We are south of Macon Georgia and on schedule

We left at 5:45 this morning.  The main reason we left so early is little Miss Sydney does not like storms and she woke me up when it started to thunder and lighting at around 11:00 pm. Tuesday night.  I was up the entire night.  She is far worse than either of our kids. I got us through Indy then Huli took over and got us below Nashville, Tn.  I took over after Nashville and drove until we made our final destination of somewhere south of Macon, Georgia.  We saw some major wrecks today and drove the entire trip in rain.  We later learned via the internet that some of the wrecks we came upon resulted in fatalities which we suspected but still really sucks.  Between Atlanta and Macon we saw damage that resulted from either a tornado or a semi running off the road into the tree tops. 

Today while traveling we conducted some business on extended warranties from other providers.  The price on these were much less than Lazy Days quoted which I expected.  The Lazy Days quote was $7100 for four years or 48,000 miles.  The one today that we learned about through Howard and Linda's  RV Dreamer web site was $3700 for three years and $4100 for four years or 48,000 miles.  We are leaning toward no warranty except for a roadside warranty that runs about $500 for five years.  I spoke to Marcus at Lazy Days today and I can tell they are getting tapped out on our requests/demands for fixes and repairs.  Now it seems each time I mention a repair or replacement item they bring up money unless the item is not working.  I also learned they only replaced six batteries and not eight has I has hoped.  The two on the chassis were ok and not replaced.  It appears to me that they have a budget for repairs on each unit they take in on trade and we have reached or exceeded this amount.  The sales person and the delivery people are both pushing back on any suggestion of another repair or replacement.  So far we have gotten eight new Michelin tires about $5k. six new batteries $900, a new valve for the Aqua Hot, ?$$,  and four days worth of body and paint shop work to repair a five foot scratch, and I am still working on the other two chassis batteries that were not replaced.  Lazy Days also heard we were hiring a PDI company for the inspection and that didn't make them happy.  Today I mentioned getting some help on installing the brake on my truck so it could be towed and they immediately brought up that they weren't sure what the rates for that were but it could be done.  I told them we can't leave the lot unless my 2500 hd truck is being towed.

It also seems we are no longer being treated as the hicks from Indiana in the business office.  They ask us how we were going to pay for the motorhome and I said I am not sure yet and ask what the financing rates were.  I then said neither of us work nor draws social security so who knows if we could get approved if we needed a loan.  The business manager called us back with the rates Monday saying we were approved and basically accused us of blowing smoke up his ass.  I told him we are just simple people from the Hoosier state and any judgements formed were done by him.  I have a feeling this motorhome is going to end up being the money pit that was in a movie but we are probably still going to get it.  I will learn what I can and do the maintenance on what I feel comfortable with.  I am going to advertise for a retired motorhome tech who wants to work teaching me what I need to know to do the maintenance myself.  If you know of someone like this around the Warsaw area have him contact me at jdjlmiller1971@gmail.com    We can drink a few shots of Jose along with a few beers and do a little maintenance on the Aqua Hot. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Jack

The Clampetts are ready for their trip back to Florida

Hello Everyone,

We have everything loaded up in the truck and the tarp is tied down and will be leaving in the morning for our trip back to Florida.  We brought back furniture we bought for the 5th wheel and will return with the stock furniture that came with the unit.  The motorhome we are interested in is in the body shop having the scratch repaired.  In addition Lazy Days and Cummins has been going through all of the systems to insure things work the way they are suppose to.  We insisted that all of the batteries be replaced since they are over five years old.  It now has eight new batteries.  The aqua hot system now gets to 130 degrees as it should.  We still have not committed to buying this unit.  My impression of the motorhome, which I shared with Lazy Days, is it was purchased by someone who has a lot of money and used it until it started to require service and then traded it in.  While it appears the engine and generator have been properly maintained I have my doubts about other systems receiving the attention they should have.  I have formed this opinion by my own personal inspection, with my limited knowledge and research, and by talking to the original owner.  Whether or not this potential neglect compromised these systems permanently is what we need to determine.  We will be back to inspect the unit again with motorhome PDI experts we have hired probably next week.  In the meantime I have looked into extended warranties which cost over $7k for four years or 48k miles.  I haven't decided on the warranty because it seems people spend more time dealing with the warranty companies when repairs are needed than they do with actually getting the repairs done. This would drive me nuts.   I fully understand that the motorhome will require much more maintenance and possible repair than our fifth wheel but it also provides many more conveniences than our fifth wheel.  The additional room is unreal.  The added conveniences like the washer and dryer, dish washer, aqua hot system with it's endless hot water will be a welcome change from the 5th wheel. The overall comfort level provided by the motorhome is much greater than the fifth wheel.  People ask why make the change now.  I say if we don't do it now we never will. We looked at houses but really never found anything we liked and then realized we like being able to go where we want and to bring our house with us.  I am also at a stage of my life where I need another project/hobby and the motorhome will be my new project. (Yes,  I still trade but not alot and don't  enjoy it like I did when I was younger.  Now I do it to make money not because I enjoy the thrill of it like I used to.  In fact, I made several buy/sell swing trades while we were stuck in the six hour traffic jam last week).  The fifth wheel has not needed a repair or an upgrade in several months so I need something to tinker with.   I have been researching engines and systems on this Allegro Bus and plan on doing as much of the maintenance myself as I can.  I have already learned of a couple of  modifications I will make to the unit and the Cummins 425hp ISL engine to make future maintenance more convenient.  If we don't buy this unit we plan to search out another unit in Florida or elsewhere when we leave the Okeechobee KOA on March 29th.  I really like Tiffins and while they are sold all over the U.S. having produced the most popular motorhome (the Phaeton)  for several years they still seem to be more prevalent in the south.  I believe this is partly due to them being produced in Alabama.  My guess is we will know which way we are going next week.

I better go to bed since I want to make it south of Atlanta tomorrow.  Hopefully we will not be stuck in another six and one half hour traffic jam as we were coming back to Indiana last week.  I spoke to a friend from Okeechobee today and I told him I will be playing golf with him Friday morning.

Jack

Have you ever been in a 6.5 hour traffic jam?

We left Okeechobee, Florida on Thursday morning and drove around 14 hours stopping at Bowling Green, Kentucky for the night.  We were feeling good about getting two thirds of the way home on the first day and thought the balance of the trip would take about seven hours.  Well we were wrong.  We woke up Friday to everything being covered with about one quarter inch of ice.  We left the hotel at about 9:00 am heading north on I65.  We drove about one half hour before being stuck in a three lane traffic jam extending north as far as you could see.  We sat roughly in that same spot for the next six and one half hours.  We could have been home by the time the wrecks were cleared up and the traffic started moving again.  We have never been involved in anything like that before.  Once we got moving again we saw buses and trucks off the road and car parts all along the sides of the highway.  We ended up getting home at 10:00 pm or so that night.  Our plan is to leave Warsaw to head back south on Wednesday next week.   We will return with the original furniture that was purchased with the 5th wheel along with the title to the fifth wheel.  In the meantime the motorhome we are interested in is being inspected.  Yesterday eight new batteries were installed as well as maintenance performed on the Aqua Hot system.  One good thing about sitting in a traffic jam for six hours is we talked through some of our concerns about how complex the motorhome is and how little we know about the systems etc. in the motorhome.  We choose Tiffin due to the excellent reputation they have in building quality products and their reputation for standing behind the motorhomes they sell.  In any event we still had several concerns about our lack of knowledge regarding motorhomes since we have never owned one.  While sitting in the traffic jam we then contacted a firm in Tampa that specializes in doing Pre Delivery Inspections (PDI's) on motorhomes.  They have personnel that are certified in all of the systems on the motorhome and they will represent us in checking out all of these systems to insure they are in good working order before we take possession of the motorhome.  We have contracted their services to perform our PDI with us.   We also plan on staying two to three days at  the Lazy Days campground in the motorhome to try out all of the features to make sure they work and we are more familiar with them. 

Coming back to Indiana in January reinforces our decision to go south for the winter.  The cold weather sucks.

Jack

Todays Motorhome Inspection

Today we went back to Tampa to inspect a motorhome that we liked last week when we were there but it was already sold.  On Saturday we heard the would be buyer backed out on this purchase so we went back today to inspect it as a potential buyer.  Overall the motorhome is in great shape even though it is a 2008 with 26,000 miles.  Getting one five years old has several advantages.  The biggest plus for me is that the original owner paid more than double five years ago than we will pay now.   Even though the 26,000 miles hasn't even totally broken the engine in yet according to some experts in diesel engines.  Being produced prior to 2010 means it doesn't have to meet certain EPA standards that took effect Jan. 1, 2010 requiring much more sophisticated systems like the addition of adding urea (glorified cow pee) to a tank to make sure the engine burns clean.  Somehow the ammonia in the urea scrubs the nitrogen oxide in the exhaust to clean it.  So while this 2008 seems complicated enough to me right now it apparently could be even worse.

This motorhome has pretty much everything we want with a king size bed, residential refrigerator,  dinette, in motion satellite tv, tile floor, aqua hot heat and washer and dryer.  The motorhome was parked between two other motorhomes so I didn't take any pictures of the outside.  The outside is great except I did notice a scratch about 5 feet long on the passenger side in front of the back wheels on the lower portion of two door panels.  Today they scheduled to get it into the body shop to fix this scratch.  It's not a dent but more of a scratch so as long as the paint matches up it shouldn't be hard to fix.  Since we were not hooked up to 110 power not all of the systems were available to be checked out.  I am a little concerned about the six batteries since my fear is they are original but could not tell since the date tag was not punched out on the batteries.  The sales person said the "coach" as they call it has not been through their receiving process yet since it just came in a week ago.  They would go through it and clean everything and make sure everything is working properly before we would do our predelivery inspection.  At that time we would go through every system with a specialist and he/she would explain how to use everything and how it works.  They want us to plan to stay over night at that time in their campground adjacent to the sales and service area so we could "play" with things.  The next day we would both go through a class room and actual motorhome driving course.  We would also have more time to ask any remaining questions about how things work.  Then we would make the final decision.  The driving course is appealing to me even though I have driven big trucks I have never driven a motorhome and it is huge.  I think we should have started with a 30 footer then graduated to a 36 footer then to this 42 footer.  Pulling our swivel wheel trailer behind the 5th wheel we are over 60 feet but it seems different at least while sitting behind the wheel of the motorhome while it was parked.  I will let you know when and if we get it and I have driven it

I told Huli that I just now seem to have all of the bugs worked out of the 5th wheel and everything is working great and now we are going to increase the complexity of things exponentially.  The motorhome has many things I know nothing about.  For example, it has six air bags for raising and lowering the suspension, it has a diesel or 110v fired aqua hot system that heats water for the bathing, provides heat to the motor home through pipes in the floor and also preheats the 425hp diesel engine when it's cold.  It has rear and side cameras, solar panels, three roof air conditioners with heat pumps, two engine brakes and a 10,000 watt diesel generator.  I think I may look into extended warranties at least for a year or two until I have a better understanding of this thing.  The fluids and filters on the engine and generator will all be changed before we take delivery.  Oh yea, did I mention a typical oil and filter change on this runs $300 to $350 on average.  It takes like 26 quarts of oil but it doesn't require changing as often as a gas engine.  You need the diesel engine to move the 54,000 lb. max gross weight down the road and more importantly up the hills.

Our sales person would like to close the deal by month end but Lazy Days is really busy.  At the Tampa rv show the last four days they sold 550 new rv units.  Before we finally agree to buy the unit I have to be convinced that everything works and the body is fixed correctly.  They agree and have not forced us to sign one piece of paper at this point.  They even called the prior owner today while we were there and ask for his permission for us to contact him directly which we plan to do this week.

Oh well we will see.  Below are some of the interior pictures we took today.  Here you go Gabe.

 

 

PS I forgot to take any of the toilet and the sink that is behind the door next to the washer and dryer.

Never made it to the Tampa RV Show

Last Thursday we headed to Tampa to visit Lazy Days and the Tampa RV show at the Florida State fairgrounds.  Well when we left Okeechobee it was around 70-75 degrees but when we got to Tampa it was 60 degrees and falling and raining.  We stopped at Lazy Days to meet the sales rep we have been working with over the telephone and through emails.  She showed us around Lazy Days.  I never realized it was as big as it was.  I learned from talking to a Sales Manager that they will sell 800 units per month in the next three to four months and then around 300 per month the rest of the year.  To me I think of a big auto or rv dealership as having 20-30 sales people and 10-20 service bays for repair work.  Well Lazy Days has over 100 sales people and over 250 service bays.  They have 38 service bays dedicated to the high end motorhomes or what they call their crown club.  They even have a campground for customers to stay at while their rv is being repaired.

Janet and I looked at several motorhomes even though it was raining.  We knew what brands we wanted to look at so we tried to limit our search to Tiffin and Newmar.  While Lazy Days doesn't sell Newmar they still had used ones for sale.  They sell new Tiffin motorhomes so they had more of these used on the lot for sale.  While we liked many of the ones we looked at only one really met all of our requirements and it was sold.  We wanted a 40-45 foot unit with king size bed, dinette, residential refrigerator, tile floor in the living room and bathroom, and with a particular floor plan.  There are some other system features I wanted that Huli doesn't know anything about like Aqua Hot , diesel generator, and fiber glass roof etc. etc.  All of the others had other floor plans or had carpeted living areas or queen sized beds.  These were immediately crossed off the list.  We spent around 2-3 hours looking at motorhomes, touring the facilities, and talking to our sales person about specifically what we wanted.  We never made it to the Tampa RV show but that was ok since we know we didn't want to buy a new unit.  The difference between new and one 5 years old is incredible and the used one may only have 25k miles and low hours on other systems like the generator etc.  Many motorhomes are purchased but spend most of their lives just sitting idle.

Saturday we got a call and the unit that was sold is now available since the would be buyer apparently bought a new unit at the Tampa RV show.  So the 2008 Tiffin Allegro Bus is now on hold for us (after we put down a minimal refundable deposit).  We are headed back to Tampa on Monday to go over the unit with a fine tooth comb.  If that goes well and we don't find anything wrong then we will be heading back to Indiana to swap out the furniture we currently use for the furniture that came with our 5th wheel.  In addition, we will return the motorcycle and the swivel wheeled trailer.  On the return trip to Florida we will bring back a recliner and a table and four chairs to put in the 5r.  We may look like the Beverly Hillbillies again hauling this stuff in the truck with a big blue tarp over it but who gives a shit. 

House search was a bust

We went to Dunedin, Florida to look at a couple of houses last week but were very disappointed.  The two houses were dumps.  The neighborhoods weren't great and we would not want to consider buying either property.  We also visited the Blue Moon Motel and RV Park that is in Dunedin while we were there.  The town is great but does not have any newer homes since the town was "built out" many years ago.  We have been giving buying versus traveling like we are doing now a lot of thought. We really enjoy the park we are in now.  I play golf in the morning then we have a little lunch ride bikes and then hit the pool and hot tub in the afternoon.  The park is awesome and we don't leave it that often except when biking, going to the grocery store, or to Port St Lucy to go shopping.  The town of Okeechobee sucks but Port St Lucy is about one half hour or so away over on the Atlantic coast.   We like Dunedin too but could live there for as many months as we want by staying at the rv park.  Then if we get tired of where we are at you move on the next year.   If we thought our kids could use the house more than a week or so a year we might go that route but today we are leaning another direction.

We are now considering buying a big diesel pusher motor home rather than a house.  The two models we are considering are Newmar and Tiffin.  Newmar's are made in Nappanee, Indiana while Tiffin's are made in Red Bay, Alabama.  We would like to get something 40 feet or longer and would prefer a 45 footer.  Must haves include a king size bed as opposed to the queen we now have.  Two dogs, Janet,  and my big ass don't do well in a queen size bed.  We prefer tile in the living room versus carpet. We want a washer and dryer, dish washer, a residential side by side refrigerator would be nice but not a must have.  Other things we want are satellite tv while traveling, side and rear view cameras.  A 450 to 500hp engine with three or four slides.  I have a sales person looking for our unit at Lazy Days RV in Tampa, Florida and we are going to the Tampa RV show this Thursday. Lazy Days is probably the highest volume rv dealer in the country with locations in Tampa and Tucson.  I would prefer a used motor home built prior to 2010 before the latest emission standards kicked in for motor homes. I like the Spartan chassis over Freightliner.   I would consider something up to 10 years old if it had low miles and had the other features we were looking for.  Our current strategy is to buy the highest end, low mile unit we can that meets all our needs rather than a mid to lower level unit that may be newer that is the same price.  In the Newmar brand we are looking at Dutch Star, Mountain Aire, and Essex.  We looked at a 45 foot Essex in Warsaw before we left that is a 2004 500hp with 25k miles.  Other than having a light carpet that we don't like the unit is very nice and like new.  This is a $500K unit when it was purchased new in 2004. Today a new unit like this sells for $725k.   We talked to the owner and the unit is still for sale and the owner is in Florida until April.  Motor homes even more so than cars depreciate very quickly in the first five years.  This is why we don't want a new one. If we go the Tiffin route we are looking at Phaeton or the Allegro Bus. God willing we think we have at least ten years we could travel in the motor home so we want something that we will be very comfortable that will last these ten years. I have looked at motor homes for the last fifteen years and consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about what is available.  Before we bought our fifth wheel we considered motor homes so I did a lot of research back then.


A motor home would make going west more comfortable for Janet and the two dogs.  We will keep you posted how it goes.

Pictures I could not post earlier

Here are the pictures I wanted to upload a couple of days ago but the Google Blogger was screwed up and it wouldn't let me.   It appears the problem is only with the Blogger and Internet Explorer so I am now using Google Chrome with the blog.  It actually seems to work a little better anyway. I will post explanations next to the pictures where needed.

This is what the rim looks like that runs around the lake.  You wouldn't know this huge lake exists just on the other side of that little hill.

Our little friend again

The bike or walking trail on top of the rim.

This is a look at the lake which has grass on the perimeter 

This is what a lot of Florida looks like around here.  Fields with cows 

Around the lake is a "ditch" which can carry boats parked at houses and rv parks to the lake

He must have been following me waiting for me to drop as I rode my bike on the rim.  

Another frequent site is truck loads of oranges 

This is an over pass to cross from one side of the highway to the other but it's not for people but for cows.

This alligator was swimming  in the ditch around the rim

This area is known for the variety of birds that inhabit the area

This snake was in the vacant lot next to our 5er at the rv park.  I haven't researched it yet to see what kind of snake it is but I assume they are all poisonous and I don't like to mess with them.

Our new friend and the big O

Hello everyone,

Well we are getting settled into our new home in Okeechobee, Florida.  We have a new friend that greets us at our back window every morning.  Our new friends picture is listed below.  The park and the activities within the park are very nice but outside the park leaves a lot to be desired.  I believe we were spoiled by Gulf Shores with so many restaurants and shopping locations existing in a fairly short distance.  In Okeechobee we have not found any restaurants we would like to eat at yet but we are still looking.  The town seems more like it should be in the middle of Kansas instead of Florida.  All you see just outside of town are fields full of cows.  There is even a rodeo just north of town.  We will have to check that out one of these days.  A guy I golfed with this week said Florida is the number one beef producer in the United States.  In the week since we have been here I have played golf five times.  We rented a golf cart for three months so after paying a trail fee at the golf course I can use the golf cart when I play.  I also purchased a three month golf membership.  Every morning at 8:30 I show up at a picnic shelter where about 30-40 other golfers show up and get grouped into foursomes.  Every day you are playing with three new people which takes a little getting used to but you get to meet a lot of people this way.  The nine hole round goes by fairly quickly since each person is driving their own cart.  We also take the golf cart around the camp ground, to the pools, to the bar that is on site. PS. the dogs love to ride in the golf cart.

This campground ( I use that term loosely) has about 600 sites for motor homes, fifth wheels and travel trailers.  Probably about 550 of these sites are for long term people like us while the rest are for day use.  There are some open spots within the campground that I have been told wasn't the case 10 years ago when you had to get on a waiting list to get in .  The other side of the park is called the permanent side which consists of park model trailers that have skirting around them.  I have talked to a couple of people who own them and one said his measures 34 by 34 feet.  The palm trees and flowers and shrubs around these make them look really nice.  I would guess there are 200 or more of these units.   Most people in the park go somewhere else in the summer but a few I have talked to stay year round.  I have talked to people from all of the mid western states and many from Canada.  The people across the street are from Manitoba Canada which is north of North Dakota.  They travel 2300 miles every year to get here.  It's surprising to me to hear how many years people have been coming back here to this RV park.  One person today told me he has been here for the last 20 winters and he is also from Canada.

Today I took a bike ride on the rim or the dike or the levy depending on what you want to call a mound of dirt probably 50 feet high and one hundred feet wide that runs 110 miles around a lake.  If you ever traveled to this area to see Lake Okeechobee you would be really disappointed since you can't see the lake from the road surrounding the lake.  Also around the levy that surrounds the lake you have a ditch (that's what I have heard people call it here)  that surrounds the levy.  This "ditch" is large enough to handle boats.  We aren't exactly sure how they get the boats from the ditch to the lake but it must  be some kind of lock type system.  I hope this will make a little more sense to you after you look at the pictures below.

Tomorrow we are going to Dunedin to check out a couple of houses and to get more acquainted with the little town in Florida that we fell in love with.

 





 

Sorry but the Google Blogger won't let me post pictures tonight for some reason.  I will post as soon as I can figure out what is going on.



 

 



First Pictures from Okeechobee

Happy New Year Everyone,

Today is our third day here in Okeechobee, Florida in the KOA campground and I will give you my first impressions.  As expected the sites are much closer than what we left in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  That would be true no matter where we went but especially true heading to Florida which is known for small sites.  The park is very attractive but I may be prejudice since I absolutely love palm trees and they have planted palm trees everywhere.  The town, at least the part we have seen so far,  is a little run down and appears it has seen better times.  There are only a few restaurants but what the heck West Palm Beach, Florida is only about 70 miles away if we want to try something else.  Walmart is conveniently located only two miles down the road which we easily road to today on our bikes.

We got our golf cart delivered yesterday so we can ride around the park to various activities and I can use it to play golf. Today I got my three month golf membership and played my first round of golf. Huli is excited to get me out on the golf course to give her more time so she can do her own thing. I played my first round today with my friend Mike Renfrom who we met at Gulf State Park and who talked us into coming here. The course was nice and I played fairly well shooting a 39. The nice thing for me with Florida golf courses is they seem to be a little shorter than what I am used to in Indiana. So far on my first round I was able to keep my ball in the tighter fairways so I have been able to score fairly well. I think I will enjoy playing here for the next three months. I start playing organized golf tomorrow morning. I usually play better after not playing for a while so well see how it goes.

They have a lot of entertainment and other things to do we are just now learning about. Huli has already seen some shows and singing groups coming to the park that she would like to see. So as of our third day we really like what we see. We hope to explore more around the town and area outside the park once we get more acquainted with the park. Here are some pictures.