Once the sale of our sailboat was complete, it was time to start searching for our new home on wheels. I only had one requirement: I needed my own space for my sewing setup. On the sailboat, I would drag all my sewing stuff out to sew on the only table we had, and would pack it all up by dinner time. I told Randy that for long term sanity, I needed my own space to be able to leave my sewing machine setup along with all my tools. We determined that the best layout for us would be an RV with a bunk house, or bunk beds. We’d seen where other RV’ers removed the bunk beds and converted the space into an office or pantry, so this was an obvious option.

We had already decided on a Class A RV and and considered both gas and diesel as options and eventually decided on gas mostly for the ease of repair if needed as well as cost. After searching and looking at many different Class A RVs with bunk beds, we quickly narrowed it down to the Tiffin Allegro Open Road 35 QBA model. We really liked the Tiffin quality and since we were trying to keep the rig under 40′ (this one actually measures 36′) it was perfect. With 4 slide-outs, this thing seems huge to us, especially after living on a sailboat. Other must haves for us was a generator and inverter system for the occasional boondocking.

We looked at several 35QBA’s ranging in years from 2013 – 2016 and after making a few offers, we finally made an offer on a 2016 located in Georgia.

Once the closing was complete, it was time to load up all of our stuff into the CRV, car topper and trailer and drive to Georgia to move on the RV. We’d reserved a spot at the River Forks Campground on Lake Lanier for 2 weeks in order to move in and get to know our new RV. Prior to heading to the campground, we spent the day getting new tires installed and having the oil changed on the engine and generator.

Once we arrived at the campground, we spent a few days moving and settling in. River Forks Campground, located in Gainesville, GA, was a beautiful spot for our first stay. Our spot was located on a sliver of land with water views on both sides. Since it is a public campground (government owned) it had water and electric only, not full hookups. This means no sewer or gray water hookup available at the site. In order to dump our black and gray water, we had to drive the RV to the pump out spot. This was actually really good training for new RV owners since we could gauge how long it would take to fill the tanks and also since it gave Randy and chance to drive the RV and get more comfortable. We only had to move the RV once while we were there so it wasn’t too big of an issue.

Other than moving onboard and making the new RV our own, Randy also began to dismantle the bunk beds and we came up with a plan for building my “sewing nook”. The bunks came out relatively easily and Randy drove them back to Florida to store at my sisters house. We figured we’d keep them in case the next owners want them they could be reinstalled. I’ll post more details about the bunk conversion in a future post.

While there, Randy finished installing our BlueOx towing system. This is. the system we use to flat tow our CRV behind the RV. Once installed and set up, we tested the towing capabilities in an empty parking lot at the campground. This was a huge step in getting us ready for when we leave the campground to start cruising which was coming up soon! More to come!