Buying Our First RV – Part 2

Shopping For An RV In A Pandemic Ain’t For Sissies

Continued from Part 1 located HERE.

Back on the hunt, we took some weekend drives to RV dealers all around the region checking out Class A’s, Class C’s but sadly there were very few Class B’s to be found during Covid that you could stand in and get a real sense of their space, features or usability. We watched about every YouTube video on Class C’s and B’s we could face guzzle and one day, Theresa’s had an epiphany about Class B’s. Sure, she really wanted a dry bath and lots of room but she also wanted camping sites that were off the beaten path, out some lonely rutted road on BLM land where we could park with a grand view and nobody around. Once she realized that a Class C RV would never get her far from any paved parking lot, her mindset pivoted on bathrooms and accepted a wet bath as long as it was decent size, something she could stand up in. And just like that, we dismissed all of the Class C RV’s on our spreadsheet of potential rigs (yes we used a spreadsheet to grade them) and we refocused on smaller vans. #VanLife was in our future!

Sadly, during this pandemic, everyone had the same idea and the RV industry exploded. Which meant that there were many dealerships with empty lots. We spent months trying to locate Class B rigs near us but there were none to be found. We eventually found a new REVEL and Solis at a dealership across the river from Louisville in Indiana but that only cemented for us that the REVEL was a cramped floorplan. It is quite well made, but not quite right for us. And the Solis was a similar problem, too small and claustrophobic. We liked the Winnebago Travato 59K floor plan because it was airy and open inside. But we couldn’t find any to see in person. Everytime we saw a campervan going down the highway, or even an Amazon delivery van (RAM Promaster vans), you can bet we noticed it.

We did a trip to Phoenix & Sedona in December 2020 with friends for some hiking and exploring. It was our first flight we had taken since the start of the pandemic and Theresa was dutifully taking full precautions with goggles and mask. It turned out fine and the trip was full of epic hikes, great food / lodging and a great side by side rental in Carefree Colorado. On one of our last days before flying home, we took some time to explore RV dealerships in Phoenix. All we could find was Class A & C RVs as well as a really nice Airstream dealership. We love the airstreams, so well made, open, and big. But we didn’t want to get a pull behind camper and then have to pay to store it somewhere, etc. We were still on the hunt for the right vehicle that ticked all the boxes.

One December weekend, we went for a drive to some more dealerships in the area to window shop and see what models we could check out. One of the dealers was Lewis RV in Dayton Ohio where we saw they had some Winnebago Navion Class C’s. One of our favorite Class C RVs so we decided to pay them a visit and see what it was like inside. When we arrived, we saw they also had a Winnebago Travato 59KL NPE (National Park Edition). Theresa did not know she wanted a Travato, til she stood inside of one…and the heavens opened up, the dog started smiling…and it felt like home. It had the same airy openness of an Airstream trailer, a large wet bath in the rear and almost every other box was ticked too. Sure, it didn’t have the 4×4 capabilities of the Winnebago Revel campervan, but with the all terrain tires, it looked like it could handle mild off-road adventures. The dealership is small and family run. Really nice folks and Mr. Lewis was about 100 years old but still rockin his large cowboy hat and belt buckle. A real character. With the pandemic, he was keeping his distance at about 30 feet from anyone. Completely understandable since this was pre-vaccine yet he was still running his business and doing great. We liked the dealership and the Travato, so we went home to do some research. Excited that we had found what we were looking for to get us out there glamping.

When You Finally Find The Perfect Campervan

Now we knew what we wanted, and could price shop our options, the hunt was on! We looked at used Travatos but during this Covid shopping era the used vehicles we could find were only slightly cheaper than a brand new model. We joined the Travato owners and wannabe’s group on facebook and learned all we could. There were many small niggly things that people found frustrating with older models which Winnebago seemed to resolve and fix with each model year. About this time, December of 2020, they were nearly sold out of new 2021 models but they announced features of next year’s 2022 models and it had better technology, was more four seasons capable and so many of those small issues fixed. We continued to waffle about buying used or new and in the end we decided that we could buy and finance a new 2022 model, get all of the best new features, full warranty, and custom order the colors and options we wanted (instead of taking whatever used options were on offer). And in the end, we’d have a “current model year” vehicle for a year and a half! If we decided we didn’t like it, selling a used current model year would allow us to recoup most of the depreciation. Especially in this crazy market of 2021. So… it was decided. We would pull the trigger.

Tim sold the old 2001 Ford F150 that was originally his father’s truck. It sold in about 6 hours after posting it on Facebook marketplace. He felt he had gotten a fair but good price for the older truck and that it was in decent shape, considering everything. But later in 2021 the value of a used F150 like this would be about 7-10K higher due to lack of supply. Crazy! We used the funds from that sale to put down a deposit.

We talked to Lewis RV in Dayton but the salesperson did not want to order a particular setup for us, but rather gave us a list of Travatos that they had already ordered from Winnebago and told us to choose one of those. So we shopped around and a dealer in Iowa, Lichtsinn RV, who probably does the best job of marketing themselves on the internet… told us that we could order any setup we wanted. And their costs were only a few hundred dollars more than Lewis RV (who’s price was pretty dang good compared to what we had seen from other dealers). So we pulled the trigger! We’d take a road trip to Idaho to pickup our new camper van one mile from the Winnebago factory, in Forest City Iowa.

Put Down Your Deposit And Wait!

It was January 5th 2021 when we put down our deposit with Lichtsinn RV. And we were told that it would not be ready until May. Okay, we can do this, we can wait that long. It will kill us with anticipation, but we can do it. In those cold winter months leading up to the pickup date, our salesman would send us weekly canned emails letting us know everything was on track. We read all we could from other owners, problems, fixes, dealership horror stories, and wonderful photos of camping out in the wild.

We initially considered flying into Iowa to grab the RV and do the 10 hour drive back to Cincinnati. But eventually, we decided we wanted to take our dog, Siggy with us. But she had never flown before and Theresa feared she would not behave on the plane. So a new plan took shape. We’d rent a car and drive out to the RV, along with all of our crap to put in it and take “the long way home” as an initial shake down run.

Eventually, as May 2021 rolled around the emails from the sales rep became more detailed. And we got excited. I was buying electrical cords, and other RV essentials that I didn’t want to over pay for while at the dealership. Heck, the list of crap we were bringing to Iowa was growing! We wanted to be minimalists in a class B but who were we kidding? No way we could help but overpack. We had a large pile of Amazon boxes piling up on the sun porch. This minimalism mindset was going to take some practice. (but not on this trip!!) We watched for any announcement of what the new 2022 Travato 59K would look like but none had been produced yet and Winnebago had not yet released details. So as our dates got closer, we realized our unit would likely be one of the first produced! But we got an email that our May 25th date was not going to happen. There were pandemic related delays and it would be a few more weeks.

We changed our PTO requests and hoped it would make the now estimated June 7th date. Cincinnati was experiencing a Cicada explosion that only happens once every 17 years, Brood X! So we were excited to be leaving soon to miss the height of the invasion. A week prior it was pushed out again but the sales rep told us to hold fast as he has seen this before and he still felt like they might make the June 7th date. So we asked off work for that week and crossed our fingers. In the week prior it was confirmed, they had the vehicle and just needed a few days to do the pre-delivery inspection (PDI).

Getting To Iowa

When we tried to book a rental car, we found that nobody was doing a one way rental. WTH? It turns out that rental companies had lost so many bookings in 2019 they had sold most of their fleet while demand for cars was hot. So with a limited fleet, they couldn’t manage one ways. Somehow, we found one with Avis out of Cincinnati if we returned it to Minneapolis. It was a small Kia Soul. Would all of our crap fit? We’d have to make it fit.

The day prior to departure, we went to Avis near CVG airport to pick up the Kia Soul but we were told they didn’t have any. They had ONE VEHICLE left on their lot, so we’d have to take it. A 2021 Toyota Tacoma truck with extended cab. Yahoo!!!! This meant that we could take all of our crap and even add in bicycles and other car camping items. We stayed up late packing and getting everything ready for an early departure.
Game on.

After a 10 hour drive over a day and a half, we’d be in Forest City Iowa to pickup our new campervan. And our first shake down trip in the RV would test us. We’d experience our first damage, go down roads we shouldn’t go down, eat like kings, and experience some wonderful camping (mostly).

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this initial series. It will be linked here when published. And if you missed Part 1, start there.

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