A Whirlwind Two Weeks.......

Wow.  We're in it.  The new rig.

Things have moved so quickly, and absolutely no time to sit and write about it.

Here's the short story:  We got the call on the 28th of August that the new rig was going to happen.  We left on the 29th for the drive to Cincinnati (Batavia, actually) Ohio and Holman Motors.  We get there and were supposed to be met by the security guard.  Nope.  Circled the place three times until we finally realized one gate wasn't locked.  Pulled in, walked the grounds -- no security guard.  Finally, we hit the emergency horn on the truck and got results.

We spent the morning of the 30th (delivery day) starting to pack while also peaking around the lot for our new rig.  At 1p, we started the walk through and around 3p we went inside to sign all the paperwork.  By 4p, we were the new owners of a Bighorn 3670.

Along with Connie's parents, and the owner's wife Mrs. Terry Holman (who we've known since High School), we began the arduous task of transferring everything we owned to the new vehicle.  That operation ended around 10:30p and we stayed a 2nd night in Holman's lot.

Friday, the 31st, we took it on our first ride to Caesar's Creek State Park, which is not too far from our hometown of Wilmington, OH.  No internet and very little cell phone signal.  It was great.  Our friends Rich and Kim came over and were having a yard sale.  Perfect!  Take this, and this, and this and see what happens.

Saturday, our friend Lenny from Ashtabula, OH drove down to spend the night.  We gave him a tour of our home town (including a Little League field named after Bob's Dad), stopped at the Wilmington OH Elks lodge and thoroughly, as always, enjoyed his company.

We decided to stay Sunday night at the State Park after a dinner with Connie's parents in Wilmington at the local Damon's.

Monday, Labor Day, we began the drive back to Sycamore RV Resort, stopping half way at the Crawfordsville (IN) KOA.  Finally, late Wednesday afternoon, we arrived back "home" in our new home.

Work had really stacked up, so we pretty much spent half the day working and half the day running out to get "little things" that didn't come with the rig, or didn't work well from our Sprinter.

Saturday was a college football day, and Sunday we spent organizing.  Yesterday (Monday) was really the first day that's felt somewhat normal.  It's been a whirlwind two weeks.

"Upon Approval....."

The last week has been a real roller coaster of emotions for us.

Wednesday we headed to the General RV store north of us to look at RV's and see the outlet stores that are located next door.   Connie had made a list over the last few weeks of models and brands that were appealing at least via the pictures, layouts, etc.  General RV had a few of them, so we thought we'd touch and feel.

Salesperson Tom was incredibly helpful, took plenty of time with us, showed us everything we wanted and then some.  After we came back to the rig, we had narrowed down to a couple of Heartland models, and the one we liked the most (a Big Horn 3670RL) they didn't have in stock in Chicago, but did have a 2012 at one of their other locations.

What did become apparent was this was going to be the future, whether it was a near future or a far future, it was the direction we were heading.  And the scooter didn't fit into those plans -- no way to haul it.

We thought that to make that commitment to the future, we were in the perfect time/place to make that happen.  Where else but a college town as the students are coming back to school to sell a Chinese scooter?  We placed our first Craigslist ad Thursday, got a response that night, and by Friday at dinner time, it was loaded in the back of a guys truck and leaving the park.  Just like that, the end of an era.

Lo and behold the model we wanted was located at our friends (long story for another time) RV dealership in Batavia, about a 40 minute drive from Connie's parents and our hometown of Wilmington, Ohio.  They were kind enough to run down on Thursday and take a look at the model and THEY fell in love with it, too.

Long story short, here we are on Sunday, figuring to hear back from the dealership on Monday about loan approval and taking delivery plans.  So for the last 48 hours, as we're thinking about where this or that would go, we try to preface every sentence with "upon approval" so as not to jinx ourselves.

Hoping for the best!