Wednesday, we took the next big step in the transition from
full timers to any timers. We have
enjoyed six good years traveling in our Meridian 39 diesel motorhome visiting
all but a few states. It was hard to let
go of a coach that worked well for all those miles and years, never leaving us
stranded and having no major failures. I
know from following other folks’ journeys, this is not always the case.
We bought the Meridian specifically to full time and while I
know many use this type of coach for travels of all kinds, we felt that a
change in lifestyle was also a time for a change in equipment. It was a great way to see the country, but
its size also included some restrictions on the kind of places we could go and
camping opportunities. Simply put, we
were looking for a change to a simpler way of traveling.
Of course, we could not say goodbye to the Meridian without
a reminder of the trials of life on the road. The biggest of the day/night
shades decided to fail again, just before the trade in. So, for one last time, we restrung another of
those poorly made shades.
We always considered ourselves to be good at not carrying
around a lot of stuff and were always well under the Meridian’s weight
limits. However, the emptying of the
coach was a bit of a surprise. Since
most of what carried would not fit in the new coach, we hauled it all to the
new house. We have stuff
everywhere. Clearly, we were not as
careful as we thought.
In some ways we have come full circle to where we
started. Our first, of now four
motorhomes, was about the same size as our new one, but certainly a lot less
sophisticated. We are hoping to enjoy the new one as much as the first three.
The new one is a 2012 Winnebago View, which is around 40%
smaller than the Meridian. It is also
our first Mercedes. It is a Sprinter
Chassis with a Mercedes Diesel engine.
It will also get over twice the MPG as the Meridian. Our plan is to
travel whenever and try to tow a car as little as possible.
Just like the Meridian, we have started off with some
electrical issues right away. We took
delivery on Wednesday and were back on Thursday and had the failed converter
replaced. I still believe there is a
problem with the 12 volt system and that the dealer managed to kill the house
batteries, as well. This is almost
exactly how we started with the Meridian.
Since we do not have much furniture yet and have been
released from our babysitting duties, we hope to make a short test run next
weekend to a Winnebago gathering in AL.