to take delivery of an RV that I've never seen! The moral: Be very careful out there! Maybe she's legit but I can just imagine giving her my contact info and having someone tell me I have to send out full payment before I even see the rig. No Thank You!!!

So we have a few more rigs to look at and I am sure when we find the right one we will know it. We just have to be careful not to get so caught up in the moment that we act too quickly and regret our purchase.

In other news - Our youngest son has found an apartment and the RV shopping will largely be on hold for the next couple of days while we help him get moved in. I am sure he is excited and nervous about being in a lease for 1 year in his own name. He is lucky in that we are downsizing so he's had first choice on much of the furniture in our house to take to his apartment. So he'll be pretty much set as far as furnishing go. We are excited for him to begin his adult life with all the ups and downs that we all know so well. He's a smart guy and a hard worker so I am sure he'll be fine. As parents we still worry though.

In closing, it's really too bad that we didn't have more time to do this RV shopping thing. The Class A that we looked at really could have made a nice new home on wheels - IF we had the time to put into fixing the things that were known to be wrong and the things that MAY have been wrong with it. Oh well… The right one will come along soon - I can feel it! Until next time…

Soaring Eagle

Tonya’s Perspective

My last day of work was August 8th. So, now the real work begins. I had told Scott I needed at least three days of downtime, but I’m itching to go. So….

We took a trip to the military surplus store for some hiking gear, and found an Alice pack for very reasonable money, as well as a canteen and some other supplies. We also stopped at an RV place to look at rigs. They didn’t have anything we could afford, but we got some great advice from the salesman about what to look for when buying a used rig.

Tails took a trip to the vet for his shots and a checkup. He did great. He was curious on the ride there, but he didn’t get sick. He never complained when they weighed him, took his temperature, cleaned his ears, or gave him his shots. On the ride home, he laid down on the seat, and then moved to the floor. He was very relaxed.

Scott and I went through the clothes in our bedroom and cleaned out all 5 bureaus. The extra clothing went to the local Planet Aid box. There is still some downsizing to do, but we’ve made a good start.

Saturday, we had a yard sale. Certainly not as lucrative as our first, but we plan to have another Labor Day Weekend.

All in all, it’s been a productive week. See you out there…

NOT ALL WHO

WANDER

ARE LOST

Inspiration

Today, I'd like to talk about inspiration. Additionally, I would like to talk about mental health, and specifically depression and aging.

Sometimes I find myself trying to ensure that everything I write in the blog posts in some way relate to RV'ing and the new journey Tonya and I are about to embark on. Isn't it funny how our minds try to pigeon-hole us into very narrowly minded approaches to life, love, and creative thought!

One of the things I've noticed over the past few days is that there has been much more discussion about mental health and depression in particular. With the passing of Robin Williams (which truly caused me to feel saddened), many people are talking about mental health and depressive illness. This event caused me to feel shock, and a personal loss. Even though I did not know the man, and have not seen all of his movies, what struck me was the all too real truth - that everyone with depression suffers a great deal of pain. The fact that you may be wealthy, and successful does not insolate you from feeling the deep despair that depressive disorder or Bipolar disorder loads you down with.

Likewise, there has been much information posted on the social networks about the signs and warnings for those who may be at risk of suicide. In reading some of these, I have come to realize that there are many of these "red flags" that could easily pertain to me in very recent times. (Please do NOT worry I am NOT feeling suicidal at all - in fact I am very much looking forward to Tonya and I moving into this new phase of our lives). But, to say that I have not been suffering (for lack of a better word), would be a lie. However, due to my own education and knowledge I am very aware that it is not "abnormal" for me to be experiencing this at this particular time in my life. Whenever we experience major life events, it shakes up what has been the norm for a period of time. I've experienced 4 major life events in the past 8 months! I had the stent placed in my heart in December, I decided to leave a job that I loved due to the amount of stress involved, my wife decided to leave her job of 19 years, and we've decided to give up materialistic clutter in our lives and downsize to a much smaller existence, and we are about to embark on an adventure with very little in the way of certainty. So, I have had some symptoms of depression over the past couple of months. What makes it different for me than it is for many others is that I have a very clear understanding that this is temporary! We are in a "holding pattern," awaiting the processes that need to happen - to actually happen. Then the action (which I feel helps break the grip of depression) can begin as we hit the road to start our new life.

On a more positive note however, my wife has recently made statements regarding how she has seen me laugh at silly little things - something she says she's never really witnessed before. She has noticed that things that may have stressed me out in the past and possibly caused me to react in anger don't seem to faze me. So, perhaps my "depression" is a normative response to having many major life changes, having too much time on my hands, feelings of being somewhat overwhelmed by what we need to get rid of to downsize, and removing all the crutches of security from our lives in terms of employment.

Those who know me well are aware that I've had the diagnosis of dysthymia, Generalized anxiety disorder, ADHD, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder for years and years. I have come to understand what each of these issues means for me and how it affects my life and the things I need to do to cope effectively with them. With the death of Robin Williams, a realization came to me that I am truly not alone! I have always known that on an intellectual level - but this seemed to put it into perspective for me. To see Robin Williams work so hard to make others laugh - to see his more serious work such as in the movie "Awakenings," and to be in awe of his success - only to realize that none of that mattered to the dark cloud of depression, while it pains me to see the loss of such a valued life, it made me feel less alone in the battle. It's too late for me to thank him for that gift - but it's not too late for me to say to others… You are NOT alone!

It has also caused me to re-examine my life, my daily thoughts, and what some of the underlying causes of depression and why some experience suicidal thoughts. What I am left with is: Life is hard! Regardless of who you are, and what success you've had - however you measure that - life is hard. Personally, at age 51 I've seen many, many changes in our world that we live in. When I look at the world I see police officers who violate the very Constitution they swore an Oath to uphold. I see countries who slaughter their own people due to religious differences, I see our own Federal Government that does not seem to represent the people any longer - and I could go on and on. The world is a scary place! I seldom admit that I experience fear - but I do.

I believe that as we get older, our outlook on the world and life becomes more fear based. We feel hopeless and helpless to effect change. Our elected officials do not listen to us. The different groups are overly involved in things that truly are none of their business. Everyone is expected to spy and report on everyone else. Privacy is a thing of the past. We have developed these wonderful tools for people to become informed such as the internet, but that is being spied on by various federal agencies. It all just makes you feel sick, attacked, violated, and weak. I will not lie to you I do not feel as confident as I did when I was a young man. That is about to change!

Now for the much awaited "Inspiration" part of this post! The other thing that happened several days ago which did not make headline news… was that my son's girlfriend posted on social media that she is very close to publishing her first book on Amazon as an e-book. I find inspiration in that as I was quite impressed that she, at the young age of 18, has followed her dream of becoming a published author! I LOVE to write! (as you can probably tell by the length of my posts - LOL). So, it begs the question - why haven't I published something on Amazon? After all I've been working on a book for decades. After putting much thought into this question, what I've come to realize is this, I no longer have the optimism of youth! When I was 18 or 20 if I had completed the book and had a way to publish such as Amazon, I may have very well done it too.

I think as we get older it becomes more difficult to remain optimistic about the world. We become cynical, we've experienced repression by the powers that be. It wears on you. It can break your spirit of confidence, it stifles your dreams. Perhaps this is why the world has lost a treasure in Robin Williams. This has brought me to the point where I WILL recapture that optimism of youthfulness as we progress through this world on our upcoming journey. I love and appreciate each and every one of you who have asked for us to share this journey with you as we progress! Until next time…With Love… Soaring Eagle

For anyone who is having difficulty managing their depression or other mental health issues - and especially if you are having thoughts of harming yourself or others… PLEASE reach out and ask for help - The Statewide Crisis Number is: 1-888-568-1112.