Sunday, March 27, 2011

Here She Is...Olivia...My New (to me) RV!!!

Before I start with all the details about Olivia I want to welcome Jo Jo to my blog.  We have a Tucson connection and while she'll be up north while I'm down south (seeing if I can stand the heat again in Tucson), maybe we'll meet some day.  Something I hope to do with all of you that follow me now and the ones to come.


OK...here's the skinny.  She's a 2010.  She has a Mercedes 6 cylinder turbo-diesel engine, 5- speed automatic transmission, and 4-wheel ABS w/skid control.  I'm amazed at how quiet her diesel engine actually is.  She's been driven a little over 5,000 miles and her generator has been used 3 hours.  


This picture shows her with the slide out...out.  The whole left side of the RV, from behind the driver's seat, is the slide out.  The couch converts into a queen bed with an inflatable mattress.  

The cab can be blocked off at night, or whenever.  I'm not a fan of brown so I'm going to be looking for a colorful piece of fabric to make a replacement for this curtain and probably all the rest in the RV.  There's also a smaller curtain that goes in front of the bed over the cab.  Because of where she's parked at my house, I'm not able to open the slide.  I tried to put the upper mattress down and couldn't reach it because of the slide being in.  Please note that the sun was shining a bit when I took this picture.  Finally, a slight break from the rain and gray skies.  


Facing towards the back is the kitchen.
Microwave/convection oven
Nice pantry
Bathroom
Shower stall 



It was a long day Friday when I picked her up.  My friend and I arrived at 9:30 AM and I drove away about 2:45 PM...and I drove away happy. The getting to know her tour took about two hours and I know I don't remember everything.  As I was getting ready to leave a man was looking Olivia over and I started talking to him.  He's from Canada and he and his wife are looking to ship one similar to mine to New Zealand, where their daughters live.  They have to convert it so the steering wheel is on the right side...to the tune of $10,000 and that doesn't include shipping!!  

The previous owner of Olivia is a commercial fisherman and he wanted a different floor plan, so now I'm the lucky owner of her.  Winnebago doesn't make this floor plan anymore so I feel extremely blessed to have found her at the RV show, since this is my favorite floor plan.  

What do you experienced RVrs think of resorts, i.e., KM Resorts of America?  Do you think they're necessary?  Apparently, for the price of an "annual maintenance/publication fee", I can belong to KM since it came with buying my RV.  I don't know what that fee is yet.  Because I bought an RV the $1,995 enrollment fee is waived.  It looks like quite a few camps are included, so I'm just wondering what you think.  

I joined RVing Women awhile ago and today I signed up for Harvest Hosts.  HH is the one that excites me.  I learned about it from Donna at 2 Taking a 5th.  Thank you, Donna.  Harvest Hosts includes wineries and farms that allow RVrs to park for 24 hours at their facility...for free.  I love wine but never go to wineries because I don't feel comfortable driving after a wine tasting.  Now I won't have to drive...I can walk or crawl to Olivia and drive away the next day. 

I'm ready to talk about the downside of the day I picked Olivia up. Specifically, when I got to my house.  The day before I went to get her we had fairly decent weather, i.e, no rain.  I begged the powers that be for the same type of weather on Friday and I got it until I reached my house...then the heavens opened and it poured.  The street I live on (don't blame me, my parents picked this house and 40 years ago it was quiet) has 7,000+ cars drive on it daily.  Needless to say, there aren't too many breaks between cars.  The noise drives me crazy but that's not part of this story.  I'm good at backing up, I do it all the time.  I think it's easier to pull out of any parking spot face forward which is why I do it. Piece of cake in my SUV.  

In the first picture shown on this post, showing my RV, on the right side of the rhododendron bush is a gravel parking area that I had put in a few months ago.  I did it so that I can back out of my garage, back onto the gravel so that I can pull out face forward to, hopefully, avoid being hit by the cars speeding down the street.  That's where I want to park Olivia. But I have a problem...wires, specifically cable and phone.  They're too low.  They sort of show in the picture right in front of the air conditioner. Somebody was on my tail when I got to my house so I pulled partially onto the sidewalk to let him go by...big mistake.  It felt like a disaster from that point on.  I was aware of traffic being stopped both directions and that didn't help my discomfort.  My neighbor who was helping me was being drenched, as was I, because my windows were open to be able to hear him.   I think if I hadn't pulled up on the sidewalk it would have been a lot easier.  I've backed U-Haul trucks up here without a problem so now I think I know what to do next.  Did you notice that my driveway has an incline?  Yep, just to add to the fun!!  If I can get my SUV out of the garage without moving her, she might just stay there until I come back from housesitting in California in May. 

OK, enough already.  I have my RV, I'm thrilled and I can't wait to hit the road and meet up with you fellow RVrs.  

Sunshine please,

Jeana 


15 comments:

  1. Oh, she's just beautiful!!! I'm so glad you 2 found each other. You are going to have a blast fixing her up and making her yours. Keep us posted. Details! Photos!

    Kim

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  2. What a nice RV. Some days I wish I were solo. I couldn't imagine my husband considering anything smaller than 36 feet!

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  3. OMH, Olivia is Gorgeous! The furniture looks so comfortable, and as you know, I love the kitchen in the back. I wanted such a short RV, that the back kitchen feels like another room, so there are two spaces.
    Olivia looks similar to mine in floor plan. How long is she? Mine is 24 feet. (Since it's a model "2200" I assumed she is 22 feet, but found out she's 24.
    How's your storage?
    Sorry for your tough arrival home, but you are SO lucky to have her home, instead of in a storage yard.
    I can't wait to meet up and see her. Have FUN decorating her and organizing the kitchen.

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  4. Olivia looks like a real beauty. I'm sure it's a match made in heaven!! Have fun :)

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  5. Love to get together! When (and where) are you here in California? Can you send me an e-mail, and we can coordinate? Check my blog for my e-mail. Whoo Hooo!

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  6. congrats on Olivia!!.perfect just for you!!!..have fun with the decorating!!..it is good that there is still 'four windows in your header page'!!

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  7. When you started your blog, how did you know it would be Four Windows with a VIEW?? :) Congrats!

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  8. Funny, I was thinking just the same, "Four Windows with a VIEW"!?!

    She looks gorgeous!

    Have you joined the Yahoo View/Navion Group?

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  9. WOW! Love It, Love It. She is beautiful. We are sooooo HAPPY for you.

    Travel Safe
    Dawn and Denise

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  10. Now I know I want one. lol Congrats and I hope you have many wonderful travels. I love the floor plan. Still would not want the over head bed since I am a total cluts, but the fact that the sofa opens into a bed is good enough for me. Well hope we do get to connect some time here in Tucson or anywhere in AZ. keep me posted.

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  11. Beautiful!!! You're gonna love it!

    As to the resort membership. Find out the annual fee and what you get for that. Free nights, discount nights, how many, restrictions on when you can get them...that type of thing.

    Look at where the parks are and decide if they are really in the area you want to visit, and visit often enough to make the membership pay.

    Just a few thoughts....I know nothing about KM. We belong to Coast to Coast and RPI as well as Passport America (the best overall discount camping membership, I think).

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  12. You will love your View. We bought ours new in 2007, but will soon be trading it in for a fifth wheel, since we are now fulltime. It gets really good mileage and drives great. The View/Navion yahoo group is a great bunch of folks. We went to their first rally in New York.

    Love the tattoo - think I will try the henna!

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  13. Olivia is definitely looking so beautiful inside and out! It looks good as new. I am sure staying there almost feels like home. The space is well utilized, and I like how the furniture was installed perfectly. Actually, I love the color brown because it turns the atmosphere into a homey feeling.

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