A funny thing happened to Lisa and I when we recently went home to Owensboro, Kentucky for a weekend.  We bought a new RV.  After two and a half years of living in our very small, very used, leaky, fifth wheel camper – we finally decided to buy a new one.  It has been quite a journey.

Very soon our new forty-two foot camper will roll off the assembly line and we will move our old camper one last time.  Part of us is a little sad to leave our old camper behind as we move into a new one.  Our adventures in this little RV have been memorable and we will always remember those experiences with fondness.  It was in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania that I had a middle of the night epiphany to purchase an RV even though we did not have a truck to pull it.  Our poor luck in finding an apartment in Hanover, where Lisa would work her first traveling assignment, left us with very little choice and by noon the next day we had purchased this used RV that would, eventually, survive the Arizona desert heat and an unusual snow storm in Atlanta.  It has served our purpose well – but it is time for something new.

It is hard to know how many RVs Lisa and I have looked at over the past two plus years.  Maybe a thousand.  We looked at them in California, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio.  Twice we attended the nations largest RV show in Hershey, Pennsylvania – but never found one that felt right.  So – we waited.  In the meantime Lisa kept up her chant of “New RV!, New RV!” and I pretended to ignore her pleas.  But I could ignore them no longer.  With winter fast approaching and our stay here in southeastern Ohio now extended until at least February, it was time to find something better able to handle the weather.  We drove to Columbus one Saturday and found one to our liking – but the price was not in our budget.  So we kept looking.  And then we went home.

Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought that the best deal and the best RV for us would be found right in our hometown of Owensboro.  On a whim – we decided to stop in and talk to them not really expecting them to have much or offer much for our used camper.  To our shock and surprise, a new Forest River fifth wheel camper with everything we were wanting was on its way to their lot and before we hardly knew what happened – we bought it.  Actually – we ended up with one with a few changes that is now being built.  We hope to be in it by the early part of November – if not sooner.  Their very generous offer for our trade was the real tipping point and it will be good to deal with people from our hometown rather than in California or somewhere else far away.  The bottom line is – it just felt right to both Lisa and myself.

I am not one to trust my emotions.  More often than not they lead me into bad decisions.  But, of all the RV’s we looked at over the past two years, Lisa and I never felt at peace with any until we found this one.  Maybe there was some spiritual guidance that was given us in making this decision – we certainly prayed enough about it.  Peace of mind is a wonderful thing and we have had that ever since we made the decision to buy.  Why should we not believe that God has intervened in this matter?  Our buying an RV is trite in comparison to the problems going on around the world.  Knowing God is moving and doing in matters as small as this – gives us assurance that He also controls the big stuff.  And that is really good to know.

Our new RV will have the capability to sleep up to nine people.  That includes an extra bedroom that can also serve as my man cave and/or Lisa’s sewing and craft room.  It may take us two to three days to get it backed into place.  And I have a feeling my sphincter will get very tight as we move it north here to Cambridge.  That may be the longest six-hour drive of my life and may turn into ten.  It will be ‘slow and steady as we go’.  We have even had to modify our truck to pull the extra load of an RV four thousand pounds heavier and thirteen feet longer than the one we have now.

And finally – mercifully – I will no longer have to deal with a leaky roof or store my clothes in the kitchen cabinets due to lack of closet space.  That will be very nice.  But the nicest part of all is not hearing Lisa chanting, “New RV” – “New RV”.

Come and visit us anytime – we will have plenty of room.

Love, Steve and Lisa