“Star Trek” sucked me in as a kid – people traveling to unknown destinations, seeing things no human had seen before intrigued me. I also liked reading old adventure magazines that told tales of exploring the deep jungles of the Amazon – at the time written one of the last places western civilization had not yet penetrated completely. But what really put the travel bug into me was reading Travels with Samantha, a journey one man embarked on after losing his faithful companion. I always had that thought in the back of my head, how it would be great to travel the continent somehow – seeing what there is to see in an area then traveling whatever direction seemed most interesting next. But while I occasionally looked at alternate ways of living that might allow me to travel, I kept following the well worn path most others follow living in western culture.
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But, once in a while, events in my life conspire to push me a certain direction. For instance, I ended up working on a research project studying the gaits of deer thanks to a job ad that stated one of the duties would be to “chase deer”. Yes, I really did chase deer in order to help study how they ran! This job led me to another job with elk, and onward to better jobs over the years thanks to having a resume that was a leg up (pun?) on most of the competition. Who knows how my career would have gone had I not gone to peruse the job ads at the “Hire a Student” office that day?
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| Pet the deer between chasing sessions |
This time it all started with a query about how my potential travels in the fall were coming along, coming from a former employee that worked for me. He was looking for a place to rent in October and if I was going to be gone, it might be a good fit for him and his wife to move in. I had pretty much given up on the idea of traveling this year owing to my lack of progress on house renovations. I can’t blame COVID for all of it; I just have not been very motivated to work on painting and floors for a whole house. Not to mention, purging a house of junk and old memories is not exactly inspiring to me either.
But after an initial chat I realized this might actually work, and I started getting more serious about filling that black cart to the brim and getting electronics a plenty to the recyclers. A couple of conversations and a house visit later, we had a deal – I had a tenant that would look after my place, and I’d be free to travel the winter. One problem: the RV I was looking at was a used rental, and stocks had diminished to the point that only one remained in Alberta. I nervously checked the web page every day as I was waiting to make sure I had a renter. The day I had a commitment that I thought would work, my job was to confirm we had a deal, but that was not going to happen until I was sure I had an RV. I had looked long and hard at what I would travel in, and I had my heart set on a little ex-Rental 20 foot class-C that would be able to squeeze into any campsite and just about any parking spot in a pinch.
So, off I went to Fraser RV in Leduc to see the last remaining unit in Alberta. I’d be buying an RV today and sealing the deal on a years rental of my house with me traveling for at least that time. Or, switch to plan B and quickly figure out something else I could buy, or plan C, drop this whole crazy idea and go back to renovating my house with some more vigor.
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| Adventure 19RD first look |
But the RV was there, and it looked nice, just under 18,000 kilometers on the clock, this baby was like new! But my sale rep Tom was not having a good day of it. He could not get the RV started as the battery was so dead even a boost from a truck would not bring the vehicle to life for the obligatory road test. To add to his woes, the coach was also lacking power, so no checking anything out in the vehicle that required power. That is a lot of stuff. But Tom was still game to sell me an RV, so he explained the process. I agree to buy an RV at a certain price, they get it independently inspected, then fix any issues identified. I then get a “perfect” RV. Finally, we get the RV going with a boost from a heavy duty forklift! We drive off and I have time to think about this buying method whilst drive testing.
This buying process is ass backwards from my normal buying routine: you make an offer, agree to a deposit, get an inspection, get negotiated bits fixed, then I agree to buy an RV and pay the final agreed upon price. The RV may or may not be “perfect” – either less perfect at a cheaper price, or fixed up and paid at a closer to initial haggle price. But this was the routine here; I had to either agree to this “buy blind and fix it later routine” or move on. The test drive had been fine, the interior of the unit was in excellent shape. But I know how much RV fridges cost ($3000) – to buy blind hoping everything would be fixed at inspection was not in my comfort zone.
But this whole adventure is about getting out of my comfort zone. Worst case, I’d be out a thousand on my purchase deposit. I could still walk away if the inspection revealed too many problems. There was one silver lining to the battery issues: it had opened up the possibility of a price haggle! I’m no hard nosed bargain driver, but a little back and forth later I had a small discount negotiated. This is a big deal considering RVs are so scarce in these COVID times – you should see how empty Fraser RV’s lot was. They really don’t have much motivation to haggle considering their bigger problem is lack of stock to sell in the first place.
There was no moment of crossing the threshold thinking “I’m going to do this!”. It was more like going over a waterfall. Each step takes you further along, with it being harder to back out, until you go over the edge by signing on the dotted line. I internally shake my head, thinking never have I spent so much money with so little inspection. I hand over my deposit and walk out; owner-to-be of an ex-Rental RV.
The day to pick up the RV was two weeks down the road. I occupied my time really putting some effort into purging my house and garage, can’t forget about the garage! The fateful day came. RV inspection was gone over. Systems were explained. Money was handed over. I. Now. Own. An. RV! Off I go for a little shake down cruise to Lac la Biche, then the real work getting out of the house starts. October 1st is coming!
