The Next Chapter

When I became critically ill, while we were in the Rio Grande Valley, we had a decision to make. We were full time RVers. There was no way that I could do the tasks necessary to just manage the day to day routine of living and traveling in a fifth wheel. What were we to do?

The details of my medical journey and the journey from Texas to Michigan are in the previous five posts. We decided that we would not be able to live and travel in an RV any longer. We decided we needed to be where we had the kind of support to manage our situation. With my needing a double transplant we knew that it would likely be years of just trying to survive if I survived at all. So we decided to sell our rig. I couldn’t even get in our RAM 3500 and living in a fifth wheel in Michigan in February just didn’t seem desirable.

Most pressing was the truck. Soon after returning back to Michigan we contacted our friends at Terry Henricks Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Archibald, Ohio. We knew and trusted these folks and were certain they would give us the best deal possible. We traded the RAM for a Pacifica which has been perfect for our needs.

We began the process of selling the fifth wheel. We had a few minor repairs which needed to be made. I am grateful to friends here in Michigan who were willing to do these for us. We wanted to get as good  a price as possible so these repairs were essential. We decided on the price we wanted and listed it a little higher to give us some room to negotiate. We listed the RV in three places. We listed it on FB Marketplace, Craig’s List, and RV Trader. Within a few weeks we had a buyer from the RV Trader listing.

When we had started this process we could not have anticipated how dramatically or quickly our circumstances would change. We just knew we would never be full time RVers again, if RVers at all. How could we have anticipated receiving  my liver and kidney only two days after getting on the transplant list! That just doesn’t happen! Ever! But it did!

Even while I was in the hospital, after I was feeling better, I had begun looking online at RVs. We were thinking about what RVing might look like in our future. We began to believe we could have RVing in our future. But not full time. So what  kind of RV might work for us now?

A large fifth wheel and large truck would not be in our future. It was a handful when I was well, there was no way I wanted to try that again. After considering our options we finally concluded that a Class C or smaller Class A might work for us. We would look for an older model C or A. The search continued.

And then there it was. A 1999 Fleetwood Southwind Storm 30H. It was in great shape for a 22 year old motorhome. It had about 26,000 miles on it. The owner had done a number of updates on it. We took a test ride and decided we would move forward. Everything looked good but I wanted to be sure. I had a friend who knows RVs and is especially familiar with automobiles go over it with me. He gave it the thumbs up and we decided to make an offer.

Meet Chance. Like Mary and I, he’s old and has a few signs of old age, but all in all he’s in amazing condition for an old man. We’ve had a few little issues with him as we expected. We knew going in that the old guy wasn’t perfect. But he’s been well loved and we will continue to love him well.

We’ve taken two trips together for a total of eleven nights. We’re getting along with Chance just fine. The biggest challenge has been learning how all the systems work. We have all his paperwork, but RV manuals are so poorly written they are practically useless. But little by little we are learning how he works. One thing for sure is he’s a keeper. We are proud to have him.

So why did we name him Chance? We were Prowling with Pete-N-Pen. The explanation for that in an earlier post. But now that things have changed we are the Second Chance Vagabonds. We have been given a second chance. We are going to continue to travel. We don’t anticipate ever being full time again. But we do hope to someday be ⅔ to ¾ time travelers. For the next few months we’ll stay close. Maybe next summer we’ll take a long journey. I am hopeful that we’ll be able to spend the winter of 22-23 somewhere warm.

There are journeys in our future. So we will be vagabonds. I’ll continue to write about our journeys and experiences. I’m hopeful that you will enjoy our journey and join us online if not on the road.