Failure to Launch

First we are only 67 miles from Cape Coral... we have run into major glitches and we've had a failure to launch. Remember all the issues with our brand new Land of OZ trailer last year? –Details to follow. Hang on.

Truly our intention was only to look at a Class B van that I had been eyeing up for a month or so at a dealership just north in Nokomis–brand new design by Roadtrek. Oh, I knew they would give us a hard sell, but we really wanted to sell Heart House first and bring bucks to the table when we did make our purchase. We discussed what it would take for them to convince us to buy the unit now. We thought we had pretty lofty demands and we would definitely be waiting until fall to get a new rig. As I said, big demands:
•defer the payment until September
•give us the vehicle payment we felt we could handle
•take the car, a Saturn Vue and the trailer with a reduction in price of nearly 20k dollars... more about our Saturn Vue in a minute
•no cash down
They met each of them! We signed on the dotted line. It was Gerard's birthday.

2015 Roadtrek Zion

Backing this story up just a bit– We were loaded and ready to go, but when we pulled away from Cape Coral, the Saturn wasn't acting right, making new sounds as we were pulling the trailer. Both of us nervous, but not saying anything to each other; both of us are wondering if we would make it north without a major vehicle issue. Also, over the past year, we have had the Land of Oz up for sale and only had 2 nibbles. We wondered how we would get it sold. So when we decided to jump in with both feet on this purchase, we felt relieved that we would be safe, no longer pulling a trailer, have a new vehicle with all its coverage, and getting twice the mileage we got on the road while pulling. Well, not so fast! Hold your horses!

After getting our commitment, RV World sets up the Land of Oz in their parking lot for us to "camp" the night there while they prepared our vehicle for the road. They arranged for us to have a free night at an RV resort in Sarasota,  just 30 minutes north the following night so we could acclimate ourselves and finish packing and organizing. Even though we were biting at the bit to get on the road, it had been an exhausting day moving our stuff from one unit to the other in the pouring rain. Good thing because we hadn't gone 20 miles when  a radiator hose blew! All the coolant was on the ground on Fruitville Rd.  They had to bring the two of us, the cat and the dog back to Nokomis and the rig had to be towed. Another night in the dealership parking lot "camping". Good thing because we found a list of things that... well, were just not quite right.  

Looking in the side sliding door

In Minnesota we found that these new units came with 800 or so miles because they drive them from Canada, but this unit only had 11 miles, it had been transported on a flatbed. So no miles to work out the glitches.

It is noon on June 3rd and we are still in the waiting room, with dog and cat. Hoping no more returns to the dealership... Remember the siding flying off the Land of OZ five hundred miles from the dealership in Arizona last year ? We will only expect smooth sailing from here on out.

They will be shipping screens for the back and side doors so it will feel much lighter and brighter when those arrive. Hopefully, they will catch up to us by the time we hit New Orleans

Keep your fingers crossed for us. We are still looking forward to road tripping along the Gulf Coast. Not positive, but sure are hoping to be 3 hours from here at Manatee Springs State Park tonight. Another Gerard birthday present- camping in Florida State Parks is 1/2 price now that he is 65!

This will take some getting use to, it's about 1/2 the size of our last bathroom

So for now...."pick a place on the map we can get two fast, where the white sandy beach meets water like glass."

And grab your chancletas we'll meet you on the beach.

~Catherine and Gerard