Here we are 5000 miles and 3 months into our trip around the west, and we knew we were going to have to get a diesel RV. Trying to pull those inclines, and even dealing with the declines, through Montana and Washington, we knew a stronger RV was in our future. We just figured we would deal with it when we got home. Since that thought was in Bob’s head, he starts to do his research on what we wanted. We loved our current RV, so we were going to be pretty picky. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we were going to find the perfect coach so soon.
We pulled into Gig Harbor Washington and Bob had found a coach he wanted to see and it happened to be in Portland OR, just a short 3 hour drive. We actually found 3 for consideration, two in Portland, and one that had the floorplan that I liked in San Diego. We knew we couldn’t get there so we settled on Portland OR. We had just a couple of days in Gig Harbor so we toured town one day and took a road trip in the RV on the other day. When your home is the RV, you have to take it, and everything in it, to look at the new one. You certainly don’t pack things up because if you don’t like the new RV, or the deal goes south, you haven’t spent time packing things up unnecessarily.
We left early on August 22nd and headed to Portland. When we got there we were surprised to find out that it’s actually a very small, one man owned, RV lot. He had the two we were considering so we checked them both out. The one we
settled on, and fell in love with, is a 2006 Holiday Rambler Endeavor with 27k miles on it. It has a Cummins Diesel 400 HP engine that was barely used and isn’t even broken in yet. The interior was in great shape. It had all silver handles, faucets, and light fixtures, which I love and never thought I would find. Everything in RV’s is gold, especially in the old ones. The previous owner labeled everything and had lists and instructions everywhere. We test drove it, settled on a price and a trade-in, and the deal was done. We spent the rest of the day unloading one RV and loading another. I focused on the inside while Bob focused on the underneath. It was quite a job. Had no idea I had so much stuff in the old RV!!!! I think we finished up just before dark and headed back to Gig Harbor. Our neighbors, who happened to be from Dripping Springs, were surprised when they woke up the next morning to find we had a new RV.
It has ended up being the best thing we ever did. It’s taller, wider, and over all bigger. The concussions have gone way down since we don’t bang our heads on the cabinets. I have a work space that stays put together all the time, when before I was dragging my monitor out every time I wanted to use it, and then it took up the dining table so we couldn’t use it for anything else. The kitchen has more work space, cabinets are bigger and deeper, we have two bathroom sinks, and it’s just all around more comfortable. We can see ourselves living in this for a while and traveling in style.
Click on our picture in front of the coach for a video of the inside! When finished, just hit the back arrow button in the top left and that will take you back to the website. Thanks for watching!!
