We are having a bit of a “scare” today. The finance company for the Alpha doesn’t like that the title is still a Canadian one. I called Mike and he assured me everything is moving along and that all should be totally finalized at least by next Friday, which is Valentine’s Day. We sure hope so!
Not that this has anything to do with our RV Life to come, but it is a major thing to happen in our life, a sad thing to happen ~ we had to let go of our sweet little Bridgette yesterday. Her cancer had her so sick and hurting, she was ready. Mouth cancer in kitties is so fatal. Our hearts are broken and full of sadness.
The day started out on a better note though, since we went and signed all of the papers at the dealer for the truck and the Alpha.
We had worked all week on obtaining financing and getting everything we needed. The two finance companies we went with are Sierra Pacific Federal Credit Union for the truck and Southeast Financial for the Alpha.
Down payment will be made some time this week. Mike (the dealer) is still working on getting the titles “imported” since the vehicles had been in Canada. We hope to have the set-up in our driveway this week, or at least by Valentine’s Day!!
We started purging today. We went through all of our DVDs and picked out a bunch for sale. We kept a small handful. Tom has been posting them on eBay. We also moved some railroad ties out of the way of where we want to park the Alpha.
Tom thought of what we should name our fiver (fifth-wheel). He said that we should name it “T & L” or “TNL” for “Truck N/& Living” or it could also be for “Tom N/& Lori. I think it’s a great idea!
We’ve set a 12/24 month timeline for when we actually become full-timers, but I really think that once it (the whole set up) is in our driveway, our motivation will be moving things along even more quickly.
I’m so glad that Tom like the whole idea and has gotten even more excited about it all since we first talked about it and he has been reading so much about it.
On Sunday, we spent most of the day doing more research and reading. Tom checked online for possible lenders.
Monday night our friend and record rep came for dinner and stayed over so not a whole lot of “RV” discussing happened.
Tom continued the search for an appropriate loan. I stopped by the dealer (Mike) to check a couple things on the truck. Tom and I couldn’t get the radio to work in the truck, but all I did was “reset” and it worked. Also, Tom wanted me to check the lights on the roof of the cab. He didn’t remember them working or not. They do work, but one is burnt out. I also reminded Mike that the driver’s side window doesn’t work. That was it for the day with Mike. I don’t know yet if he or Tom got anymore loan news.
We got the ball really rolling today. We got to Grapevine RV this morning at 10:00 like we planned. Picked up the F350 and took it to Jeff @ Lebec Automototive to have it checked over. We then went back to the lot and started going over everything in the Alpha. We had water and power hooked up and had Mike show us how to do the slide-outs, etc. We spent all day going over things and reading manuals. At about 1:30-ish, we went home to get lunch and then just as we were heading back, we got the call that Jeff was done checking the truck so we went straight there. Jeff only had a couple minor things to comment on the truck that it might need to have taken care of, like a tiny leak, it might need rear shocks, a little bit of surface rust underneath, but all in all pretty good. We then took it for a quick drive up the freeway and back to the RV lot.
We went back in the Alpha, talked to Mike for a couple minutes and then decided on a price $41,000. for the combo. Went back to his office and wrote up the papers. We brought home the file box of papers and the owner’s manual binder for the Alpha.
We had dinner and then spent the evening reading and Tom checked different places for loans. Mike said that he would check places on Monday.
Since the truck and trailer had come from an owner in Canada, they might have to be “imported” or they might not need to be since they were both made in the United States. He’ll have to check. If they do have to be imported, he’ll have to take them down to Long Beach to do it.
If the loan goes through, it’ll probably be a couple weeks before we get to bring them home. Then the REAL fun begins!! The big “PURGE” will begin then. I’m not starting to list things for sale until it’s OURS for sure. I will start throwing things away and talking things to recycling though. I’ll also keep working on my lists etc. The time will go by fast. Fingers crossed that it all goes good!! : )