THE ENDEAVOR RV, WHY WE’RE HAPPY WE DID IT

I created a page a few weeks back called “The Endeavor Story” that outlines some of the things we have gone through while on this journey of first time Class A RV ownership. I know I posted that we have had some serious doubts as to whether buying an RV was a stupid idea or not and I know I have blogged this question a few times while we have waited for repairs to be done or more to the point, to be done OVER. 

Ronda and I have never really doubted the purchase and your comments helped drive the point home. I have wanted to own a motorhome since I sat in one back in 1974. Since that time my family always used tents and in 1997 I stepped up to what I considered the big leagues when I purchased my first large pop-up camper, it was huge! After I gave it to my brother to use for his family I bought a big 5 room tent that took about 30 minutes to put up but once up it was like a mansion! It had a front room for cooking, 2 bedrooms and a main big center room that we could all sit in and talk when the weather turned bad.

My back couldn’t handle tent camping anymore so I gave my sister the monster tent and gave up camping for a few years. My Mom was sick and we spent a lot of time over the span of 7 years going to the local hospitals. You know you’re in hospitals too much when the cafeteria staff give you employee discounts, we were there that often. When she came down with Pancreatic cancer I would work from the hospital whenever I could. We didn’t go camping between 2004 and 2009 at all. We talked about it though and when Mom died the realization that life is very short hit me like a brick wall.

So, when we made the decision to start looking at campers we were hooked or maybe I was hooked and she was on board.   I can only be into something all the way, half assed, half baked one foot in just doesn’t work for me. So when I went looking at rigs I wanted to make sure we got the right rig for us and I dug into that project like a tick on a mule! The multitude of shady RV dealerships can be daunting, the sleazy salesman can make you want to give up. The lack of knowledge of the product they’re selling can drive you batty, I hate being a newb at something and knowing more about what I’m buying than the salesperson does!

At this time I don’t believe there is an RV dealership out there that cares about a customer who buys an 11 year old RV, not one. These rigs are older and yield much less profit and the odds of the customer coming in again to buy a new rig is very low so they get you out the door and that’s it. I think on average the customers that come in don’t know what to look for even after a repair is completed so they assume it’s done and are on their way and the dealer never hears from them again because more RV’s go back into storage instead of being used.

This would explain the shock of the owner of the RV dealership when he expected me to take delivery with a stupid grin on my face and accept the lousy clean up job they did. He never expected me to hold him to his word, you’d think he would be upset with his staff for doing lousy work, apparently the customer is never right even when they can show how badly the work was done.

Getting back to was the purchase a mistake? Ronda and I are 100% on the same page by saying no! We are happy we bought the RV and the fun we have had has far out weighed the bad. Even last year on our first trip when the water line burst we had a blast that weekend and I learned some new things.

The RV is teaching me patients, to a level I didn’t think was possible and certainly wasn’t capable of when I was younger. Strike that, the RV isn’t teaching me patients, RV dealerships are, and so is my wife. The RV would be perfect if the repairs had been done right the first time but nearly every single repair that has been done save the ones done by me has taken 2 times to get completed. If that doesn’t teach you something, nothing will. 15 years ago I would have lost it on these service guys but a temper doesn’t get things done.

Also, Ronda has taught me patients, I call her when things go bad so she helps me throw water on the boiler to calm down. Almost always this works, women make men better people, ever notice that? I think this experience is teaching her some things as well, like patients with me!

Speaking of Ronda, she is doing very well since the surgery and can’t wait for our first trip of the year. We aren’t sure when that will be now that the slide topper has to be repaired or replaced. We’re waiting for an update from the dealership, this is one repair that has to be completed before we can take the rig out. I am going to patiently wait for their call and pray that it’s done right and we can finally pick it up and use it.

Have a great week everybody!