[encantotom]

Hello everyone, my wife and I have sold our house in south Florida, closing this week, and will be purchasing a Newell very soon. We have been going to RV shows for over 5 years and we have visited a number of dealer showrooms. We have seen many configurations, I cannot begin to count the number of driver seats I have tried. But I always come back to my first sit in a Newell in Tampa a few years ago - it was the first and only one I felt completely comfortable in. So we have been on the hunt and watching RV Trader closely for several years, and the time has finally come to make the move.

I have been consuming the great information on this site (thank you for all the posts!) and understand there are a few Gurus that do inspections. Are there any in the Phoenix area that we could hire to inspect the two we are considering for purchase? Since this is our first RV we plan to buy used, budget is $250K. There are a couple in the Phoenix area that are under this number; I expect to spend an additional 20-30% of the initial cost for maintenance, unknowns and simple modifications so we can get on the road and begin the adventure with confidence. I would like to have a good understanding of what the coach needs are before I sit with a sales person, negotiate and sign paperwork.

I have a small fleet of older cars, mileage on all but one well into the six figures. I have discovered over the decades that mileage does not matter, maintenance and regular use matters. I do not like mechanical work - so I take the vehicles to experts. I prefer to do preventative maintenance rather than repairs, so they are all immaculately maintained. I figure that plan will also work with RV's, it's just the dollar amount increases by an order of magnitude. But in a RV mechanicals are just one part of the whole; I understand that there is rarely a time that everything is working perfectly. Although I detest mechanical work, I do love to tinker - electrical, plumbing, woodworking, everything a home requires. I always have projects to do. I'm an electronics engineer by education, an information security geek by profession - which makes me a professional troubleshooter. Without a house, I will be hungry for projects - and what better way to get to know your home on wheels than to dive into the non-mechanical projects that will be there to do? I love to learn, and I have no doubt the learning curve will be a vertical line for the foreseeable future. We plan to live and work from the bus at least 10 months a year. We are SO looking forward to sleeping in our own bed rather than hotels (I'm writing this from another nice yet uncomfortable hotel room) We've driven across the country coast to coast six times, staying in hotels or with friends/family, unpacking, packing. We are ready to explore this spectacular country we call home without unpacking. Is there a better way than in a Newell?

Thank you for reading, we are looking forward to meeting as many of you as we can.

David and Tammy Sinnott
Plantation, FL
Newell chassis TBD