Sometimes life takes us down unexpected pathways and 2020 so far is shaping up to be entirely out of left field. Something we had talked about periodically over the last few years was buying an RV as a fun alternative way to travel. It would give us the space to travel not only with the kids but also the dogs (a first with this generation of K9s). I wouldn’t have guessed this would be the time with all the other worldly chaos happening, but in an effort to help out nephew Tom (yes again), we realized it might be best just to make it happen.
Low and behold, last week we closed on and had delivered a 2017 Forest River 282QBXL that was lovingly cared for and on an RV lot less than an hour away. As usual, I made the selection process difficult with my typical analysis paralysis so I built an extensive analytical spreadsheet to disseminate the variables each contender had and before long some obvious choices rose to the top. Limited then by what Maryland and the neighboring states’ stay at home/essential business regulations were at the time, we started working with various dealers who were happy to have a real sales lead in this difficult climate. We found doing business was quite easy with most of the interactions happening remotely and safety precautions being met.
The push for this timing was in an effort to help out Tom, who had lived with us for a couple years while he found his adult legs. With the current situation, the University of MD is closing its entire campus so residents need to head home. Unfortunately that’s not much of an option for Tom and he doesn’t have a plan B, so he’ll be staying in it for a couple months (or so he promises). We’ve made it clear that we’re really excited to hitch it up to the truck and go as soon as possible so this is very temporary.
You know me, I’m already dreaming of the 440 campgrounds coast to coast to explore but for the near term I’m highlighting RV parks within a couple hours radius for this season’s travel. We obviously love the mountains, so its unlikely we’ll waste much time flatlanding and jump straight into testing the truck’s climbing abilities. The options look great and we can’t wait to get rolling. Now we look forward to new adventures in near and far away lands (as soon as the world hangs the open sign again).
