Flying out tomorrow. Do you remember picking up your Rig?

13 years ago I flew to LA from GA on a one way ticket to buy my almost new Dynasty. Went to a grocery store for some food and parked the right side on a line so I could put a small black arrow in the bottom of the windshield for the edge of the road location. It is easy to oversteer a long wheelbase vehicle and looking further out than normal helps. On a windy day I still have to remember to give steering inputs a little more time to take affect.

The next morning I had to call the seller to find out how to turn the Jake Brake on...it's turned on by a left foot switch which I really like as it lets you coast without it coming on when you take your foot off the go (not gas) pedal.

Of the small amount of tools I took, only air pressure gauge and the IR temp gun got used. The IR to check the tire/brakes/wheel bearings temps and the beer. 2200 miles and 36 hours later I knew I'd made a good choice in what to buy. 13 years and 80K miles later I still love driving it and hope to be able to use it for another 13+ years.

I bought my first class A last year from a private party in Florida, I flew down there from Louisiana and drove it back home over the next few days (a bit over 1,000 miles). The lessons I learned from this are to take your time, get to know the vehicle, and take time to rest.

Most of the issues I had were a result of not following the above suggestions, I left my house at 2 amp to drive to the local airport (70 miles away), got on a plane before sunrise (changing planes in Atlanta, then flying into Orlando). The seller picked me up at the airport in Orlando, and drove me to his house where the motorhome was parked about an hours drive away, at this point it was nearly 3 pm local time, I had been up for 12-13 hours, running on little sleep, etc. So as you might imagine, I was not in the mood to do as detailed of an inspection as I probably should have, I just wanted to get the transaction over and get to a place to spend the night. Thankfully this did not come back to bite me. After getting done with the paperwork, and orientation from the seller , I made a quick stop at the local Wal-Mart for essential supplies for the night (sheet, pillow, sandwich fixings) and headed towards my intended first nights stop. Here is where I begin to find issues that will be annoyances on the drive home, there were 3 of them that I discovered that first day: The backup camera lens had moisture in it so was useless, the passenger side window mount was loose so it shook going down the road to the point of being useless, and the headlight hi/low beam switch was stuck on low beam. These 3 things caused repeated annoyances for the rest of the drive home, but I made it ok, I just wish I had been able to take the little bit of time to address them before I started the long drive home.

I was just starting to look for a used RV to start Snowbirding. I was looking to start out with a 24 ft Class. Couldn't find one so I put that project on a back burner.

Fast forward months later, I went to go look at a show horse that was for sale. Pulled in the driveway and there sat a 32 ft RV for sale!

Didn't buy the horse but found myself the proud owner of their 31 ft MH.

I picked it up the next day and went to the gas station to fill up. Got out and started walking, and walking, and walking, which seemed like forever, to get to the back of the MH......I thought OMG what have I done? To me this behemoth was huge. I nick named her the Queen Mary right then and there.

With what I know now, looking back at that first fueling?

I thank God that the exit from those pumps was a straight shot out or I would have surely knocked them clean over with the rear end of the MH. :W

I'll never forget the excitement when picking up our newly ordered 2008 Dynasty. We ordered it in January 2007 at Giant RV in Palm Desert, CA, with delivery in April 2007. The excitement of our first motorhome was like waking up on Christmas morning.

Back home in TN, we rented a Chevrolet Cobalt to drive from TN to AR to pick up a new 2007 Honda CR-V. They were the only dealer in a 300 mile radius that had the color and options that I wanted (the newly designed Honda CR-V was just coming out). We then drove to the house in California to stock up the Honda so we could load up the new Dynasty in Oregon.

We toured the California and Oregon coast working our way to Coburg, OR. Our salesman from California met us at the factory as we chose a 'factory delivery' ($1,200 option). We had a tech show us everything on the coach for two full days (8 hrs. each day). During the PDI, they found a few things that needed adjustment (air horn not working and hydraulic levelers would extend all the way taking the whole coach off of the ground). All fixed.

The Dynasty had 75 miles on the odometer. I always love that new car/coach smell !

After our two days of PDI, I took the Honda to a hitch shop in Coburg that Monaco used to have the Blue Ox base plate and the M & G supplemental braking installed.

We were then ready to start the adventure. Good memories!

Safe travels,
MM.

Ocean, did you and the seller come to terms with the maintenance items?

MM.

We made a deal on a MH at the Oklahoma City Camping World, then drove there from Iowa to inspect and complete the deal. We arrived at 11am and made the deal and signed papers by 1:30pm. That part was fine.

Then we sat for 5 hours in the showroom awaiting our PDI. They closed at 5pm, we were still waiting. Finally we did the very fast PDI in the dark (it was December), then moved our personal stuff from the old MH to the new MH. At 7:30 they pulled in the full wall slide on the new MH, and gallons of water appeared inside. I was told this was caused by just "washing the RV."

At that point we had no where to go, so we were offered cryptic directions to a local CG in a city I didn't know, and had only driven a DP 20 miles (test drive). We drove it home the next day, then spent 4 months fighting with Camping World to repair issues that couldn't be checked during the PDI (it was winterized) and the slide seals. Now we have a nice DP that we enjoy, but not sure I would do that again with Camping World, or over long distance.

BTW, this was our 2nd MH purchase with CW, and the first was really bad too as far as warranty work also, with over 40 items on the repair list.

Purchased ours in Florida without a single service record. Camped about 2 hours away from each were purchased on the beach then left for home to Ct. and taking it on a week vacation along the way.
Put about 2000 miles on it before reaching home without a single issue.

Wow! Those are some interesting and fun stories... Its funny how we remember picking up our coach and all the things that tease the senses...

I think it's kinda like our caveman instinct to acquire shelter and protection.

To answer your question...When i approached the seller to ask him to pay for half, he wouldn't speak to me for a full day. When I did talk to him, he said the Redmond boys were full of Ka-Ka-poo, and they didn't know what they were talking about.

so long story short, we are flying on Friday, oops got my days mixed up in all the excitement...lol I thought tomorrow was Friday... and we will see. I plan on driving an Executive home, but the Fat lady hasn't sang yet...? oops I want to be politically correct, The fat person... :p

The first thing to go is your memory. What was the 2nd?

Well I tried to buy the coach in the sig 15mins from the house at Camping World, and they absolutely refused to budge from their "one low price" . I called several times and they finally refused to even talk to me. So I found the exact same coach in Marysville, Wa., north of Seattle $35,000 cheaper than CWs "One Low Price", bought a ticket for me and a friend and off we went. It was a completely smooth sale, PDI was perfect, and we had a great time on the road heading home. Too bad CW..

FWIW- Your anxiety attack will soon wear off so hang in. It'll start about the time you pull out the check :)