How did it start?

[-Gramps-]

We all have stories as to how we started down the path to owning a motorhome.

This is my story.

How Did It Start? Part One - FMCA Motorhome Forums

[Tha_Rooster]

My story is I would see motor homes driving down the highway and thought it would be nice to own one. I went to my local camping store found a used 1997 itasca suncruiser made a unreal over on a consignment unit and they took it. I kept it for 5years sold it for what I paid for it and bought a new HR 37pct in 2004. In 2008 I bought a new revolution and have been ruffing it every since.

[bucks2]

Me too.

[ga traveler]

My wife and I both worked for the air lines. We could fly almost anywhere in the world for free. However the hassle of of checking in, getting aboard,renting a car, and finding a room, took all the fun out of traveling. We tried camping in 1968 and loved it. We could come and go as we pleased. We set our own timetable. Most of all we had our own bath and bed. We are leaving soon for a couple of weeks in Savannah, Ga. (love that seafood)

[bsirby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Gramps- We all have stories as to how we started down the path to owning a motorhome. This is my story. How Did It Start? Part One - FMCA Motorhome Forums

Gramps, Diane's experience sounds very scary. I worked in a bank and a customer came in and was telling one of the others about his retirement dream for him and his wife. They were going to take all these trips and see the country and just have a wonderful time together. Sadly, his wife died 2 weeks before her retirement. That night I told my husband we needed to start looking at MH's. 1 1/2 years later he retired and I quit my job. We sold everything we could, ended up renting the house because we couldn't sell it in todays market. April 1 of 2011 we left NC and went to CA to visit DH's family that he hadn't seen or kept in touch with. We stopped in several places along the way to visit my maid of honor in our wedding, and several friends we had lost touch with. We have even made some new friends that we camp with every chance we get. Life is great and we will not look back and wish we had done this or that. We are doing it now. We are currently in Florida enjoying the sunshine. We will be going back to NC soon to celebrate two grandsons birthdays and welcome a new grandson. We still spend alot of time in NC to be with the Grandchildren. We take them camping and just have a great time. Thank you for posting your story. It may be the motivation for someone else who needs to stop and smell the roses.
Brenda

[scenic route]

Two reasons...Severe back pain and I married a woman(second round for both of us) that kept saying - "With taking care of a husband, two daughters and a horde of animals all my adult life, I've never been anywhere". Well after two years with the RV and over 25K miles, she can no longer go on and on about never being anywhere. As for the back pain, well...it's all but disappeared. I'm no longer sitting on that pile of cash I used to carry in my back pocket...the RV and our travels took care of that little issue and we are both happy campers. Looking forward to our next adventure...I DO so love this retirement thing! Bob

[campclan]

On July 4th , 2008 we were waiting to find out what my wife was suffering from. She had been feeling severe exhaustion and had hives completely covering her body. We got the call and she had Leukemia. She immediately started Chemo daily via a miracle pill called Gleevec. Over the next 18 months she improved and we decided that our future was now and we bought a Travel Trailer. We loved it but, Chemo has side effects that are not pleasant and I found that I could not pull over fast enough when she got sick. In 2011 I started looking at used Class A bunkhouses. Without much luck finding a used one we walked into an RV dealer with an intention to look at a new Class A bunhouse and a Class C. We left having put a deposit on what my DW calls her "carriage" . We purchased in April 2011 and have loved it. Traveling to NY last year we got stuck on I-81 for 3 hours and my wife was very sick for over an hour. After she was able to crawl in bed and be comfortable. She can no longer fly so any traveling we do we must do by way of driving. Our daughter loves having her own space and the time we have spent together the last few years camping has been priceless.
Since we got our's we have had several friends buy as we have such great times. At 41 I am nowhere near retirement but, I want whatever time we have left doing what we love spending time together.

[Graniteman]

I started looking at 5'ers for my son to live in while he was in college. Even though I offered to buy it I couldn't convince him to live there. My plan was to have a place to stay when we visited. I began looking at DP's and convinced DW (and myself) that it would be cheaper than flying, hotels, and rental cars.

Thank God we love traveling in a MH, because it sure hasn't been cheaper.

[powerboatr]

screwed up and went to Darlington for a nascar race back in 94
we rented a small fiberglass trailer.....four big guys and lots of beer and chips.
I was hooked, on rving

we already had a capable F250 Hd 4x4
wife and i purchased a 30 foot fiver, wore it out the first four years
then a tornado took it from the back yard.
we then purchased a 30 foot towable and a new F350
then a few years later, we purchased a 40 ft fiver, plus a new F350
then the economy tanked and we had the opportunity to get a brand new 40 ft m/h at a fire sale prices
haven't looked back since

[BudtheDiplomat]

Gramps! Man! That's a terrible event! I would have been tempted to shoot the owner (but guns aren't allowed on this forum). People! Crazy drivers! The other day I almost racked a round, then came to my senses and screwed on the silencer first!

On a more serious note,

My wife is terrified of flying. Not just white knuckled, terrified. But, wonderful woman that she is, she followed me through 19 moves in 24 years in the Army, never complaining. It was only after I retired that she admitted her fear. And I was a paratrooper. Go figure! Opposites attract!

Her mother became gravely ill and we needed to rush to Indianapolis. I suggested flying so that we could get there quickly. My wife couldn't do it. Our daughter and her newborn daughter was living with us. We all needed to go. This occurred right after the Houston RV Show in 2008 that I dragged my wife to every year. She suggested that we get a motorhome.

After about minus 5 seconds of thought, I rushed her out to the car, drove an hour and a half to an RV dealer and bought a brand new, just arrived, still had the blue wrapping on all of the appliances Monaco 40' SFT. She barely had time to get on a bra, but I wasn't going to give her a chance to change her mind!

The next morning we left for Indianapolis - my first time behind the wheel of a DP. Other than my mother-in-law's illness, it was a terrific trip. We stopped the first night (11 hours of driving - it takes almost 8 1/2 hours to get out of Texas!!!) at the Marion KOA in Memphis, TN. This is a terrific, well run place. Go there! They cook breakfast to order and the laundromat is clean and all the machines work!

My wife stayed for 3 months. Mom-in-law was in a coma for about 45 days of that. I had to return to work after a couple of weeks (and learned to back up by necessity - no toad and backup camera made this pretty easy, in all honesty).

This coach has been our preferred travel mode since 2008, and we love it.

We are about to embark on a new part of our journey. We are going to join the Texas Boomers at the Houston RV Show this Saturday, and we are both pretty excited to meet some like-minded people. Hopefully I can get out of there without that American Heritage that's been calling my name day and night.

[John H...]

We got into it because when we got Benji 16 years ago, we wouldn't go anywhere without him so we started with a Pop-up. Every time we passed a TT we would say "someday" After getting into TT's and see small MH's again it was "someday" and so on until the "A".

We are leaving Sat. to Phoenix to visit kids and grand kids. We only have a week so we are flying and will be the first time flying commercial in 16 years. So all these RV's in 16 years because of a dog.

[Sealevel Ram]

One Sunday morning going to church, my wife said "Dear, why don't we get a motorhome?" That night, she got on EBay and bid on a unit in Phoenix, Arizona. (We live in Florida.). She won it, our Marine son picked it up and drove it to CA, where we flew, and drove it home. This was 7 years ago.
Since then, we have had two more motorhomes, bigger and better.

[Bee950]

I needed to expand my business. The MH had the storage space I needed, and it would pay for itself with the savings on lodging each year. I made a pawn shop low ball offer on the coach, and the dealer took it. I am putting about 2000 miles a month on her and wishing I had done this years ago. Off to Phoenix next week then Daytona in March.

The first time my wife saw the bus driving down the street she about had a heart attack. The air horns didnt go over that well... :(

[Ozarkan]

Got tired of sleeping on an air mattress on the living room floor and living out of a suitecase everytime we wanted to visit our children. Also daughter-in-law and hotels did not really care for our pets. Got a MH and everybody is happy.