Reno Nevada or bust.

[Bawanna]

May be off the hook. Wife is seriously on the war path as usual before any vacation, said she could get plane tickets to Reno 400 round trip if I didn't want to go. Told her it was a bargain at any price, let me know what time to take her to the airport.

She has this huge desire to buy a travel trailer or preferably a Motor Home, neither of which I can even get in or move around in but it's what people our age do, (ones with legs) you know 1-800- Go RVing!
We have a small travel trailer we got for the son to live in while at school. It was junk when we bought it and it's really junk now. Hate to even look at it.

I have no use for another house with an engine rotting on the side of the house that I can't even get in, can't maintain, and can't afford.

I was hoping to save that argument until after Reno but son helped bring it up last night so the war paint is on. Her friends just bought a 38' 5th wheel toy hauler. I can't imagine a more stressful way to travel around the country than with a 38' house following your truck around. Great fun that.
I had major ulcers in my youth, I'm not gonna go there again over this stuff.

So maybe I'm going and maybe I'm not............................................

The saga continues.

[MW surveyor]

So, how far is it really from your house to Reno? Remember, I'm in Texas and things just down the road here are over 300 miles away?

I'm surprised that Mrs. Bawanna would want a motor home or even a 5th wheel. Mrs. MW says that the most camping that she wants to do is a good motel room with breakfast service. I'm at the point where I agree with her. (sorry, my man card has been partially revoked during the recovery period).

Still a whole bunch of driving. Don't fall for the "If you don't want to go" trap. You'll never live it down.

[Bawanna]

So, how far is it really from your house to Reno? Remember, I'm in Texas and things just down the road here are over 300 miles away?

I'm surprised that Mrs. Bawanna would want a motor home or even a 5th wheel. Mrs. MW says that the most camping that she wants to do is a good motel room with breakfast service. I'm at the point where I agree with her. (sorry, my man card has been partially revoked during the recovery period).

Still a whole bunch of driving. Don't fall for the "If you don't want to go" trap. You'll never live it down.

Reno is 7 or 800 miles, 12 hours give or take. That's a stupid trip only because it's so short, the whole time coming and going and very little time there. Basically poor planing. I'm used to that and I was just gonna swallow that pill.

A trailer or worse yet a motorhome that I can't move around in that only gets used 2 weeks a year at this point is insane. She says I don't try hard enough and I could crawl around in it. (fun) I had to use a CC to get my van fixed and now we want a motorhome payment which would of course only be the beginning. Ones we could afford would need help very soon and we wouldn't have the loot to fix so they would set and rot, like the trailer on the side of the shop we got now. But try to explain simple logic is like teaching common sense to a liberal democrat.
Just don't make a lick of sense.

[Tilos]

Join the Euro crowd and rent a motorhome from TravelAmerica or some such company.
Our parks and tourist places are full of them.
It's cost less than the money you'll loose buying one, and it won't be there rotting away in your driveway.
For that matter, you could stay in any 4 or 5 star resort for less money than you'd loose buying a motorhome and feeding it fuel!...and take a limo to Reno

[b4uqzme]

good luck? If she's persistent about the RV, rent one?

[Bawanna]

All those wise options which I've of course brought up numerous times are wise and valid for a walking vertical person.

Not so for a derelict requiring hand controls. Actually the same with rental cars, sometimes they have some available, often times not. Usually they don't get rented much since wise derelicts stay home where they belong.

They do make special derelict motorhomes with wider aisles accessible toilets, etc but usually they are only the very big 2 or 3 times the cost of my house models. Not wise.

I've been thinking of getting like a Partridge Family bus, stripping the interior and just adding what I want. One of the short buses would be perfect. Some even have lifts already installed and a guy at the bus barn said most buses now days are automatics. All metal, weather proof. Not as fancy and frilly but everything you need.

[Planedude]

I hear ya on the hand controls, My old truck has them for getting to and from work. My wife freaks out if I hint at driving it "too far" for any fun. "What if it breaks down/gets a flat/makes young women's nipples hard at the sight of it..." You get the picture. My old truck has just passed the 100K mark and is just getting broke in good. I have and will keep the old girl well maintained and would drive her to either coast in a flash, if I had some dumb reason to go that far.
Just sold our Travel Trailer for the same reason you gave. too hard to move around in. My parents have a nice Class C with a slide and that works well for their Gimpy ways, but dang $40K used? And with the 10cly Ford motor in it, well, gas is an issue. I did just see a "short (school) bus" conversion with a lift and door in the back at the gas pumps last week. Looked okay and I asked him about the lift door. He replied "oh this is quite the party bus and that's where we load and unload the Kegs". I asked what he gave for it and he said he won a bid at $3579 which he thought was a great price... till someone told him he was the only bidder and the min bid was $2500. He did brag he made $400 bucks back selling the surplus seats off of Craigslist...
He, did the brakes, some tires and an alignment the first week he had it. Later he did a tune-up and he liked how it ran a lot better. Other than those fixes and the bath conversion, he drives it everywhere because it is easy to park.
I could see me working that. Good luck on the trip Bawanna, sometime go or don't gets you in the same hot water with the wife.

[Bawanna]

http://www.nwbus.com/products/produc...r=548824341126

Exactly my thoughts on the bus. This one would work. The lift, the driver seat both up front, wife and kids can trash the back. With the door in the back, I'd have to have a clear path the length of the bus.

This way I could build as I go, and make thing so I can access. Keep it bare bones simple, simple bath, maybe just a closet with a secure accessible 5 gallon bucket. A counter and a sink, maybe hot water if it ain't too tough. Throw a double bed in there someplace bolted to the floor and the keg and I got it covered.

It starts as a real truck, has a truck engine and brakes, and I doubt water leaks etc would rot out the floor in 2 years and if it did I could get to it easy to repair.

This one the ideal spot for a bath would be in the rear storage area but that's the opposite end of the bus.

The best solution is stay home but if it's a motorhome we must have, something like this might be the ticket and if I make it work good for me I might even want to go someplace?

Most of my cars have close to a 100, 000 when I buy them, van is about 300 miles from the 100,000 mark now, will hit it on the way to Reno or the airport, anything less is like new and I'm sniffing for new car smell.

[ltxi]

May be off the hook. Wife is seriously on the war path as usual before any vacation, said she could get plane tickets to Reno 400 round trip if I didn't want to go. Told her it was a bargain at any price, let me know what time to take her to the airport.

She has this huge desire to buy a travel trailer or preferably a Motor Home, neither of which I can even get in or move around in but it's what people our age do, (ones with legs) you know 1-800- Go RVing!
We have a small travel trailer we got for the son to live in while at school. It was junk when we bought it and it's really junk now. Hate to even look at it.

I have no use for another house with an engine rotting on the side of the house that I can't even get in, can't maintain, and can't afford.

I was hoping to save that argument until after Reno but son helped bring it up last night so the war paint is on. Her friends just bought a 38' 5th wheel toy hauler. I can't imagine a more stressful way to travel around the country than with a 38' house following your truck around. Great fun that.
I had major ulcers in my youth, I'm not gonna go there again over this stuff.

So maybe I'm going and maybe I'm not............................................

The saga continues.

I be with you on this brudda....legs or no legs. Fortunately, my lesser half isn't into it either so no issue. My best wishes on dealing with it.

[Armybrat]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the fabulous National Automobile Museum in Reno:

http://www.automuseum.org/

We spent hours in there about 10 years ago.

Here's a few minutes of video somebody posted on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VlOEAj40Vg

Absolutely worth your time.

Then there is Virginia City up in the mountains nearby.

[JFootin]

Something a heck of a lot cheaper and easier is to shop for hotel rooms at Hotwire.com. I have gotten some great deals there.

[OldLincoln]

Something a heck of a lot cheaper and easier is to shop for hotel rooms at Hotwire.com. I have gotten some great deals there.

If you book through Hotwire.com do you have to pick your hotel door lock?

[Bawanna]

The hotel option is best even if you stay in nothing but 5 star versions and pay full price your money ahead.

Even those can be an issue for a derelict. My last motel stay they assured my wife that it was a full handicap room. I think some people think you put a grab bar on the wall and it's a handicap room.

I couldn't get near the shower and if I could there was no way to use it. Even the toilet required a Houdini act to mount and dismount. Kind of a straight on approach. Try doing a 180 from chair to chair with our feet off the ground. That's why they call it physically challenged I guess.

We asked for another room but were told they were all the same.

Live and learn.

[otium]

The RV, be it a trailer, 5th wheel, A or C, all have their place. It works for some and not for others. I'd have to imagine by now there some companies who offer rv vehicles that are modified for those with mobility issues.

The key is to rent one and try it out before any decision is made to buy if you had not done much of it before. Same concept we pass along when someone asked about firearm A, B or C or what should they get for their wife and so on.

Renting will show all concerned the kinds of things they did not think about when they dreamed of going on an rv adventure. For some the experience will go like the movie RV, for others it will fit like a glove and they will wonder why they waited so long before doing it.

We have been camping for a long time, but my wife declared several years ago she would no longer be doing tent camping. So we started with renting a trailer for a week, then over time we are in to a 5th wheel. If you enjoy it, it will be a great experience, if you don't enjoy it, your happiest day would be when you sell it.

We have made trips all over the country, from Maine to Vegas, Arizona to Montana and plenty of places in between. We do find now with the higher fuel prices we don't go as far away as often now, but luckily we have plenty of vacationing spots both in private rv parks or boondocking off a forest service road that are less than a tank of fuel away.

Our unit most recently served as our temporary home when we were evacuated due to the large fire here this week. Thankfully we did not lose our home like so many others did or it might have become our long term living quarters.

[Bawanna]

All good points. We used a travel trailer and tent camped alot before the chair. I don't enjoy pulling a trailer, I do it but I don't like it.

They do make handicap RV's but like everything else they are very pricey.

All RV's have ups and downs. With a trailer you can't haul a boat, with a motor home you almost need to drag a car to sight see with or drive your house, or if you want to go grocery shopping etc.

My dad went the whole gammit, regular trailer, then a 5th wheel, then a motor home and hauled a little Ranger pickup with a boat on top of that behind.

We just don't have enough vacation time to justify an RV and I just want to stay home anyhow.