[LJSteinmetz]

Hello,

I found out about this forum from Rudy Legett. I have been posting for a couple of weeks on the Foretravel Forum and Rudy sent me a PM inviting my wife and me to come meet him and his wife and to show us his Foretravel. We had a wonderful visit with Rudy and Carolyn. Rudy is certainly an advocate for Foretravel but has excellent things to say about Newell (well, in general, who doesn't actually). One thing that Rudy said that struck a cord with me (among many other things he passed on to me in such a short time) was that, considering we are looking for an early-to-mid 2000s coach with slides that we should maybe take a closer look at Newell. We hadn't really considered a Newell due to cost but, given the price range we are going to be in anyway, a Newell is far from a stretch depending on the year.

The following is pretty much the same introduction I posted at www.luxurycoachlifestyle.com so apologies for somewhat of a double-post on two Newell sites. Also, sorry about the long, first post but if I can say everything that needs to be said in 50 words, 500 HAS to be mo' betta!

After 32 years of active service (prior Navy; retired Coast Guard in 2008) I am close to winding down my Coast Guard civilian career and hope to retire for good in 2018. Our current plan is to sell our house early (late 2015/early 2016) and to purchase/live in the coach we intend to go full-timing in until I retire. We have been members of Escapees since 2004 and had always thought that we would buy a Volvo and a fifth wheel (custom New Horizons or Continental).

Over the past year something has changed (can't really put our fingers on it) but we have become more interested in a diesel pusher than in a fiver. We have looked at several 2014 Newmar & Entegra coaches and like them. We have slowly come around to the idea of buying a very nice used DP rather than new so that we can get more bang for our buck and to enter full-timing with something that is not going to be losing 10's of thousands of dollars in depreciation our first few years out.

For the past 5-6 months we have been exploring and researching as much as we can Country Coaches and Foretravels. As metioned above, Rudy suggested that we take a closer look at a Newell. Sooo, now our research moves on to finding out as much as we can about Newells.

We will not be purchasing anything until probably Fall of 2015 so there is plenty of time to compare and contrast the different brands we are considering. In general, we are looking for a 45' with slides and with a 600+ HP engine but will look at a smaller engine depending on weight/HP/torque considerations.

I look forward to reading all the great information on this forum.

Regards,