Sunday, January 29, 2012

Beach Home on Wheels!

08Romeo departing KILG - photo by Vince G.
Well after a few weeks of searching and looking at various units Mary and I closed on a motor home.  Yes, we will now have a 'beach home' on wheels, in Ocean City Maryland. We gave some thought to a unit in Maine for just under what we set as our limit but decided to fly up and back at least twice and drive it home would balance out for what we were going to spend locally.
We decided to take 08Romeo to Allentown/Queen City airport' KXLL.  The wx was perfect this morning and we had a nice tail wind.  Mary got to try her new Bose headset and she loved it!  She could hear the music and could hear approach control much better than before.  We were both excited but we wanted to stick to our plan.
Limerick Nuke Plant - At PTW
This was a fun flight to a new airport on our list. We've passed over this airport many times on our trips to/from Wilkes-Barre. It was a smooth landing and taxi to the FBO on the field.  We secured 08Romeo, checked in and called a taxi.  A quick hop uptown and $10 later we were at the RV dealer.  We were given a tour of the unit and then left alone to investigate and make a list of questions. We went through this motor home like two inspectors on a final walk through on one of my construction projects.  I went through the outside and Mary started on the inside.  We compared notes investigated some things again together and then met up with the sales person, Brandon.

The only thing we didn't do is fire up the AC units, heater and water flows.  He assured me it all worked and they would have it ready to test when we came back to close the deal.  We haggled on the price, got the roof to be resealed along the perimeter and penetrations along with a small punch list.  Mary and I were satisfied and made an offer.
I like to horse trade but I did have to increase my bid a bit to close the deal.  We were happy with the final price and the unit.  We will fly back in a couple of weeks to drive our 'new to us' home away from home beach house back to Delaware.

We want to do a few things to the inside, like change out the curtains and give everything a real good cleaning, plus stock our "stuff" where it will now go.  Of course we will have to get Maggie used to climbing in and out and letting her get settled in. 
More to follow....

7 comments:

Geoff Nelson said...

I've been following this RV thread of yours. Cool idea! Will you keep it in storage at the beach area or where will you keep it? I'm intigued with this and am curious what it will cost you to keep her at the beach. Thanks for sharing and have fun!

Gary said...

Geoff,
When I called to lock into a full service lot just 4 miles out of Ocean City I was told Maryland just changed their rules.

Previously you were only allowed 6 months now they changed to 8 or 9 months. lot rent for the season ranges between 2700 and 3500 with water, sewer and cable. Electric is on the renter and it runs around $50 a month. Most RV parks have a pool, bath house and a place to do laundry. We only need the utilities.

We'll store the unit either here at the house or at one of the local airports where I work, still working that out.

Diggerdavid said...

Gary, congrats. We just drove down this weekend to Sea Isle City, NJ and reserved a lot in Timber Creek Camping Resort for the summer. We own a 30' trailer so we are set for that. The Camp Ground is only Seasonals and the $4,100.00 includes site, water, sewer and cable for March 31 to Oct. 15. Plus, it's only 10 minutes from Woodbine Airport. How about that!

Adam said...

ROAD TRIP! Congrats Gary I can see you at Osh in that Baby!

Steve said...

Yay! And yeah, that's the way to visit OSH for sure! :)

Gary said...

David, I have so much to learn about the RV's. I hope to be up to speed by the end of the season! How do you get back and forth to Timber Creek, drive? Nice to fly in and not have to deal with traffic!

Adam, I'm not sure Mary would like if the beach house vanished for two weeks in July. Besides, who would want to drive all those hours???

Gary said...

Steve, See my response to Adam...I'f the bride ain't happy we're not happy. ;)