{"id":40,"date":"2015-08-26T02:38:39","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T02:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=40"},"modified":"2016-02-13T13:20:34","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T13:20:34","slug":"the-search-for-a-tenement-on-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2015\/08\/26\/the-search-for-a-tenement-on-wheels\/","title":{"rendered":"The search for a tenement on wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was a\u00a0hard core\u00a0tent camper. \u00a0And not those big honkin&#8217; multi-room tents but the ultra light backpacking units. \u00a0I thought anyone who needed a trailer to pull their &#8220;tent&#8221; was a sissy. \u00a0Then we rented a popup camper and it was awesome!! \u00a0We started thinking about doing a long term trip and realized that we&#8217;d need something more substantial than a pop up. \u00a0And so it came to be&#8230;I&#8217;m now a sissy (but I still absolutely love the simplicity of backpacking). \u00a0With my pride swallowed we began the search for our <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/TqLG7bVA-dk\">tenement on wheels<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TqLG7bVA-dk\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I read just about every blog of fulltime traveling families as they described the pros and cons of different options and came away pretty settled on a 5th wheel. \u00a0I really liked the idea of getting an older rig and tricking it out with a fancy remodel to make it look like something you&#8217;d find on Pinterest. \u00a0But my wife reminded me how much remodeling is still left on our current home that we&#8217;ve had 16 years to remodel. \u00a0So, no rig remodels. \u00a0It was not really what I wanted to hear, but at the same time, it was one less decision left to make&#8230;.one step closer to launch!<\/p>\n<p>I set my sites\u00a0on a bunkhouse unit with 3 bunks, one for each kiddo. I researched, I read forums, I watched videos, I read reviews and I scoured Craigslist. \u00a0When I started to get a grasp on the different sizes and options and brands we stopped by an RV dealer one day and poked around in a couple units. \u00a0We were 2 years from launch at that point and I don&#8217;t remember much about that visit. \u00a0But 11 months before launch I spotted a 2007 Cedar Creek Silverback quad slide bunkhouse unit in Denver for $21k. \u00a0It was a cold Feb day after church and we met the owner at the place where the rig was stored. \u00a0I thought it was perfect but Steph&#8217;s Spidey-sense said no. \u00a0Weeks went by and I tried to convince her it would work. \u00a0The seller kept dropping the price until he sold it in April for probably about $18k. \u00a0I was sad, but I no longer had to consider that unit&#8230;again, a bit of a relief that the decision was made for me.<\/p>\n<p>The spring and summer of 2015 we went to numerous RV stores checking out their offerings. \u00a0We really tried to like the 32 foot 3 slide units but then we&#8217;d go in a 38 foot 4 slide and it just felt&#8230;.well, 6 feet plus 1 slide bigger&#8230;.and more comfortable. \u00a0I was really starting to hone in on exactly what I thought would work and I got pretty good at valuing units. \u00a0We found a really nice unit by private seller, made an offer that was neither accepted or countered. \u00a0But then I saw\u00a0an ad on Craigslist for a model I was not familiar with: Keystone Avalanche 340TG. \u00a0I was surprised I hadn&#8217;t run across that model before because I <em>thought<\/em> I knew the full landscape of quad slide bunkhouses. \u00a0On top of that, it was in CO and listed at a good price. \u00a0I contacted the seller via email and&#8230;..radio silence. \u00a0I prepared myself for <del>disappointment<\/del>\u00a0a decision being made for me again.<\/p>\n<p>I was getting ready to head to church to teach Sunday school and I decided to try sending a text to the seller and BOOM I get a response back. \u00a0The family has been living in it full time for the summer as they volunteered at the YMCA camp. \u00a0We chat back and forth and although they have people coming to look at it on Tuesday we can&#8217;t get up there to look at it until Wednesday. \u00a0Wednesday morning arrives and the seller says its still available. \u00a0So Steph and I deliver the kids to school and have an awesome day just the two of us on a road trip through Rocky Mountain National Park&#8230;.its been a very long time since \u00a0just the 2 of us were on a road trip together. \u00a0I&#8217;ll remember that day for a long time just because of that time we spent together!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/huckstephRMNP.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-74\" src=\"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/huckstephRMNP-300x129.jpg\" alt=\"huckstephRMNP\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/huckstephRMNP-300x129.jpg 300w, http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-content\/uploads\/huckstephRMNP-1024x440.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The unit we were going to look at was a 2010 and I was worried that Steph&#8217;s Spidey-sense would once again say &#8220;nope&#8221;. \u00a0We showed up, met the family and they gave us the FULL tour of everything. \u00a0We had a 3 hour drive back home to pick up kids after school so we got in the car to head home. \u00a0We barely drove 100 yards and Steph said, &#8220;should we make an offer?&#8221;. \u00a0SMSapalooza ensued as we texted back and forth with sellers on our drive home but pretty well came to an agreement.<\/p>\n<p>And that is how we ended up with our new home on wheels, Ava!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/zevqqm\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5796\/21812628188_aa20f5b2ff_z.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_20150920_153721590_HDR\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now, its going to take a <a href=\"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2015\/10\/05\/how-to-buy-an-rv\/\">separate post<\/a> dedicated to describing the drama\u00a0between the deal struck over SMS and taking possession of the rig!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was a\u00a0hard core\u00a0tent camper. \u00a0And not those big honkin&#8217; multi-room tents but the ultra light backpacking units. \u00a0I thought anyone who needed a trailer to pull their &#8220;tent&#8221; was a sissy. \u00a0Then we rented a popup camper and it was awesome!! \u00a0We started thinking about doing a long term trip and realized that we&#8217;d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}