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This is the week that our shiny yellow Promaster begins its metamorphosis…into the pimped out Travato we’ll FINALLY get to meet on July 13th, the day before our shakedown cruise. We’re so excited, it’s hard to think of anything else.
Here’s my brain process right now:
1. The RV build is starting; EEEEEE!!!!!
2. We have to start thinking of a name. OOOO! And we need bedding. All new bedding. What should we do for bedding? A comforter with bikes on it would be cool…
3. AAAHHHH!!! We also need cupboard organizers. All the cool RVers have tricked out super-organized cabinets. I better hit the Container Store and put pix of me there on Facebook so people will think I’m a cool RVer, too…
4. The new fridge is so freaking huge, maybe I can use it for extra storage! Like plates and stuff? Would that be weird?
James has the new RV on the brain, too. But, of course, his brain works a little differently:
- The RV build is starting; cool. (If I were Stef, I’d put exclamation points here.)
- I didn’t specify an R-value for the insulation or which vent covers I prefer. Perhaps I should fret to Stef about these things instead of calling Winnebago.
- How do I transport myself and Stef and an RV’s worth of supplies to Iowa to pick up the new RV without taking an RV? I’m going to stay up all night obsessively researching moving vans, rental cars, flights, trains, and random cute cat videos until I have a solution.
- Why is Stef asking me about storing plates in the refrigerator? Please tell me that’s a joke.
As you can imagine, we are counting down the days until we arrive at Winnebago and meet our new baby: 35 days and 19 hours and 54 minutes as I type. Not that I have a Time Duration Calculator counting down on my home screen or anything…that would be TOTALLY nerdy.
COME CRUISE WITH US IN JULY!
Winnebago Outdoor Adventures has put together a 4 day tour (the “Driftless Adventure”) starting and ending in Forest City, Iowa. The timing worked out perfectly for us to use the trip as our shakedown cruise, and we’d love for you to join us! This REALLY WILL be our first trip in it, so you know what that means. We’ll be working out the kinks and learning as we go. Let’s just say we hope the learning curve on the composting toilet isn’t too steep. You can read the sanitized version on the blog after the trip, or you can come along and see for yourself how it all “shakes down!” Usually, with us, you can be guaranteed a comedy of errors…
The Driftless Adventure tour is geared for Class B and C enthusiasts, and it’s not limited to just Winnebago RVs. And! Russ Garfin, the product manager for all of Winnebago’s Class-B and Class-C’s will be joining the fun with his wife Kathy in their brand new Travato 59K. If you’ve ever wanted to pick the brain of a WGO big dog, now’s your chance. You can find more details about the Driftless Adventure HERE.
FUNNY SIDENOTE:
As James and I have been texting/emailing about the trip, our devices keep auto-correcting “Driftless” to “Dripless.” So now we call it the “Dripless” Adventure. Hope you’ll consider coming with us on our Dripless Adventure! (No drips, please.)
Hi, you might consider Enterprise for your rental. I was very happy to rent and the rates were cheaper than the Orange and Yellow brands, at least for me in upstate NY.
Ultimately, we decided to just load up a car and drive. We’ll have to drive back separately, but it’s still quite a savings.
“James. We are NOT sleeping in a yellow Penske truck.”
Somehow I envision James bringing home a non-yellow rental truck as an alternative.. follow the letter of the law, if not the spirit? 😉
Shhhhhh!!!! You’re giving away my plan!
Good catch, Mike. You’d think after being married this long I’d be more careful with my words. I officially hereby REMOVE “yellow Penske” from my last comment.
I don’t store plates in the fridge, but I do put alot of dry goods in there instead of the cabinets. Can food is OK to put in there too. Most of your box goods should be OK too.
You should have more than enough space in the cabinet above the stove and the drawer stack for your dishes and cookware. The Magna nesting cookware is highly recommended – 7 pots fit inside 1 cubic foot!
We actually have a set of Magna cookware in Das Bus that we’re gong to move over. Awesome stuff, and we’ve been very happy with it.
I halfway expect to see some of Stef’s clothes in the refrigerator… but I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that.
Good luck with this! We have done this with a travel trailer, but that’s not relevant since the tow vehicle transported the “seed” load out. We are watching fork your solution since we plan to have the same “problem” early 2016.
I was able to get a deal on a minivan rental by using my company’s employee travel site. That’s the current leading option.
But we’re still hoping that someone will buy our current RV and want to take delivery in Iowa.
(If anyone is interested – an Iowa delivery is worth quite a bit of discounting in our minds. Let us know.)
Another idea is to rent a 25 ft Class C from Cruise America. That would afford plenty of space to carry everything, and you’d still be able to sleep each night with the bikes safely stored inside (probably in the overcab bunk). They do allow “one way” trips so that might work.
Just make sure you rent one that’s relatively new. I rented an old 19 ft model from them what was probably 7 years old. The steering was so loose I was white knuckling the whole trip feeling like I was navigating a boat in rough waters.
Interesting idea!
I know the price of renting an RV was one of the reasons we bought one, but for a one-time trip, it might be worth it.
I’ll check it out.
James & Stefany,
I am a fan of you and Stef. I see that you’re next move will be the Ram Rro Master Winn. I just sold my 2003 Rialta ( which I would love to show you what was done to it ) My next RV , Leisure Unity CB.15.5 , ( Love the new style ). But I was wondering what you think of the ( Engine and drive tran . of the Sprinter in comparison to the Ram Pro Master diesel and drive Trans.( Everyone over seas appears to use the Pro Master but different engines.) Wondering what your thoughts are? Also do you think Leisure T. are going in that direction as well? Thanks Again and keep up the great work!
PS. ( Am I mistaken? ARE THE HOUSE BATTERIES under the frame ?)
Thanks again , Mila and Johnnie Johnson here in Chicago
PSS ( I usually take my batteries out for the winter , But to craw under the rv to get to THEM!!!! )
Looking to hear back from you and Thanks!
Hey there –
I don’t think you’ll see Leisure Travel Vans building on the ProMaster any time soon. You may see them come out with something on the Transit. I have no inside info here, but that’s a reasonable guess.
As far as the Sprinter vs. ProMaster question – they’re both different. The ProMaster is wider and lower to the ground – which gives a great feeling of stability under way. It’s also front wheel drive, and can easily out-turn any Sprinter. You can get both gas and diesel power plants in the ProMaster – and Winnebago offers both on the Travato. It does have a lower GVWR though, if you travel heavy (we don’t).
Our Sprinter, on the other hand, has been solid for us for years (with a couple exceptions). I think you can count on multiple hundreds of thousands of miles on that MB diesel. And… you’re driving a Mercedes! The newer Sprinters are smoother than ours, and the 4 cylinder gets great mileage. I’d also have to give the edge in whiz-bang tech features to Mercedes (but the ProMaster is catching up). But the Sprinter is higher up, which requires more attention in the wind.
Bottom line is, either one of them can make a fine motorhome platform, so you want to pay just as much attention to what goes on and in them.
And yes, on the Travato, the house batteries are underneath in that steel cage. We don’t take our batteries out in the winter – since we’re just as likely to use the RV as store it. If you wanted to take the batteries out, you’d want to raise the rear wheels to make accessing it easier.
Thanks for checking us out, and thanks for the questions!
Maybe you can look into renting a small shipping cube. They come as small as 100 cubic feet and up (http://upakweship.com/shipping-services/u-cube/). A 6’x7’x8′ cube can move the contents of a small apartment and should cost well less than $1000 to ship. There are a bunch of companies that rent them. They just leave one in your driveway till you fill it up and then haul it away. The only nerve wracking part would be if you packed your expensive bikes. I’m sure you can work with Winnebago to receive them on the other end.
Interesting idea, Ted! I will definitely run it by James.
Yeah, I thought of that. Their schedules are long, and even the smallest are more space than we need.
But mostly, Ted’s right about the bikes. I’d stay up nights worrying…
Right now, renting a yellow Penske truck is showing as the most affordable option (Which makes me laugh – I mean… Could we sleep in it?)
James. We are NOT sleeping in a yellow Penske truck.