First Look

We went to the dealer today and did our walk through and demo of the trailer.  We signed all the financing paperwork but are still awaiting the final decision.  At this point we do not anticipate any problems based on the word back from the loan company rep regarding our unique situation.  We did not take the trailer home as they still have to do some things to it plus they want to confirm loan funding before they release (makes sense). 

But, we did take some pictures to share with you.

To start with, here is the floor plan from the Jayco brochure.  We went with the queen bed option.

Here are two pictures of the outside of the trailer, left and right side.  Sorry, the trailer was in the service bay so the pictures were taken somewhat close to the trailer.

Here is the huge storage area.

Here is the living room.  You are looking towards the back of the trailer.  The TV (40”) is on a motorized lift and can disappear into the cabinet.  The couch has a full size air bed built into it.  Off to the left are two rocker recliners and a dining table with 4 chairs.

This is the kitchen, which is in the middle of the trailer.  The drawers you see facing you at the end of the cabinet turns into a counter extension as the whole drawer slides forward to give you another 3 feet of counter.

From the kitchen picture you see the steps on the right which lead up to the bathroom and bedroom.  Here is the bedroom.

It was hard to get the entire bedroom in the picture.  The glass doors are the closet and off the right and out of the picture is a cabinet from wall to ceiling with drawers and a cabinet where a TV can be placed in the door.  At the foot of the bed on the wall is a dresser with hamper.  The entire bed lifts up for storage underneath it and includes a built in floor safe.

The bathroom can be entered from the bedroom or the hallway.  This picture shows the shower only as seen from the bedroom.

Some neat amenities we added were a key fob that allows you to remotely open and close the slideouts, the jacks and the awning.  We also added a 5500 watt generator, which is in an outside cabinet upfront and we added a pull out cargo tray/bike rack which slides out from the rear of the trailer.  We also got two A/C units, one in the living room and one in the bedroom.  The trailer is set up for a washer/dryer in the bedroom (it would replace the cabinet on the closet wall) but we decided against that option as we did not want to give up the storage space.

Problems????

It seemed as everything was going smoothly.  We were called that the trailer was done and we set up a time, this Friday, to do our paperwork and walk through/demo of the trailer and then take it home.  NOT SO FAST!

The dealer finance person contacted us to discuss the financing arrangements.  He had just noticed that our file indicated we were planning on being full time RV’ers and all his lending sources would not lend to full timers.  The issue now arose that we could not use our South Dakota mail forwarding address as that is not a residence and the bank wanted a permanent address for us.  Fortunately our house has not sold yet so we are able to indicate we are not full timers yet and do own a residence.  OK, that sounds good, but now the trailer has to be registered in Illinois meaning double the sales tax plus our licenses are no longer in this state.  First option discussed was getting Illinois licenses for both of us, meaning the trip to South Dakota was for nothing and we would have to go back later to do it all again.  We were not anxious to go that route figuring there may be an issue with changing states so often in a short period of time.  Second option was to see if the lender had an issue with us having South Dakota licenses but living in Illinois and registering the vehicle in Illinois.  The dealer contacted the lender and they asked for verification that we live in Illinois (utility bills, mortgage statement) and we should be OK. 

The dealer then requested we move up, to today, our coming in to sign the papers and do our walk through so that he can get the paperwork to the lender to see if it will fly.  Meanwhile we will most likely not be taking the trailer home today as we await funding approval.

So, lessons learned for full timers.  Either pay cash for your rig or buy it when you still have a permanent address. 

Wish us luck!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

In preparation for the arrival of our new fifth wheel (scheduled for 10/26) I thought I would go back and show our camping life progression since Fran and I were married in 1979.  Our first purchase was a tent with assorted camping gear.  It is amazing but I can remember so much of this over 30 years later.  The purchase was made from my first bonus I ever received working for the government, a whopping $250!  Here is a picture of the tent.

We used this tent for almost ten years to do all our camping.  This included camping with two of the girls when they were babies. 















In 1990 we decided to get a pop-up tent trailer to handle the larger family and give us more comfort.  At that time pop-ups did not come with all the amenities you can get now.  It had a sink and stove along with two large beds on either side with a dinette table.  No refrigerator, no microwave, no heater.  It served us well and we really enjoyed using it.  We took it on many weekend trips along with a long trip from California to Kansas City and then we used it when we moved from California to Naperville. 

In California we were able to store the trailer on the side of our house.  We were not so lucky when we moved to Naperville and ended up storing it at a storage lot where field mice decided to use it when we did not.  It was an interesting sight to bring the trailer home to prepare for a weekend trip only to open it up and see the curtains and tent fabric with holes in them along with the wiring being eaten and to find baby mice inside.



We decided to trade the trailer in and move up to a full size trailer with a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.  All the comforts of home.  We ended up buying a slightly used Jayco trailer. This trailer served us well but became a little impractical as the girls got older.  

We decided on another Jayco trailer, this time a new one and it had bunk beds along with a sofa.  This gave us better sleeping arrangements and additional comfort inside. 

This ended up being our last trailer for a few years.  As the girls got older and had many outside activities we found less and less time to be able to go out with the trailer.  We decided to sell the trailer and not do the RV thing for a few years.  So for around 6 or 7 years we were without a trailer.   As I was getting ready to retire we decided to go ahead and get another trailer so just the two of us could go out for long weekends.  At the time I had a Ford Ranger pick-up and did not want to buy a larger vehicle to tow a trailer so I started looking for trailers that were light enough to be pulled by the truck.  I found a hybrid trailer at a local dealer.  This is a trailer where the beds pop out of the trailer and are enclosed by canvas like a tent trailer, but the rest of the trailer is hard sided.  It has a bathroom and full kitchen.  We bought this trailer in December of 2006.

This trailer was functional but was a little cramped.  The problem we quickly found out was that the Ford Ranger could not adequately pull this trailer, so a larger pickup needed to be bought.  Once that decision was made then the point of buying this hybrid came into question as it was not very comfortable.  Sooooo, next trailer..............................................

Now we are talking comfort.  This trailer has a slideout, swivel rockers, queen size bed, surround sound, sofa, full kitchen and bath.  We really enjoyed this trailer but when we decided to go full timing it was obvious this trailer would not be sufficient.  It does not have the storage nor the insulation and interior room to be really comfortable on a full time basis.  So we come somewhat full circle by trading this trailer in to our local Jayco dealer, the one where we bought our first full size trailer 16 years ago, and bought our new fifth wheel (picture to follow).

In the 20 years that we have had trailers we have traveled completely across country twice, driven around 4 of the great lakes, been to Canada twice and been in over 30 states.  

Welcome to South Dakota!

As mentioned in a previous post we decided to use South Dakota as our state of residence while full timing due to its beneficial taxes and vehicle regulations.  When the truck was purchased the dealer in Tennessee handled the out of state registration so that was one issue removed, but we still had to get our drivers license and register our other car until we sell it.  To get a drivers license you do have to show up in person.  For full time RV'ers you have to stay overnight at a campground or motel in South Dakota and bring the receipt with you and then sign an affidavit that it is your intention to live in South Dakota when you are done full timing.  To get a license plate on a vehicle in South Dakota you have to go to the county where your address is, so we decided to go to Madison, SD, which is the county seat, to get the license plate and to get our licenses.  The functions are separate in the state and for Madison the drivers license facility is open only on Tuesdays.  We drove up Monday (620 miles) and stayed in a local motel to get our mandatory receipt.  At 9:00am on Tuesday we showed up at the drivers license office and within 15 minutes had our South Dakota licenses.  We then walked next door to the county offices and within 10 minutes had our vehicle titled and plates in hand.  Other than the long drive to get there, what an easy experience.  Beats any other state we have lived in.!

After completing our business we thought we would stop by "our residence" in town to meet the lady who runs the mail forwarding service.  She was very nice and extremely helpful.  We completed all the paperwork in advance so our local Jayco dealer will be able to register our fifth wheel in South Dakota.  Here is a picture of "our residence".

We then left our little town and began our trip back home.  We decided to stop in Sioux Falls, SD as we had seen a picture of Falls Park on the local news and it looked interesting.  It was a really nice place to visit.  Here is a picture of part of the park.

 We stopped in Tomah, WI., for the night and then headed home today, Wednesday.  A quick trip but we got everything we needed to done.  Probably will not have to go back to Madison until our licenses have to be renewed.