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