It is always good to look backwards in time to review how plans, goals and reality match up. We continue to evolve in our RV lifestyle. My advise to anyone just entering or planning on RV'ing is to be flexible and open to change. Our original plans when we first began in 2013 have grown, evolved and today our lives look much different than our first plan.
We began with a 13 year old motorhome because we had no idea if the vagabond life style would suit us. We knew that Mexico would be part of our plan, but we were not sure we would love being in a third world country. We had no plans to travel internationally, but we have now visited 19 countries. The financial advantage of RV living for us was that it opened up possibilities we had never considered. We can park the RV and suspend almost all our costs while we try different things in life.
Life in Mexico is working great for us. The financial savings each year finance our travels the rest of the year. For us it is impossible to spend an American retirement while living in Mazatlan. Each month we have "left over" money.
After seeing how our first five years have gone it was time to up our commitment to RV'ing. So we purchased a new-to-us diesel motorhome and a four wheel drive Honda CRV. These vehicles should take us through the next many years until we hang up our traveling shoes.
I went back to what I had written 12 months ago to see how our plans have worked out. We seem to be on track.
Our new-to-us Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40 PDT - 3 Slides 330 HP Cummins Diesel with an Allison Transmission
So the question to answer today is, "Why did we buy another motorhome?" Was it "RV envy"? Did we need a bigger motorhome? Was the LaPalma giving us problems? Was it just time for a change after owning the gasser for 6 years? Was I tired of owning a sea foam green RV? Was it because my brother-in-law bought a 40' diesel pusher? Was it because I had done all the improvements that I could do to the LaPalma?
There was no one answer to why I wanted to change. I thought that it was time to own a big boy coach. Here's how my thought process worked.
Our faithful old Monaco LaPalma 34 SBD It sold a couple days after we traded it in on the Endeavor.
Six years ago we bought the Monaco LaPalma 34' SBD with two slides and a Ford V-10 gas engine. It had 48,000 miles on it. This year we passed 78,000 miles. That's 5,000 mile per year during the time we owned it. It was a great RV and we spent close to $16,000.00 repairing, improving and maintaining it during those 6 years. The depreciation on the motorhome during that time was another $16,000.00.
Our cost of ownership was $32,000.00. That comes down to $444.44 per month over those 6 years.
Now 32 grand sounds like a lot of money but compared to owning the home on Raft Island it's a bargain. My property taxes and insurance on that house were higher than my monthly cost of owning and maintaining an RV.
The LaPalma was a starter RV for us. We didn't know if our dreams of traveling and being vagabonds was really something we would like and want to do for many years. As we start our fifth Winter we are nearing the midway point of our 10 year plan. We still love our traveling lifestyle.
A question I asked myself was, "Is the LaPalma going to last another 5-6 years and would we still be happy with it after 100,000 miles? Was it time to start over with another low mileage motorhome?
The new-to-us Endeavor has 28,400 miles on it and it should be our last RV up until we are too old to travel this way. I didn't want to get down the road 2 or 3 years and be faced with the decision whether it was worth changing RV's for the last few years of our travels. I don't want the RV dictating that it is time to retire from our planned 10 year goal.
The most important feature is my 'old man recliner'.
So for me it was a long range plan to get an RV that would get us through those coming years.
We loved owning the LaPalma. It was a part of our successful plan. Hopefully the Endeavor will take us into our 70's when it will be time to hang up our traveling shoes.
Life is good.
-- Edited by Russ Ranger on Wednesday 3rd of October 2018 05:14:09 PM
Someday said
08:27 AM Oct 5, 2018
Awesome, thoughtful write ups as always Russ, and we totally relate to how you roll. Loved following your's and Terri's travels on the blog since you started (loved the Europe trip and tips especially) and anxiously await the next updates :)
It is always good to look backwards in time to review how plans, goals and reality match up. We continue to evolve in our RV lifestyle. My advise to anyone just entering or planning on RV'ing is to be flexible and open to change. Our original plans when we first began in 2013 have grown, evolved and today our lives look much different than our first plan.
We began with a 13 year old motorhome because we had no idea if the vagabond life style would suit us. We knew that Mexico would be part of our plan, but we were not sure we would love being in a third world country. We had no plans to travel internationally, but we have now visited 19 countries. The financial advantage of RV living for us was that it opened up possibilities we had never considered. We can park the RV and suspend almost all our costs while we try different things in life.
Life in Mexico is working great for us. The financial savings each year finance our travels the rest of the year. For us it is impossible to spend an American retirement while living in Mazatlan. Each month we have "left over" money.
After seeing how our first five years have gone it was time to up our commitment to RV'ing. So we purchased a new-to-us diesel motorhome and a four wheel drive Honda CRV. These vehicles should take us through the next many years until we hang up our traveling shoes.
I went back to what I had written 12 months ago to see how our plans have worked out. We seem to be on track.
Here's what I was thinking last year:
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Why Did We Change Motorhomes?
330 HP Cummins Diesel with an Allison Transmission
There was no one answer to why I wanted to change. I thought that it was time to own a big boy coach. Here's how my thought process worked.
It sold a couple days after we traded it in on the Endeavor.
Our cost of ownership was $32,000.00. That comes down to $444.44 per month over those 6 years.
Now 32 grand sounds like a lot of money but compared to owning the home on Raft Island it's a bargain. My property taxes and insurance on that house were higher than my monthly cost of owning and maintaining an RV.
The LaPalma was a starter RV for us. We didn't know if our dreams of traveling and being vagabonds was really something we would like and want to do for many years. As we start our fifth Winter we are nearing the midway point of our 10 year plan. We still love our traveling lifestyle.
A question I asked myself was, "Is the LaPalma going to last another 5-6 years and would we still be happy with it after 100,000 miles? Was it time to start over with another low mileage motorhome?
The new-to-us Endeavor has 28,400 miles on it and it should be our last RV up until we are too old to travel this way. I didn't want to get down the road 2 or 3 years and be faced with the decision whether it was worth changing RV's for the last few years of our travels. I don't want the RV dictating that it is time to retire from our planned 10 year goal.
We loved owning the LaPalma. It was a part of our successful plan. Hopefully the Endeavor will take us into our 70's when it will be time to hang up our traveling shoes.
Life is good.
-- Edited by Russ Ranger on Wednesday 3rd of October 2018 05:14:09 PM
Happy and safe travels as always.