How it all started
This particular adventure started back in late 2021. A new position at work was opening up for me (Matt) and it would allow me to work from home. With that new freedom on the horizon, we decided that we were finally going to make the move to the north. Duluth, Minnesota was our target city and we began to make plans and started looking at real estate listings. A few months later, we got a wild hair and decided that maybe the housing market was not going to work in our favor, so we looked at other ways to exploit my new found work freedom and looked at a couple of brand new motorhomes. These things were big and nice and would provide everything we needed for extended stays away from our actual home. After crunching the numbers on new units, it was decided that we should fall back to the original plan to buy a home in an area we wanted to be.
Fast forward to June, 2022 and we’ve taken a few virtual tours but haven’t found anything that we loved. We’re camping on the north shore of Lake Superior at Tettegouche State Park and have made plans with our agent to see some homes. We toured at least 6 or 7 homes in Duluth and the surrounding area. One stuck out as a clear favorite. It was in the great Lakeside neighborhood just a few blocks from the water. We strongly considered putting in an offer. We eventually decided to wait to see what the market would do. We’re in the great position to have purchased our Indiana home back in 2012 when rates and prices were low. We just couldn’t come to grips with the much higher rate and prices, which would have made the mortgage payment border on uncomfortable. After much consideration, we decided to explore options again.
We’ve always loved to travel, and after seeing the motorhomes a few months back, that lifestyle had continued to call out to us. We switched gears and started searching for used motorhomes. We scoured the internet, eventually finding one that appeared to be in great shape. It was only 6 years old and had just over 13,000 miles on it. I reached out to the dealer to get more information. I took a virtual tour and talked to the salesperson for about an hour and had decided that this was the one. We decided that I would put down a deposit pending financing approval. Turns out, someone else had the same idea! I was now second in line for one of the nicest used RVs that I had seen in weeks of searching. They say things work out how they are supposed to and the deal ahead of me in line fell through. I wasted no time filling out the financing documents and anxiously awaited a response.
After working through some paperwork and emails back and forth, we set up a delivery date. Knowing that my brother is normally down for a road trip or other adventure, I asked if he’d want to go along. Unfortunately for him, he was not able to get the time off of work. I asked my mom if she would want to go and she agreed. I booked plane tickets. Jackie agreed to stay home with all the pets. Early, and I mean early, on Wednesday morning, July 20th, we boarded a southbound Southwest flight in Indianapolis. This was really happening!
We landed in steamy Tampa around 7:15am and got our rental car and headed towards Clearwater. It was already hot, so we wanted to get some beach time in before it really heated up. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then played in the sand and water for a few hours. After getting our fill of 100 degree heat and sun, we got lunch at Frenchy’s. Beau ate calamari without even questioning it. If you know him, you know that he is quite averse to strange looking food! He must have eaten about 10 of them. He preferred the tiny ones with all the tentacles still attached.
Having been up since about 3am, we were tired and ready to relax for a while. We headed northeast towards Wildwood and The Villages to stage for RV pick up the next morning. We slept in a no frills, but very comfortable and well air conditioned Red Roof Inn right off the highway. The next morning, we went to Wal-Mart to pick up an order I had placed a few days earlier. We got a coffee maker, fan, pillows, a few basic tools, a garden hose, pizza cooker, you know, the essentials for the RV. We arrived at the dealership around 12pm and got a very thorough walkaround and how-to session. After that, I test drove it and signed all the paperwork. We parked behind the dealership in their RV park. This was a great option and is standard for them. This gives you the chance to sleep in it once and make sure all is well before you head home. Everything went well the first night and we headed out bright and early on Friday morning. I had a site booked about 300 miles north. The first leg of the journey was on busy Florida interstates and was a little nerve wracking. I just stayed right and tried to get out of the way. Eventually the traffic subsided and it was easy cruising. After another successful night in the RV in central Georgia, we headed out again. Today was going to involve going through Atlanta and Nashville. Neither of which I looked forward to, but both of which I made it through unscathed. We stayed in northern Tennessee only about 4 hours from home on Saturday night. We spent a couple hours in the pool and cooked a couple of frozen pizzas and pizza rolls and had another restful night. By mid-afternoon on Sunday we were already pulling into the driveway after successfully driving it 900 miles home. Somehow it fits reasonably well in front of the garage. We spent the next couple weeks making it feel like home and readying it for whatever its next adventure would be.
