Epic Trip, for a Horrible Purpose! Planned New RV turns Remorseful…

[Pullstart 67,544]

Mrs. P and I have never really 100% loved our toy hauler. It has done the trick for a good handful of years, but there were things that we missed about our first camper.  Transitioning from a 37 foot bunkhouse to a 40 foot toy hauler, seems like a no-brainer.  But when the garage takes up a good 13 feet of the toy hauler, we are left with about 27 feet of camper. We do miss having a kitchen table. Storage is lackluster. The fifth wheel halls great going down the road compared to a bumper pull trailer, we have to give it that.  But at the end of the day, we decided that it’s time to look for something different.  We brainstormed, and decided that a diesel pusher motorhome might be the perfect compromise. We can use it to camp, we can pull other transportation, or we can haul a trailer with tractors on it for the shows.  Our search began.  We kept our search radius within a couple states.  Wisconsin to Kentucky to Pennsylvania seemed to be a pretty good range.  We built a spreadsheet.  We listed all of the things that we required, we wished for, the pros and cons of each, how many people can sleep, if it needs tires, price, distance away, etc.  19 days ago, an ad pops up on a Facebook group for this RV in Reno, Nevada!  The ad was seven minutes old, and the seller’s profile kind of looked sketchy. I told Mrs. P, that I didn’t want to converse with the seller personally.  She just looked like trouble.  But if it’s something we wanted to pursue, she was more than able to contact the seller herself.  I just did not want to be associated with her sex appeal driven profile.  After some brief discussions on the phone, we decided to put a hefty deposit on the RV, and find flights!  We bought an RV!

 

 

[Pullstart 67,544]

Remember me, telling you about the spreadsheet that we made?  All the notes we took, comparing pros and cons, yeah.  That went right out the window, when we found a “good deal“!  This does have the 8.3 L Cummins engine, this does have the six speed Allison transmission.  It also has a side radiator, which improves cooling while towing.  I did not want the dead space between the back of the RV and an enclosed trailer, and hope it can cool correctly!  The interior was nothing like we had been looking for, shy of a separate pooper room!  It did not have the kitchen table or dinette.  It had no slides.  It’s amazing how much extra room those create when open!  We booked our flights, and we began getting excited for the trip!  Last weekend was our 18th wedding anniversary.  We decided this little getaway would be how we celebrate.  No anniversary gifts to speak of, just this gift to ourselves to improve our camping plans.  Now as far as current events go, Charlie Kirk was killed two weeks ago.  Knowing I was coming to town to pick the RV up, the sellers asked if it would be OK that they are not present.  They wanted to make the trip from Nevada to Arizona for the funeral service.  I did not think it would be an issue so we agreed that they would hide the title and keys somewhere on the property for us, and tell us where to find them once the remainder of the balance was paid.  Our first flight on Friday morning was from Grand Rapids to Chicago Midway.  We had a short layover, and then a flight straight to Reno.  A bird strike on the plane before it arrived in Grand Rapids set our schedule back quite a bit.  By the time they opened the doors to deplane in Chicago, they were already boarding our next flight.  We only had to sprint from one end of terminal A to the other end of terminal B!  It was a great deal that we did not have any checked bags, there is no way they would have been able to make the connection.  Touching down in Reno, we grabbed our rental car and drove to the seller‘s address.  Our excitement quickly became disappointment, remorse, and absolute disgust!

[ebinmaine 73,906]

Machinery might suck eggs but at least your trip was great...

[Mike'sHorseBarn 3,329]

 

Yikes!

[ri702bill 9,779]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

we decided to put a hefty deposit on the RV

So Kev, did the Seller skip Town with your deposit, or pi$$ it away at a Casino??

[Treepep 762]

 

 

Kinda pricey for a unique fixer upper.  Jeesh.  Sorry brother.  Enjoy your free time with your bride!  Lemonade buddy.

[pfrederi 18,839]

Sorry this happened to you.   Hope you get your money back..

 

I have used proxibid for auctions...but only those from a local auction house where I can drive over and preview all the stuff.  I am far to cheap to buy things site unseen .

[Pullstart 67,544]

1 hour ago, ri702bill said:

So Kev, did the Seller skip Town with your deposit, or pi$$ it away at a Casino??

 

12 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

Hope you get your money back..

 

They used the deposit to buy a new Porsche that was sitting in the driveway while nobody was there!  

[pfrederi 18,839]

If it were me and my money that Porsche might suddenly have some paint damage.  

[Pullstart 67,544]

So, the story gets busier!  Part of the big selling point, was that the seller told me that her husband or boyfriend or significant other or partner depending on which day she spoke with me, could get brand new 22.5 inch tires for $1500 installed!  She said that he owned an excavation business and they have all kinds of diesel trucks that take big tires.  Come to find out, working for a drain cleaning company actually means that you own your own excavation company…. When I asked her to schedule tires to be installed, She could not find any deal on five tires for less than $2500.  Why five?  Well, because one is only three years old.  There’s no reason you need to replace that one.  Ugh.  I explained to her that I thought she could get six tires for $1500, and she told me that was actually a few months ago.  I could sense that she was a pathological liar, but it didn’t really set in yet.  During our negotiations and talks about when I could get there, they offered to deliver the bus for $5000 plus return flights.  Then when I found a tire deal in Salt Lake City that was 500 miles from Reno, they offered to deliver it to Salt Lake for $2000.  Then when I found a deal on tires five minutes from their house, but it needed to be delivered before we flew in, they offered to do that for $500.  Everything costs money in that town I guess!  I ended up just telling her we would come get the bus and we would take care of tires our self.  I bought six new Toyos from discount tire, and we scheduled an appointment to get the tires installed after we picked up the bus! Once the tires arrived to that shop, they called and told me that they can’t actually install 22 1/2 inch tires, they were not certified for that!  I found another shop down the road that was certified for it and scheduled an appointment to pick up my tires from discount and drive them to Les Schwab for the installation. It’s always something!  Our $1500 tire deal turned into a $4200 fisasco, plus installation!!!!

[Mike'sHorseBarn 3,329]

You're banned from the internet for a while now Kevin 

[Pullstart 67,544]

So, let’s get to some of the good parts! The biggest part of our journey was planning the road trip! Interstate 80 runs from Reno Nevada all the way to Southern Michigan. It was quite easy to plan our route. We never really made an exact goal, but we wanted to be home in three days. 2100 miles, three days, 700 miles per day was our estimated goal. That is not including any travel on Friday. If you can recall, I recently did a trip down to Southern Kentucky and home in one day. That was 915 miles. I set myself a goal to drive 800 miles Saturday, 800 miles Sunday and have an easy drive on Monday. I think I ended up around 900 miles on Saturday. We stayed just outside of Sparks Nevada on Friday and dropped $550 at Walmart on RV, fluids, food, and fluids for us. I wanted to make sure that I had enough oil, coolant, and transmission fluid for any surprise! We drove Sparks Nevada to Laramie, Wyoming on Saturday. We made it from Laramie all the way to the Iowa 80 truckstop on Sunday. That place is huge! Monday we made it home for 2 PM and was able to pick up Rylee from school with the big turd. We saw all kinds of cool sites along the way. We saw deer, antelope, wild horses, roadkill coyotes, it was all great! The views in the mountains never get old. I feel like every single mountain. I see I can take a picture of. I love it just as much as the one before and just as much as the one after. The colors that come out of the ground, the shapes and sizes, the objects that defy gravity, it’s also so beautiful! I also realize that when it gets dark out, there is a very predominant star to the east that I can see from home. Most likely anywhere you are if you look to the east, you’ll see what I’m talking about. I followed that star from Nevada all the way home. We set up a time, lapse camera, had fun, stopping when we wanted to, enjoy a little break at Bonneville salt flats, and all kinds of other cool places along the way whenever we road trip, I try my best to get up early and get a couple hours of drive time in before the world wakes up. we’re also battling time zones. Nevada is three hours behind Michigan and it seemed like we crossed a time zone every day. So, getting up at 4 AM kind of meant that we actually only got up at 5 AM. We lost an hour every day. now, we are home. We don’t exactly know what we will end up doing with this bus. There is enough water damage, body damage, and exterior needs, that we know a big project is going to cost even more money. I also don’t want to lose all the money we’ve “invested“ into this! for not now, I plan to replace the bushings in the track bar that are so sloppy. Then, we will take a breather from it. I did walk the roof today and was kind of impressed. It’s nice to know that it’s one solid panel, not a applied barrier of vinyl or other soft material. It’s hard, solid, and serviceable.

[squonk 44,281]

The only thing you don't buy online site unseen over a RV is a house! 

[davem1111 2,212]

So... how did it drive and run? Seems mechanically sound?

 

Oh, and what is the yellow ratchet tie-down strap holding?  Surely not holding that leaf spring/shackle in place, I hope!  

[8ntruck 8,067]

  I'd guess it is holding some of the slop out of the track bar.  Probably cut down on the amount of 'wander' the bus had.

 

I'll agree that a drive through our western states is enjoyable.  Mrs. 8n and I drove from San Fransisco to the middle of Missouri this spring.  Took the I-70 route through the mountains.

[953 nut 61,288]

@Pullstart, that is one fine looking rig in spite of its shortcomings. Too bad you and Taylor couldn't has devoted more time to sightseeing. During my first "Retirement" (I was 30 and took a summer off to travel) I went from Florida to Arizona then up to Utah and east on Interstate 80 / 90 all the way to Massachusetts and New Hampshire returning to Florida before the snow flew living in a 23' travel trailer. Spent several days at national parks throughout the western states. When I was camping I would unload the Yamaha 360 dirt bike and take in the local sites. Every time I see a Ken Burns documentary about the national parks it brings back so many fond memories.

[adsm08 3,509]

Good grief Kevin! You seemed to keep your cool through all that a lot better than I would have. I may well have shot someone.

[c-series don 10,317]

@Pullstart Thanks for taking us along your journey! And thanks for helping keep Red Square interesting 🧐 

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,559]

Omg just catching up on this!! Did you have the pd run the vin numbers to make sure it is not stolen?

[Horsin'round 313]

Glad you made it home safely!

 

I can't imagine anyone more capable of rehabbing that rig, if you decide to. Patiently awaiting the video of your adventure!

[Treepep 762]

 

 

Whew.  I thought my life was crazy!  Thank you for the perspective.  Chin up always bud.  Be your best you and do not EVER let ANYONE take advantage of your kindness and patience.  

 

Continue to do the right things as you always do!

 

Glad that you are home safe and sound with your family

[Treepep 762]

 

OH and... It's really tough to beat an old power wagon!  Some day, hopefully

[Pullstart 67,544]

10 hours ago, stevebo said:

Omg just catching up on this!! Did you have the pd run the vin numbers to make sure it is not stolen?

 

I have the title.  Though the ad said “current registration” and “clear title”, it was never in the seller’s name.  The previous owner from over a year ago had signed off on the title and they just drove it.  I have already visited the DMV and the title is in my name now.  All VIN plates on the coach and frame are matching, and so is the paperwork.  

 

15 hours ago, davem1111 said:

So... how did it drive and run? Seems mechanically sound?

 

Oh, and what is the yellow ratchet tie-down strap holding?  Surely not holding that leaf spring/shackle in place, I hope!  

 

13 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

  I'd guess it is holding some of the slop out of the track bar.  Probably cut down on the amount of 'wander' the bus had.

 

I'll agree that a drive through our western states is enjoyable.  Mrs. 8n and I drove from San Fransisco to the middle of Missouri this spring.  Took the I-70 route through the mountains.

 

I’m not sure it took any slop out of the track bar, but it surely stopped the noise of it banging around!  I’m sure with a little mathin’, I could calculate how much that front end could move.  2” opening for the bushing, 7/8” diameter bolt, 1-1/8” leftover, so up to 2-1/4” the front end would move with ease.  Wild ride indeed, that’s why I kept it at 70 instead of 80 

Otherwise, it has lots of power and creature comforts.  No wiper fluid, and horrible wiper operation were a challenge.  We fueled up more often than needed because of bugs build up, and the fuel gauge didn’t seem 100% accurate and the size of fuel tank was unknown.  I guess that it’s 100 gallons minimum, which should yield 750 miles of safe driving before a stop is needed.  We went 500-600 miles between fuel stops.  The most we pumped was 73 gallons at a time.

 

[Pullstart 67,544]

 

[953 nut 61,288]

Kevin,   it occurs to me that the pendulum has swung about as far as possible in a few short months. When you bought the gooseneck trailer you were going to mount a pop-up camper body on the upper deck and rough it.         Now you have gone to a mansion on wheels.