We thought we had found the one we would own... we had been pre-approved for a loan, we had done our research on what our money could buy for us, and we found the perfect redone, modern Airstream!!
But... we found out, that doesn't really mean anything, until you can see it in your rearview!
The seller of the particular (awesome) Airstream hadn't yet changed over the title in to his name (he bought in 2007!!), and our bank would not go ahead with THAT particular loan without a verification of title being in sellers name. Totally understandable, but a deal-breaker too!! Bummer.
However...
We did get a chance to drive a couple hours from here and see 2 different Airstreams, and make some comparisons and such. The two we looked at were:
A 1970 28' ft Overlander, with a pull out in front and two twins in the middle and a rear bath. This one had been well taken care of, and I think we would have bought in a heart beat, if only it had been the longer model. If only, right?!
and a 1979 31' Sovereign, also with a pull out in front and two twins in the middle and a rear bath. This one had obviously been left sitting for a while, and had some obvious rust in places, and the seller had just redone part of the sub-flooring.
And the difference was big. That two/three feet of interior space is actually noticeable. The 1970 was actually in better condition than the newer one, but on both we would have to do a bit to remodel to fit these four kids of ours. We plan on doing bunkbeds and whatnot... still not sure exactly.
We learned a bit on this trip on what we are looking for and what we could deal with.
*a 30' camper will fit our family a bit better for a long term camping situation.
*the older models have an awful fake wood paneling that would eventually need to be updated.
*making an Airstream "shiny" is a lot of work! (the older one was being shined, but the newer one had been painted "silver". Shiny was definitely better looking!)
*The couches are awful in the '70's!
*The kids LOVE to find the little hidey holes located all over most campers. It was fun to see.
Today we researched some hitches for pulling RV's... still totally confused on that :)
There is a couple more we hope to take a peek at this next week.
We will hope for some planet's aligning to find that "perfect one".
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Finding the right one
I have convinced the husband that my dream of owning an Airstream is a possibility... sooner, rather than later!
What got me started on this whole making the dream come true was our up-coming road trip to Oregon for the summer. To fly me and the kids out there was pretty spendy; and then when you add a rental car, or borrowing someone's car... it adds either more expense or just stress. Sowe I started thinking of alternatives. Here is some I thought of:
-Just not going. Staying here in Texas for the summer and then starting school again in the early fall. (with the hot temps, this does not sound very good to me!)
-Making a shorter trip, and borrowing a car. This was the original plan, but with the husband being gone for over 6 months, I wanted to stay longer to visit and get some support from family.
-Renting an RV for the 2-3 months that we were planning on being gone. I posted an ad saying we were interested in renting one for a couple months, but nothing has panned out yet.
-Buying an RV for ourselves.
As you can see, the buying one for ourselves seemed like a good choice. With all the camping we do as a family, put together with the unknown terrain and weather of where we live, having an RV seems like a good choice. And what better RV than an Airstream?
Seriously, an Airstream is just so.... so pretty. I have a hard time putting it into words, but the shiny bubble just looks fun and neat. Vintage. At heart, I am a complete hippy, so the vintage thing speaks to me.
So, now I have him (husband) convinced that it couldn't hurt to just look for one, and see if it was feasible. Look I did!
And I found some really nice ones.
And some really crappy ones.
The nice ones were/are mostly out of our price range, and the really crappy ones were cheaper, but would um... take a lot of work!
I kept looking. I just knew with enough looking, I would find "The one" (even though I have already found "the one"... he is my perfect match!)
We had to decide on how big of one we wanted that would fit us, the four kids and the dog and cat possibly. On this, we decided on either a 29' or a 31'. They usually sleep 4 comfortable, but we had planned on having to add bunks anyways...
Floor plans are pretty much the same in both... a pair of twins either in the back or middle (with the bathroom in the opposite spot) and a fold out couch in the "living room".
Well, we think we found the perfect one. It is only about 5 hrs from where we live, and I am so excited to go see it next weekend!! I will be posting pictures of this adventure as we get closer to the road trip and fully stocked... I think it will be fun.
Hubs still thinks I am crazy wanting to live in a 31' camper with four kids, a dog, and a cat while he is gone... but I told him: Life is an adventure. I am thinking of this as a challenge... and most of the time, I really like my kids and enjoy being close to them!
Wish us luck!
What got me started on this whole making the dream come true was our up-coming road trip to Oregon for the summer. To fly me and the kids out there was pretty spendy; and then when you add a rental car, or borrowing someone's car... it adds either more expense or just stress. So
-Just not going. Staying here in Texas for the summer and then starting school again in the early fall. (with the hot temps, this does not sound very good to me!)
-Making a shorter trip, and borrowing a car. This was the original plan, but with the husband being gone for over 6 months, I wanted to stay longer to visit and get some support from family.
-Renting an RV for the 2-3 months that we were planning on being gone. I posted an ad saying we were interested in renting one for a couple months, but nothing has panned out yet.
-Buying an RV for ourselves.
As you can see, the buying one for ourselves seemed like a good choice. With all the camping we do as a family, put together with the unknown terrain and weather of where we live, having an RV seems like a good choice. And what better RV than an Airstream?
Seriously, an Airstream is just so.... so pretty. I have a hard time putting it into words, but the shiny bubble just looks fun and neat. Vintage. At heart, I am a complete hippy, so the vintage thing speaks to me.
So, now I have him (husband) convinced that it couldn't hurt to just look for one, and see if it was feasible. Look I did!
And I found some really nice ones.
And some really crappy ones.
The nice ones were/are mostly out of our price range, and the really crappy ones were cheaper, but would um... take a lot of work!
I kept looking. I just knew with enough looking, I would find "The one" (even though I have already found "the one"... he is my perfect match!)
We had to decide on how big of one we wanted that would fit us, the four kids and the dog and cat possibly. On this, we decided on either a 29' or a 31'. They usually sleep 4 comfortable, but we had planned on having to add bunks anyways...
Floor plans are pretty much the same in both... a pair of twins either in the back or middle (with the bathroom in the opposite spot) and a fold out couch in the "living room".
Well, we think we found the perfect one. It is only about 5 hrs from where we live, and I am so excited to go see it next weekend!! I will be posting pictures of this adventure as we get closer to the road trip and fully stocked... I think it will be fun.
Hubs still thinks I am crazy wanting to live in a 31' camper with four kids, a dog, and a cat while he is gone... but I told him: Life is an adventure. I am thinking of this as a challenge... and most of the time, I really like my kids and enjoy being close to them!
Wish us luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)