Last Friday I flew to San Francisco and met up with my friend Brett and his girlfriend Cynthia. After they picked me up at the airport, we went for dinner at The Fish House in San Mateo. It was a good start to my first-ever visit to California.
On the way to the restaurant, someone cut Brett off in traffic. Brett laid on the horn and as we drove by the other vehicle, Cynthia shot them a nasty look. Brett commented that he was surprised Cynthia didn’t flip them off. So much for the laid back, mellow Californians I had expected.
On Saturday we headed up to Willits to pick up the RV. We got there a little early so we had lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall called Chad’s Fish & Chips. The restaurant was a bit of a dive, but the food was really good. The breaded Icelandic Cod in particular was good.
That was the end of the good news for a while. When we got to the place where the RV was, we were greeted by a scene out of the back roads of Appalachia. The house sat on a hill with an unkempt yard surrounded by a cyclone fence. Toys and debris were scattered haphazardly around the yard. There was a pick up truck in the driveway that was parked behind an apparently broken down car that was serving as storage for boxes and more debris. This was not a good sign.
Parked next to the pickup and storage vehicle was the RV. One of the owner’s nine kids was on the roof of the RV cleaning it. Actually, he was mostly just getting it wet. There wasn’t much cleaning going on.
The RV was dirty, but the exterior was in fairly good shape. I didn’t see any rust or dents, although there were some minor scrapes in a couple of places. The exterior graphics were also cracked and a bit faded from the sun, but that was to be expected. The tires were in good (not great) shape, with fairly good tread and no noticeable dry rotting. Overall, not bad for an eight-year-old RV.
Then I walked into the interior of the RV and my heart sank. The first thing that hit me was the cigarette and dog urine smell. Nasty. Then I saw the stained carpet, the dirty upholstery, and the crumbs and cobwebs in every nook and cranny. This was not what I had bargained for.
As I inspected the RV and checked out all of the systems, my mind was reeling. I had expected some wear and tear, but I didn’t think the RV would be so filthy dirty on the inside. My first reaction was to walk away from the sale, but then I remembered that we were only paying about 50% of the book value. Rather than being disappointed, I thought to myself, maybe I should look at it like I was buying a fixer-upper house. Sure, it needed some new carpet and an extremely good cleaning, but those things are relatively inexpensive. It would be like adding paint and landscaping to a fixer-upper.
Of course, the big difference between a fixer-upper house and the RV is that the RV has an engine and transmission. Thankfully, most of the abuse the RV had suffered occurred while it was sitting still. It had fewer than 18,000 miles on it (less than I had been told), so my hope was that the engine and drivetrain would be in good shape.
The test drive went well. The engine sounded good, ran strong, and the transmission shifted just like it should. And for a 36 foot behemoth, it handled fairly well.
After I decided to go forward with the sale, we did the paperwork and I got out on the road as quickly as possible. I wanted to put Willits and the former owners of the RV in my rearview mirror as fast as I could.
Next time, the 2200 miles journey from California to Wisconsin.
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3 comments:
I wish I had gone with you-I needed a road trip. How is Brett?
Brett is going through a little bit of a tough time. He's involved in construction now and he's had a horrible time finding anyone in the SF area with a decent work ethic. However, he's been seeing the same woman for about a year now, so that part of his life is going pretty well. I think he's at kind of a crossroads with his career. Otherwise, he's doing fine.
Bravo, your idea is useful
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