Over 20 yrs I Have Wanted This.....

Where oh where have we been.......??  Shopping, buying, spending money, going broke :)
Good news we have a truck. We 'finally' found one in Goshen In., which is near Elkhart where Heartlands and Keystone RV's are made. The dealership Concord Cars was just awesome to deal with. Remember my rant a couple of blogs ago about that horrible sales lady we had? Well this was just the opposite. Our sales man was so nice, not pushy, very eager to sell but didn't make it seem like it was life or death if he did. And they gave us a great deal and came down to what we needed it to be.  It belonged to an elderly couple who had a fifth wheel but wanted to trade for a Class A Motorhome.  It is a 2005, dual tires, and a diesel.  It has significant fewer miles at 51,000 compared to the 102,000 the other one had.  It is a sand color which the other one was white. This one is not a 4x4, which we decided we didn't need. If the weather is bad we will stay off the road. It makes a much smoother ride and is better on gas. This couple took really good care of it and the inside is immaculate.  This one has back up sensors which I really like because it is a long bed which the other one and the one we have now is a short bed. It seems really long........

Notice our turkey Bell in the left hand corner. She matches the color :)  It had been raining and was cold and miserable outside.

As angry as we were about the drunk driving accident that totaled our truck, and lost us $3,000 we feel so blessed today that we were able to find one in our price range and that is much better in the long run for us. The lower mileage alone is a huge benefit.

Ok...we are so happy to get the truck and there is more........Ever since I can remember over 20 yrs. I have wanted one of these. They were especially popular in 2003 when a movie came out with them in it called The Italian Job. Did any of you see it?? What with a growing family, and other obligations it was never a good time for me to get one.  Art and I decided after much talking that we wanted a second vehicle to follow the truck and fifth wheel. And so we needed something that would get good gas mileage because obviously the truck will not. When Art was scouring over the internet looking for a truck he found this for me........

I finally got my Mini Cooper. It is British Racing Green, my favorite. It was owned by a collage student and was well taken care of. The interior is just spotless. 

To let you know how bad I have always wanted one when we got our little black dachshund I named him Mini Cooper because he was a mini dachshund. Remember the wienies are Effie and Cooper. We traded in our Buick Rendevous which was a 6 cylinder, it usually cost us $60 to fill it up if on empty. We filled up the Mini Cooper for $35 the other night. It has just incredible get up and go for a 4 cylinder. Plus, while following Art I can bebop to music and sing away the miles. :)  I just love it as a matter of fact I could sleep in it :)) Not really.....too cold!!

 As most of you know Art retired July 31st of this year. We have done 2 camp hosting positions and knew we wanted to full time for many many years. So April 1st we will turn our house over to our daughter and we will be homeless of a sticks and bricks style. We traded in our Sundance for a bigger fifth wheel since it is going to be our home. We bought a Keystone Avalanche. This fifth wheel has to have 5 times more storage in it than ours. The kitchen and the living room are so much roomier. It is the 343rs model.

 

The hutch or cabinet at the end of the kitchen is just awesome. I will get to take my bread box! Isn't that funny that I was going to miss my bread box but I was.  And I love love love that the bathroom is a separate room. Our sink and shower is in our bedroom now and so if someone is showering you have to wait until they are finished to go up into the bedroom to get something. After living in ours for 2 1/2 months you sure learn what is important, what isn't, what you need, and can live without.  Hopefully we can pick it up in about 10 days. Now we have the truck to pull it! Ya :)))))
 This is not the exact one that will be ours but exactly like it.  We bought ours at Modern Trailer Sales in Anderson In. We were really pleased with the deal they gave us and have heard some really good things about their service dept. I hope we don't have to find out :)

 






See the two little windows? Those are on either side of the stove. Love that! I am a window/light person and so the more windows the better for me. This model had windows on both sides.




 
 And we have a fireplace.....hooray!  And a big screen TV, we have a little screen TV in our Sundance. The Sundance is a really nice little fifth wheel if you are going to do a lot of traveling but not to live in. It is considered a mid profile where as the Avalanche is a full profile. We are just so excited to get it. It is by far the nicest home we will have ever lived in. All our stick and bricks have been old farm houses not new like this.

So now we will begin to go through our house.... keep what we want to put in the fifth wheel, divide things up between the girls and then sell the rest in March.  Whew...we have been here 18 yrs so wish us luck!!!!  We have gone through our stuff many times and de-cluttered especially after Lindsay got married so I hope it won't be too bad. Believe it or not I still had some pictures from Hardin Ridge I wanted to post....maybe I will get around to it soon. If you don't hear from us....you know what we will be doing. As many of you have already gone through this any advice or help we would sure appreciate it.
So from Thorntown we send hugs and best wishes.