You can get some great deals on class A RV's down south.Ugh, the motorhome is literally falling apart.
Lots of old people croak.
Buy used from the widow.
Greetings from Pensacola!
- Thread starter vraiblonde
- Start date
Lots of old people croak.
Buy used from the widow.
We were talking about buying the tiny house in PCB, then getting a little Class C runabout for travel but that probably doesn't make sense either. For the price of an RV you can buy a lot of campground cabins and hotel rooms.
But we'll see because there might be a deal we can't pass up and then just adjust our travel schedule to fit our limitations. Neither of us really wants to come off the road, but we're not distraught over it because we've had a heck of a 5 years.
He's going in for that next week - a temp toof until he can get a permanent solution. Which is too bad because I was kind of looking forward to rolling into swanky PCB with duct tape and missing teeth. I already had my hairstyle and outfit planned....
PCB sounds incredible! My retired Navy 2nd cousin lives there. Also, there is a certain friend of mine who might want to retire there and I think I might need a getaway or two.
kom526
They call me ... Sarcasmo
PCB sounds incredible! My retired Navy 2nd cousin lives there. Also, there is a certain friend of mine who might want to retire there and I think I might need a getaway or two.
You've been and stayed in one of the tiny houses, so you know what what I'm talking about. We'll be happy there. What I don't want to do is get back in the habit of accumulating a bunch of crap I don't need. I've fully embraced my minimalist lifestyle and don't want to revert.
Kyle
Beloved Misanthrope
They don't call that stretch of shoreline the "Redneck Riviera" for nothing.
That's a great size! And you're great at weeding out!!!!!!
(Monello, just pretend you don't see this!
)
Close friend of mine begs to differ...he lives in Tampa and just went through a crazy time trying to find any deals at all on a lightly used Class A. The 2020 Bounder he did just get only because, of the 5 people that showed up first thing in the morning after the ad was placed, he was the only one with cash.
RVs are hot. Anyone asking a reasonable price for theirs should see it sell pretty quickly. It started right after the pandemic craze began - RV dealers say they can't keep 'em on the lot.
Which is also an omen for us coming off the road. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got that has served me well over the years is, "When everyone is doing something, you do something else."
Just saw a FB post from my friend's wife..they are doing a "test run" with their new-to-them 1-year old Bounder, staying at an RV park close by their house. To work out some kinks and setup details before they head west. Right off the bat...the hot water heater no worky... LOL. She said her morning shower was "short and brisk"...
Your friend will enjoy his Bounder. We see them in the campgrounds all the time. We see more of them than any other rig on the road. 2nd most would be the rental class Cs. They are super popular out west. Lots of foreigners rent them out and pack a whole lot of people in them.
My campground showers are long and luxurious. And I have all the hot water I need. I use the campgrounds bath house. Lots of room to spread out. Unlike an RV bathroom.
He's had a lot of experience with smaller RVs. In fact. the Winnebago Chieftain that I owned for quite a few years was originally his Dad's and then his. I'm pretty sure this is his first Class A. He wanted to buy a Class C but his missus vetoed that after looking at a bunch of them. She wanted the space and extra amenities. My Mom's RV is a Winnebago 300 Class C and gets used a fair amount by my sister and bro-in-law. Easy one to keep maintenance up on and parked in an RV enclosure when not in in use. That helps a LOT.
That's annoying and another reason we're skeered to break in a new (to us) RV - there's always something. I don't think I've ever talked to anyone who didn't have initial problems with their RV, whether it was new or used.
Monello says all the time, if some young person who's mechanically inclined wanted a great paying career they should be a mobile RV repair guy. We see them at almost every campground we go to and they never have a shortage of work.
If I was not capable of repairing and maintaining literally every last detail of an RV myself, I'd probably never have owned one. Same is true for boats, for that matter. There's just so much that can go wrong with what is, nominally, not exactly high-grade equipment and workmanship to begin with.
Not me. I don't need to be the expert as long as I know an expert and can give him a few bucks to solve my problem.
LOL..if only it were that easy and rare.... If couldn't do all my own mechanical and electrical work, I'd never be able to afford the "toys" I have, be they boats, vehicles or whatever...
Yesterday we hit the Pensacola Farmer's Market. The weather has been rainy the whole time we are here. Yesterday morning there was a brief lull in the showers. A few of the vendor slots were empty at the market. They hold it in a park right in the middle of downtown. We found parking right across the street then headed over. I took a raincoat for insurance that it wouldn't rain.
Some FMs trip Vrai fills an entire bag with goodies. Lafayette's market was 1 of those stops. We ended up with a bunch of things to snack on. Yesterday we just got some exotic cranberry bread from 1 of the bakers. The rum cake lady priced her goods at $13 for a small cake. I didn't want it bad enough to cough over $13. I guess if I was really crazy about it then maybe.
After we walked around their downtown area. It's very southern looking and has hints of New Orleans's architecture. It's filled with a few high end stores. Sadly a lot of the historic downtowns were we visit are reduced to antique stores, tattoo parlors, nail salons and dollar stores. P'cola's DT shows a vibrant, local economy. Later we stopped for a drink at O'Riley's Irish pub. It's a bit subterranean. You go down a few steps into the basement. It has a rich, dark wood style bar. The servers wear kilts. I thought those were Scottish attire. Anyway, we then looked over the menu, we got a couple of snacks. When we left it had begun to rain again. If it rains any more, I may start to grow moss. The only good thing is all the rain has kept the temperature low in the lower 60s.
Back at the car I wanted to see if a place I had visited was still opened. When I was sent to Pensacola for training I didn't have much free time to visit the area. We hit this 1 place because it was St. Patrick's weekend and they had a lot of events going on. They actually nailed boards across the front doors and everything was held outside. The GPS said it was only a few miles from where we were currently. So off we went.
The area didn't look familiar to me. But a lot changes in 33 years. The place now has a huge parking lot. It's so big they have enter and exit only signs all over. As luck would have it, we snagged an up close parking spot. It's still raining and there are lake sized puddles all over the place. Opening the front door to McGuire's, we are greeted by about 20 people, all waiting for a table. It's late afternoon on a rainy Saturday. I guess everyone got the idea to go to the local water hole for some food and drink.
Vrai gets us 1 of the tables off from the bar. So we avoided the long wait for a table. Glancing around you notice all the one dollar bills hanging from the ceiling or tacked to the walls. Evidently there are over $1 million worth hanging on that place. Imagine how much that must weigh. There is a lot of memorabilia hanging on the walls. There is a stuffed hippopotamus head adorning 1 of the walls. There are probably around 200 steins hanging around also. It appears that individual customers can leave a personal mug there for their next visit. Given all the trinkets and dollar bills the place isn't a dusty mess. A lot of our stops that have doodads hanging on the walls also have cobwebs and inches of dust on those things. Not this place.
Digging on their website shows that they have 615 seats in that place. It's a big place but I never imagined it was that big. They have an enormous staff. I saw visible management roaming around communicating with headsets. None of the employees had time to stand around due to the crowd. Some nights they have live entertainment.
Eating and drinking isn't the only thing we do. But when it's raining out, there really isn't much else to do. Between rainstorms on Friday I went fishing down at the campground pier. Hurricane Sally came through this area last September. The campground has since rebuilt their pier. But along the shores you can see the remains of a lot of piers that got tore up. I managed to catch 15 fish. Nothing big. I had a lot of bites. I suspect that there are a ton of little bait stealers in that area. I hooked a pinfish. 1 of the other anglers asked if he could have it. He tossed it out on 1 of his lines but didn't catch anything with it. Even the kid with the zebco pole that didn't cast very far caught a fish. My hope is to find some bigger fish while I'm here.
Right now it's somewhat sunny outside. Perhaps we'll take a drive in the opposite direction today. We still need to see Gulf Shore, Perdido Key and Orange Beach while we are here.
Some FMs trip Vrai fills an entire bag with goodies. Lafayette's market was 1 of those stops. We ended up with a bunch of things to snack on. Yesterday we just got some exotic cranberry bread from 1 of the bakers. The rum cake lady priced her goods at $13 for a small cake. I didn't want it bad enough to cough over $13. I guess if I was really crazy about it then maybe.
After we walked around their downtown area. It's very southern looking and has hints of New Orleans's architecture. It's filled with a few high end stores. Sadly a lot of the historic downtowns were we visit are reduced to antique stores, tattoo parlors, nail salons and dollar stores. P'cola's DT shows a vibrant, local economy. Later we stopped for a drink at O'Riley's Irish pub. It's a bit subterranean. You go down a few steps into the basement. It has a rich, dark wood style bar. The servers wear kilts. I thought those were Scottish attire. Anyway, we then looked over the menu, we got a couple of snacks. When we left it had begun to rain again. If it rains any more, I may start to grow moss. The only good thing is all the rain has kept the temperature low in the lower 60s.
Back at the car I wanted to see if a place I had visited was still opened. When I was sent to Pensacola for training I didn't have much free time to visit the area. We hit this 1 place because it was St. Patrick's weekend and they had a lot of events going on. They actually nailed boards across the front doors and everything was held outside. The GPS said it was only a few miles from where we were currently. So off we went.
The area didn't look familiar to me. But a lot changes in 33 years. The place now has a huge parking lot. It's so big they have enter and exit only signs all over. As luck would have it, we snagged an up close parking spot. It's still raining and there are lake sized puddles all over the place. Opening the front door to McGuire's, we are greeted by about 20 people, all waiting for a table. It's late afternoon on a rainy Saturday. I guess everyone got the idea to go to the local water hole for some food and drink.
Vrai gets us 1 of the tables off from the bar. So we avoided the long wait for a table. Glancing around you notice all the one dollar bills hanging from the ceiling or tacked to the walls. Evidently there are over $1 million worth hanging on that place. Imagine how much that must weigh. There is a lot of memorabilia hanging on the walls. There is a stuffed hippopotamus head adorning 1 of the walls. There are probably around 200 steins hanging around also. It appears that individual customers can leave a personal mug there for their next visit. Given all the trinkets and dollar bills the place isn't a dusty mess. A lot of our stops that have doodads hanging on the walls also have cobwebs and inches of dust on those things. Not this place.
Digging on their website shows that they have 615 seats in that place. It's a big place but I never imagined it was that big. They have an enormous staff. I saw visible management roaming around communicating with headsets. None of the employees had time to stand around due to the crowd. Some nights they have live entertainment.
Eating and drinking isn't the only thing we do. But when it's raining out, there really isn't much else to do. Between rainstorms on Friday I went fishing down at the campground pier. Hurricane Sally came through this area last September. The campground has since rebuilt their pier. But along the shores you can see the remains of a lot of piers that got tore up. I managed to catch 15 fish. Nothing big. I had a lot of bites. I suspect that there are a ton of little bait stealers in that area. I hooked a pinfish. 1 of the other anglers asked if he could have it. He tossed it out on 1 of his lines but didn't catch anything with it. Even the kid with the zebco pole that didn't cast very far caught a fish. My hope is to find some bigger fish while I'm here.
Right now it's somewhat sunny outside. Perhaps we'll take a drive in the opposite direction today. We still need to see Gulf Shore, Perdido Key and Orange Beach while we are here.