About a week or so into our new nomadic lifestyle, it became very clear that this 2018 Lance 1985 travel trailer was not going to be enough space. When we first arrived in Wichita, KS, we spent some time trying to get our little trailer organized, but with me working from the trailer and using the dinette as my desk, we weren’t able to reduce the clutter enough to make this small space feel like home.
We found a lovely couple selling a 2016 Grand Design Reflection in mint condition on Craigslist. Our Jeep Grand Cherokee can’t pull anything bigger than what we currently have, but we decided to look at it anyway. The ad said the trailer was stored under shelter and they weren’t lying. Scarlett and I drove to a barn and there it was, a beautiful 5th wheel in pristine condition. Scarlett and I instantly fell in love with the sellers, Deb and Scott. By the time we drove away with a promise to think about it, they felt more like family than just strangers selling a trailer. While talking we told them we didn’t have anything to pull the 5th wheel so we’d also need a truck. Deb volunteered selling the truck and Scott looked horrified. He spent a very long time trying to find the right truck and had only purchased his 2016 Ford F250 HD Diesel six months ago. Scott said he would think about it and let us know.
Scarlett and I looked at a couple trucks, one of them being a 2014 GMC Sierra 3500 HD, a dually. We test drove it and while Scarlett loved it, I wasn’t sold. It was MASSIVE and while it would’ve been more than enough to do the job, it would restrict the places we could drive. There is no way I’d drive around Atlanta, GA in that truck – with it’s narrow roads. So we decided against it.
Deb & Scott decided they would sell the Ford F250 if we were interested so we met up with them again and took a test drive. It drove beautifully and felt very comfortable. It’s a smaller truck than the GMC, but with the v6.7 Diesel engine and F350 frontend suspension, it had everything we needed in a truck. Plus, it was already completely setup to tow the 5th wheel!
Even though the 5th wheel trailer was in mint condition, we still had it inspected. Inspection day was an interesting game of juggling. We had to pack up our current trailer and move it offsite so Scott could pull his 5th wheel into our spot and plug it in. The inspectors were a father and son team and they were amazed at the showroom quality of this rig. They went over it with a fine tooth comb and other than needing new tires sometime in the near future, it came back with glowing reviews!
We also got the service records on the truck and spoke to the shop that’s been maintaining it and got a green light there as well. This morning Scarlett met up with Scott and Deb to get a bill of sale and do a wire transfer of cash to finish the purchase!
Now for the hard part…
Okay, so now we have a the Jeep, the trailer, the 5th wheel, and the Ford truck and we’re no where near South Dakota where we have to get the new stuff registered. To complicate things, we just finished registering the Jeep and trailer just a couple of weeks ago so we don’t even have the titles yet. This means we cannot sell either the jeep nor the trailer. We’re still not sure what we’re going to do there. As far as registering the new truck and 5th wheel, Scarlett will drive out to South Dakota tomorrow and get that all done over the next few days. We were originally supposed to leave Wichita yesterday, but we’ve extended our stay to next Monday and if need be, can stay until the 24th. We’re on a tight timeline however as we have to get to Grand Island, NY by the 26th of this month so we’ll be doing some extended drives.
One thought on “Already looking to upgrade to a larger space!”