Bringing our RV Home

June 12, 2013

Hi there Everyone,

I just wanted to post a recap of my recent trip from Des Moines, Iowa back to Poway. As you may know, I ordered a new Solera motorhome back in March. The Solera is manufactured by Forest River a Berkshire Hathaway company that is well funded by Mr. Warren Buffet. I found an internet dealer that will custom order the motorhome to your specifications directly from the manufacturer. In my case I selected the Solera 24S, which is a compact Class C motor home built on the very reliable and fuel efficient Mercedes Benz Sprinter chassis.

The chassis sports a 3 liter, turbocharged diesel engine that produces tons of torque and moves the 11000 pound motorhome down the road quite smartly. It can even tow up to 5000 pounds behind it.

So, some of you have asked why I would go through all the trouble to order my motorhome, wait 3 months for it to be built, pick it up in Iowa and then drive it back home. The short answer is simple – $$$. Elisa and I had shopped quite a bit and we knew what we wanted. Unfortunately, we could not negotiate the price that we were willing to pay after visiting dealers from San Diego to Temecula. The units we liked were all in the $95K – $105K range. We looked at some used units that were 4 years old that were in the $70K range, but in most instances they weren’t quite what we wanted, or were “too used”, or had a funny smell, or something else.

That’s when I began to look on-line for a direct from the manufacturer option. I found a lot of people had posted their satisfaction with RVdirect.com. They are a dealer based out of Albany, NY with dealerships in several other states, including Iowa, Florida and NY. The process was simple, fill out an on-line form with the features you want, color, paint, etc. and within 24 hours you get a firm quote. In our case, we saved over $28,000 from the best price we were able to negotiate through local dealers. So it was a no-brainer decision. They even arranged financing for us.

So, although it cost me about $1500 in air fare, hotel and fuel to pick up the unit in Des Moines and drive it back to Poway, it was well worth it. I did have to go through the ordeal of going into the Calif DMV myself to get it registered (I’m pretty sure that if you end up in Hell it looks a lot like waiting in line at the DMV), but we got the paperwork all taken care of and we are road ready.

As far as the trip from Iowa to Poway goes, it was pretty uneventful. I went out there on my own to pick up the unit, so I simply drove straight back home. I covered the 1700 miles in about 30 hours.

I showed up at the RVone dealership in Des Moines bright and early at 8:00 am. There was some quick paperwork to be done to collect the title on the motorhome. I then spent the next 2 hours with Lance out at their service and prep area doing a walk through and inspection. I was on the road at 11:00 in the morning.

I took I-80 to Omaha where I picked up I-76 through Nebraska. Let me tell you that Iowa and Nebraska are indeed America’s “Bread Basket” as all I could see for all the hours I spent on the road were corn fields, soy beans and other “green stuff”. As I made my way through Nebraska I ran into a number of different detours along the way where the interstate was being repaired from the extensive flooding that had hit that part of the country a couple years back. Huge sections of I-80 were completely underwater as a result. As you may recall, the thaw from the severe winter that had hit the Northern States caused extensive flooding along the Platte river. See this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DcSbb062fs

The road work in addition to the very stiff head winds made the going relatively slow. In spite of the conditions I was able to roll through Denver by about 10:30 at night. After a quick bite to eat at a Denny’s on the West side of Denver I pulled into a Walmart parking lot where there was quite a gathering of other RV’s and I parked for the night. I did go into the Walmart at 11:00 pm to pick up a few things so I could take a shower. Maybe its Denver or maybe it just a Walmart thing – the store was crowded with shoppers at this late hour and most were rather bizarrely dressed – what a bunch of freaks. I was happy to get out of there and catch some sleep. However, all was not perfect as I soon learned that between 11:00 pm and 3:00 am the trucks roll into and out of the Walmart to restock the shelves. Consequently I was awoken at 3:00 am as all the trucks began to pull out. Since I was up, I decided to get back on the road.

I continued on I-70 making my way through the Rocky Mountains in the dark of night. Unfortunately, there was a 1 hour closure at Eisenhower tunnel due to road work there. I eventually made my way through and as I made my way down the other side of the mountains I pulled over around 6:00 am near Aspen and decided to take a nap. After 2 hours of sleep I felt very refreshed and was back on the road. What I noticed about the Interstate in Colorado was that the condition of the roads were very poor compared to Nebraska and Iowa. Also, there wasn’t nearly as much evidence of work being done to improve the conditions. However, I will give Colorado props for having an abundance of rest areas and more notably, the rest areas were typically situated in some of the most beautiful locations.

Now I was headed into Utah on I-70. Once again the winds were not only very strong but coming right at me or in some instances directly abeam, which makes driving a vehicle with the aerodynamic of a barn rather interesting. The temperatures in Utah were in the high 90’s and although the landscape is barren and bleak it is beautiful in its own way. The way the sun would play off the landscape was beautiful. I did notice that someone had a real sense of humor when they came up with the names of some of the towns along the I-70. There was Illif (ill-if) in Western Colorado, which made me wonder what it was that would make you ill. Then I came across the town of Mussentuchit (musn’t touch it), which made me think that you might get ill – if you do touch it. And then there was the exit ramp on I-70 that identified the town of Middle-of-nowhere, Utah. I had to pull over to see it – and guess what, it really was in the middle of nowhere.

I eventually picked up I-15 and made my way into Las Vegas, NV where I met my Son Brandon and his girlfriend Maile for a quick dinner at Archi’s Thai Bistro. The food was great and they it was back on the road by 8:00 pm. I finally pulled into the driveway at our home in Poway, CA at 1:20 am. I had driven 1100 miles from Denver in 1 day, not the way I would recommend making the trip.