Mounting Everest

It has been said that a special providence watches over fools and Englishmen. I guess that gives me double coverage. Many people think it foolish to actually plan to live full time in an RV, but since my wife and I began to do so, we have discovered that we are far from alone. It seems to be the preferred option for a large segment of the recently retired population.

We just purchased our fourth RV in three years; that’s where the foolish part comes in. Each time we thought we had the right one, and each time we discovered something missing. So we traded up. We think this is the last time; we’ll see. But I must tell you now this one came about because this is where the “special providence” comes into play.

We had some time to kill on a recent sight-seeing trip, so we stopped at Camping World in St. George, Utah. We had no intention of buying; we just wanted to see what was available. Of course the salesman wanted us to take one home immediately. We let him impress us with several new units even though we asked to see used ones. Then we let him write up a deal for our consideration. We could have done it if we wanted a 20 year mortgage on the rig; NOT.

When we got home that evening I checked out the Camping World web site and found a really nice looking, well outfitted fifth wheel that seemed to suit our needs and budget. The one photo that really struck me was of the kitchen; I knew my wife would be thrilled. Back in St. George with a salesman who wasn’t trying to push new units on us we found our dream home. We wrote up a potential deal and went back home to think about it.

The next day I called the dealer with what I thought was a real “low-ball” offer, and he accepted my terms much to my surprise. After that I found a small print clause in the Internet ad that implied they had over-charged me for prep, and I was able to get another $1,250 off the price, just what I needed to purchase and install the fifth wheel hitch. With the finance arrangements made with my credit union, we headed back to St. George with our trailer to make the swap.

 When the service person was giving us our walk-through to show us all the systems, the air conditioner failed to work, even though it had functioned perfectly days before. A quick inspection revealed a bad circuit board which was no longer available. The solution: the manager, Charles, offered to install a brand new A/C unit at no charge. We also learned that the inverter had malfunctioned the previous day and it too was replaced with a new unit.

Because the A/C unit would take several hours to install, and the hour was getting late, Charles put us up for the night in the motel next door since we could not stay in either our “old” unit or the “new” one. Since we had already put in several hours of transferring our belongings from one unit to the other, the hot tub at the motel was a welcome benefit. I must have made over a hundred trips down one set of steps and up the other taking loads of clothes, dishes and sundry other items into our new home.

The next morning we finished moving in and towed the Everest back to our “home” park in Mesquite, Nevada. We could not be happier. It will take a little more fuel to pull around, but it is worth it for all the extra benefits. It even has a washer/dryer already in place. And there is so much storage, we can’t fill it all (yet). The people at Camping World in St. George were wonderful, not only because I got the deal of a lifetime, but because they were so pleasant and helpful in providing it.

At St. George, I learned that the Good Sam Club of which we are members, is a Camping World affiliate, and is short for Good Samaritan, from the well-known Bible story. I don’t want to over-spiritualize a purely material transaction, but I do feel as though there was a “special Providence” working to get us our new home. And I don’t feel the least bit foolish... not about this anyway.