Can We Really Do This ??

Then the question occurred to me, what space do we actually use on a daily basis?  Thus began the daily exercise of looking around to see exactly what space we were using while watching TV, for example, cooking meals, after going to bed, etc.  Over the next month or so it became quite clear that the majority of space we had in our house was not being used, so what space was really needed?  It also became clear that we could function quite nicely with a lot less space. but what about everything we had in the house .... well, we'll get to that later.
I knew we needed enough space to not be indicted for bodily harm to one another .... lol.... Hmmmm, let me repeat...moving from a 2000 sq ft house to a diesel bus.  A man's just got to have some private space!

Before you know it, we were both online, every day, every night, like clockwork, looking at different possibilities and yet not knowing anything about any of them.  It had become an obsession for both of us!  It was exciting, it was dreaming, it was planning, it was our unique future coming to fruition in our hearts.  It was our future that we hoped would make our family happy as well as ourselves.   (We apologize to all our friends & family that were around during this process...we must have made you nuts with all the RV talk.  So sorry!  I'm sure you all thought we'd missed the boat, we'd become aliens already!) 

After seeing many different floor plans it became clear that what  we needed was at least a 40 - 45 foot bus, with 4 slide outs, no other option would be considered.  And because we were planning on pulling a trailer with the car inside, we would want a coach with a tag axle.  We also were firm on three particular brands that we'd consider. That's the criteria, right there in a nut shell.

In all reality, shopping for a diesel bus took over a year!  That's right folks, one year!  We prayed and studied and prayed and researched till the cows came home!  Then we shopped, shopped, shopped! For those who know us, every Friday night is date night.. our date nights became bus shopping excursions.  We visited several RV stores in the area, read the RV blogs like a newspaper, had several online sales spots bookmarked, asked a lot of questions and shopped some more!  We got to a point where we felt confident about what our needs really were, what the costs would be and what would work for us as full time RVers.

Our knowledge of a diesel bus came to a whole new level.  Education is a wonderful thing! Thinking back, I'm sure all the RV salesmen got to know us by name.  We were no longer the "newbys with no clue" however, they still thought they could sell us anything.  Look out sales people, I wasn't the only one asking detailed questions.  Jackie shocked me on several occasions with her knowledge about engines, generators, framework and the like.  She has always been "in the experience" to the full.  No doubt, just a woman on a mission.  In fact, we became so knowledgeable about diesel buses that the sales people couldn't answer all our questions.   Now that I think of it, we weren't always greeted at some of the places we shopped, I don't think they really believed we were going to buy a diesel bus.  They'd see us stop in, let us check out the new buses without any assistance and we'd drive out again.

Having a pretty good idea on what the costs were going to be, it was time to put it all in perspective and create a budget that would fit our new life style ..... Thus giving us a pricing point for purchase.  All that was left was finding the right bus ......