My short story.
I have never RV'd before. But I started looking at the option of driving a small Class B for business for several reasons:
1. I was getting tired of air travel for business and don't like the uncertainties of air travel. If one flight is delayed, it cascades to the other flights. Sometimes they cancel all together and you have to scramble.
2. I missed seeing clients in between. So if I flew to San Francisco to put on a tree show, I missed seeing distributors in Reno and Salt Lake etc.
3. My wife doesn't fly so even though I go to places, I go by myself.
4. Difficult to take all of the stuff you need to go to a show when you are flying.
5. I can't take any chemical on an airplane anymore.
Other reasons, but those were the basics.
So I started looking at the idea of a Class B on a Sprinter chassis. Thought about it and prayed about it for 3 years. Finally had a great opportunity in October, so I purchased a slightly used (9000miles) Leisure Travel Serenity, in October of last year. It was fully loaded by the previous two owners who bought it, hardly used it, and sold it back because it didn't meet their needs. Their loss, my gain.
Trip 1. I flew into kalispell, Mt on a Monday evening, purchased it from Creston RV on a Tuesday, made my first overnight camp in Kalispell that night, and drove to Salt Lake City next day. Saw my first client, and then back to Omaha.
Trip 2. Took it to my first show in Louisville KY at the end of October. They have a campground there on the grounds of the Kentucky Expo, so I used that. Neat. The Serenity is small enough that you can use it for your car. Average fuel mileage so far was 16mpg and I had put on about 3000+ miles. I like the idea of being able to take your own bed bugs with you instead of depending on the hotel!!!
Trip 3. Drove it from Omaha to Charlotte NC for a show in the second week in November. On the way back I encountered my first high winds in Illinois on the front and back side of Tornadoes all day. Not fun to drive in cross winds, but doable. Average mileage for November was about 17 and I put on 3200 miles.
Trip 4. The biggy. Just returned after two weeks from what seemed like to me "All Points West". Drove from Omaha to Laramie Wyoming on a Friday. Weather alerts on my phone and the Serenity's rocking movements told me that high winds were a comin'. 25-45mph side winds with gusts from 55-66mph. No snow, but blowing snow and black ice across Wyoming. Left Laramie at 1:00am and drove - slowly - to Rawlins where I stopped at the Pilot and slept for 4 hours. That was not fun at all!!! Down to 30mph for an hour. Next am, drove on into Ogden and it was still windy, but most of the wind was straight out of the West.
Ogden to Twin Falls that day, and Twin Falls to Boise on Sunday. Not too cold. Temps during the days in the 30's to 40's but at night in the 20's. No problem with freezing up. Boise to Pasco on Monday. Stayed at a campground in Boise, then drove to Wenatchee for another show. Lovely campground their on the Confluence of the river, but only one other camper. Lonely!!! Drove from Wenatchee to Spokane for next show. Thursday afternoon drove from Spokane across Washington to Seattle Thursday evening. Wasn't looking forward to driving the Cascades in winter, but no problem. No snow anywhere so far. Left the Serenity at the Thrifty Parking lot and flew back to Omaha for the weekend. So far so good.
Flew back on Sunday afternoon to Seattle. PU the Serenity and drove it Olympia and an RV campground. Drove to Portland on Monday and visited with distributors and then dry camped at nephews house in West Portland. Drove back to Auburn Wa for tree show, and then back to Portland that evening and dry camped at nephews house again.
Now the long haul home. Wed am, drove to Medford, saw a client, and then drove down to Mt Shasta. At Weed CA, I made the decision to forgo driving to Sacramento and over Donner, and drove Hwy 89 across northern CA around the north edge of the Sierras into Reno. No snow and no problems. No services for 60 miles. Ok. Running great.
Thursday am left Reno very early, and drove to Salt Lake City. Got there about 4:00pm and visited with a client. Left there just before rush hour and drove to Rawlins, Wy that evening. Supposed to be down to 1 degree that night in Rawlins, but don't think it got below 5 degrees. NO problem. Nice and toasty. This thing seems to be pretty well insulated. Friday am drove from Rawlins and back to Omaha.
Whew!!! 5400 miles in two weeks. 16.4 mpg on my diesel Sprinter. I had a low mileage of 13.5 and a high of 23. The mileage on the Sprinter didn't really have many wild swings when I was going against the wind. Usually drove around 67mph. No snow anywhere so I didn't get to try out my "AutoSocks"!!! Ok, I'm glad there was no snow.
Would I do it again. Yes, but I don't know about the dead of winter. Everyone in Washington said there wasn't any snow, so I don't know what it would be like to drive on snow packed roads. The side winds in Wyoming were not something I'd like to relive!!! White knuckle and high pucker effect. But the Serenity was great for my needs. I slept well and warm at night and hardly used any propane at all for the 3-4 nights I was on propane. The other times when I was at an RV site, the heat pump kicks in. Allstays and Gas Buddy are two indispensible tools.
That's all. Just thought people would be interested.
Chip
I have never RV'd before. But I started looking at the option of driving a small Class B for business for several reasons:
1. I was getting tired of air travel for business and don't like the uncertainties of air travel. If one flight is delayed, it cascades to the other flights. Sometimes they cancel all together and you have to scramble.
2. I missed seeing clients in between. So if I flew to San Francisco to put on a tree show, I missed seeing distributors in Reno and Salt Lake etc.
3. My wife doesn't fly so even though I go to places, I go by myself.
4. Difficult to take all of the stuff you need to go to a show when you are flying.
5. I can't take any chemical on an airplane anymore.
Other reasons, but those were the basics.
So I started looking at the idea of a Class B on a Sprinter chassis. Thought about it and prayed about it for 3 years. Finally had a great opportunity in October, so I purchased a slightly used (9000miles) Leisure Travel Serenity, in October of last year. It was fully loaded by the previous two owners who bought it, hardly used it, and sold it back because it didn't meet their needs. Their loss, my gain.
Trip 1. I flew into kalispell, Mt on a Monday evening, purchased it from Creston RV on a Tuesday, made my first overnight camp in Kalispell that night, and drove to Salt Lake City next day. Saw my first client, and then back to Omaha.
Trip 2. Took it to my first show in Louisville KY at the end of October. They have a campground there on the grounds of the Kentucky Expo, so I used that. Neat. The Serenity is small enough that you can use it for your car. Average fuel mileage so far was 16mpg and I had put on about 3000+ miles. I like the idea of being able to take your own bed bugs with you instead of depending on the hotel!!!
Trip 3. Drove it from Omaha to Charlotte NC for a show in the second week in November. On the way back I encountered my first high winds in Illinois on the front and back side of Tornadoes all day. Not fun to drive in cross winds, but doable. Average mileage for November was about 17 and I put on 3200 miles.
Trip 4. The biggy. Just returned after two weeks from what seemed like to me "All Points West". Drove from Omaha to Laramie Wyoming on a Friday. Weather alerts on my phone and the Serenity's rocking movements told me that high winds were a comin'. 25-45mph side winds with gusts from 55-66mph. No snow, but blowing snow and black ice across Wyoming. Left Laramie at 1:00am and drove - slowly - to Rawlins where I stopped at the Pilot and slept for 4 hours. That was not fun at all!!! Down to 30mph for an hour. Next am, drove on into Ogden and it was still windy, but most of the wind was straight out of the West.
Ogden to Twin Falls that day, and Twin Falls to Boise on Sunday. Not too cold. Temps during the days in the 30's to 40's but at night in the 20's. No problem with freezing up. Boise to Pasco on Monday. Stayed at a campground in Boise, then drove to Wenatchee for another show. Lovely campground their on the Confluence of the river, but only one other camper. Lonely!!! Drove from Wenatchee to Spokane for next show. Thursday afternoon drove from Spokane across Washington to Seattle Thursday evening. Wasn't looking forward to driving the Cascades in winter, but no problem. No snow anywhere so far. Left the Serenity at the Thrifty Parking lot and flew back to Omaha for the weekend. So far so good.
Flew back on Sunday afternoon to Seattle. PU the Serenity and drove it Olympia and an RV campground. Drove to Portland on Monday and visited with distributors and then dry camped at nephews house in West Portland. Drove back to Auburn Wa for tree show, and then back to Portland that evening and dry camped at nephews house again.
Now the long haul home. Wed am, drove to Medford, saw a client, and then drove down to Mt Shasta. At Weed CA, I made the decision to forgo driving to Sacramento and over Donner, and drove Hwy 89 across northern CA around the north edge of the Sierras into Reno. No snow and no problems. No services for 60 miles. Ok. Running great.
Thursday am left Reno very early, and drove to Salt Lake City. Got there about 4:00pm and visited with a client. Left there just before rush hour and drove to Rawlins, Wy that evening. Supposed to be down to 1 degree that night in Rawlins, but don't think it got below 5 degrees. NO problem. Nice and toasty. This thing seems to be pretty well insulated. Friday am drove from Rawlins and back to Omaha.
Whew!!! 5400 miles in two weeks. 16.4 mpg on my diesel Sprinter. I had a low mileage of 13.5 and a high of 23. The mileage on the Sprinter didn't really have many wild swings when I was going against the wind. Usually drove around 67mph. No snow anywhere so I didn't get to try out my "AutoSocks"!!! Ok, I'm glad there was no snow.
Would I do it again. Yes, but I don't know about the dead of winter. Everyone in Washington said there wasn't any snow, so I don't know what it would be like to drive on snow packed roads. The side winds in Wyoming were not something I'd like to relive!!! White knuckle and high pucker effect. But the Serenity was great for my needs. I slept well and warm at night and hardly used any propane at all for the 3-4 nights I was on propane. The other times when I was at an RV site, the heat pump kicks in. Allstays and Gas Buddy are two indispensible tools.
That's all. Just thought people would be interested.
Chip