Moving on Up

drivebyandy · May 13, 2013

I had been building a van for myself (even had a conversion thread going) but then progress stalled during the winter and my doubts had finally gotten the best of me. Two weeks ago I bought a 20' motorhome! It's the same length as my van but as you probably know, the extra width and height really makes a huge difference. Now I've been working on fixing the brakes and redoing the interior. Mostly ripping out the original carpet from 1977 and things like that. I plan to keep most of it as it is but I took out the top portion of the sofa/bed and built a permanent twin sized bed in its place. My plan is to live in it while staying around the area through the summer and then I would like to take off down south towards the end of the year. I don't have a goal set for when to move into it yet. But so far things have been going a little faster and better than expected for a change. The main doubts I had with the van were related to space. If I were by myself I could have made it work I believe, but I've decided I'm keeping my cats so I feel a lot more comfortable about the idea and the extra space. It's also been very nice to have everything already built and put together compared to trying to put it all together from scratch in the van. I'll probably be hanging around the forums more often again now that I feel like things are moving in a forward direction once more but otherwise you can follow along at my blog (in my signature) and I've even started YouTubing, which is something completely new for me. <div style="text-align: center;"><img class="bbc_img" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HRz3T7RfZ...600/3Kc3M23Jd5G95Ea5Kbd4n0f9cfc3437c31700.jpg" rel="lightbox"></div>

ontheroadagain · May 13, 2013

Nice looking rig. I always wanted one similar. I keep watch for your posts. curious how it does for mpg.

drivebyandy · May 13, 2013

Thanks. I had actually passed it up the first time I went to look at it but I couldn't stop thinking about it and I was actually depressed when I came home after not buying it. I went back up a few days later and bought it.  I drove it 180 miles back home without any problems, amazingly. All expressway at 60-65mph other than a few miles to get on the expressway and a few miles to get home from it. I haven't driven it on the road at all since getting it home so mpg-wise I have no clue yet. I'm expecting/hoping it'll be somewhere around my van, which gets 11mpg. Right now I'm driving 50 miles a day roundtrip to work  and once I move into the motorhome I plan to stay close to work, so I'll be saving quite a bit in gas money that way.

rvwandering · May 13, 2013

 Congratulations - it looks really nice! As someone who spent a year living in a van and who now lives in a little motorhome. I think that you made a good decision. The comfort level of a motorhome makes up for what you might lose in stealth or mileage. Have fun fixing it to suit you!