New Rig!

 

It has now been three years since we started our “Life on the Road” and with the anniversary we have treated ourselves to a new rig.  Since we started this adventure in this Jayco Eagle we have realized there were some things we did not not like with the floorplan and some features we were missing.  Mainly we wanted a floorplan that had the recliners opposite the entertainment center so that you did not have to turn to watch TV.  We also wanted the larger refrigerator models that are now being offered as the size we have could be problematic at times when using it full time.  We began looking at rigs a few months back and came close a couple of times but the same financing issue came up as when we bought our current unit.  Banks do not want to lend to full timers.  We were lucky on this rig in that we still owned our home so a lender was found and the loan was not based on us being full time.  It did cause us to pay more in sales tax as we had to register it first in Illinois before it could be transferred to South Dakota, our state of residence. 

This past week I was in contact with our dealer in Illinois regarding an issue with our current rig and that began a discussion on a new rig.  We had not been looking at Jayco’s because they did not offer a floorplan that we wanted.  He told me that Jayco had just redesigned many of their Pinnacle floorplans and were coming out early with some 2015 models.  After some more phone calls and emails we saw they had a model we liked that was just off the factory line and had all the features we were looking for.  Over the next three days we worked the financing issue and our dealer was able to find a lender and a deal was made.  The downside is that we have to pick it up in Joliet, Illinois.  We were headed in that direction anyway but not for another few months.  So next week we leave Las Vegas and head to Illinois.  Hopefully it will begin warming up or it will be an interesting drive.

Pinnacle is the luxury fifth wheel line for Jayco so it is an upgrade from our current model.  It has some very nice features including a six point leveling system that automatically levels the trailer at a push of a button.  A residential refrigerator with icemaker.  A 60 inch LED TV in the living room that retracts into the cabinet, fireplace (actually just an electric heater with fake flames), leather recliners and sofa and a king bed. 

Here is the floorplan

Here are some pictures of a model similar to the one we are buying.  We do not have pictures of ours yet.

If everything goes as planned we should be in our new rig the first week of March.  I will post pictures then. 

Las Vegas

 

We left Quartzite on Monday and drove to Las Vegas where we will be for a couple of weeks.  There are many RV parks in the Las Vegas area with reviews that were mixed so we decided on the Las Vegas RV Resort as it had a great rate special going on and seemed to get the higher reviews.  It is off the strip near Sam’s Town and is in a very busy area so driving around with the trailer is a little dicey (more on that to come).  The park is very nice with large sites and nice spacing between them.  The intimidating part is the narrow interior roadways.  They can barely fit a truck towing a trailer, then you have to swing into the space and then swing out to leave.  They do escort you to the site and guide you in so that helped.  I copied a picture from Google Maps so you can see an overhead view of our space and get an idea of how narrow the roadways are.

As we needed some service work done on the trailer I had set up an appointment in advance with the local Jayco dealer.  When we got here I checked the address of the dealership to get directions from our RV park.  Come to find out I could probably throw a rock from our park and hit the dealership, but not so easy to get there with the trailer attached.  First getting out of the space.  I was sure it was going to very difficult to make the right turn onto the narrow roadway but it all worked fine.  The day before I had walked a route in the park the allowed me to exit via the larger interior roads.  Now the most direct route to the dealership would have been to make a left out of the park then a right another right then a left into the dealership.  Problem #1 – get out of the park.  The park is on S. Nellis Blvd.,  which is 6 busy lanes with a center median.  No way was a left turn feasible at 8am as I faced the possibility of getting hung up in the center with the rig blocking lanes.  So, it has to be a right turn.  Problem #2 – from Nellis, making a right, how do I now get to Boulder Highway where the dealership is.  There are no direct routes joining the two.  I had to go down about a mile and make a left onto a street, then another left and finally another left to get on Boulder Highway, then drive a mile and a half to the dealership, which was on the right.  End result I drove over 3 miles to go probably 1/2 mile.  We did make it and the repairs were done but it did take all day.

We are here for the wedding of a friend’s daughter on Valentines Day weekend.  Following that we leave for a two day stop over in Death Valley then onto Bakersfield.

Route:  From Brenda, AZ  I took US 60 towards Interstate 10, then Interstate 10 west to US 95 north which brought us into Las Vegas.