Camping History

2004 Rockwood Trailer 25'
At the onset of the 2007 SEC college football season, we began looking around at  used campers for tailgating on Auburn football home game weekends. We'd talked about it over the years, but never took action. In September we found a used 25' Rockwood travel trailer at price we thought was fair. It was a "turn-key" transaction giving us everything to camp immediately.  All we had to add was our toiletries, towels, food and clothes and we were on our way.  We bought a  GMC Yukon XL to pull our new "Rocky" -- Oh happy day. 

2008 Ford F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab
2006 Everest 343L
Camping was wonderful experience and we couldn't wait for winter to turn to spring so we could go again.  In February 2008 we attended a few RV Shows and found ourselves caught up in new camper fever. By this time, we'd decided full timing was a retirement goal and we convinced ourselves we needed a newer, larger camper.  We found the perfect 5th wheel at Columbia (TN) Campers and bought it in April 2008. It's an 36' Everest we named  "Evie". To pull her, we've bought a Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup truck.  Life is grand.

2006 Monaco Diplomat 40PRQ named Mona
2010 Ford Escape
The Everest was terrific and we loved her. Huge space and a dream to pull. Evie was labor intensive though: heavy personal generators and 50 amp power cords to lift, manual leveling and the satellite set-up caused me some concern for Wayne who isn't accustomed to heavy lifting.  I knew our full-timing would include lots of movement and setting up every day could take it's toll on him.  By the fall of 2009 we decided we needed the conveniences of push-button leveling, on-board generators, motorized power cords and on board satellite.  We began yet another camper search.  In March 2010, we found a 40' Monaco Diplomat we loved. Her name is Mona. We traded Big Whitey (the truck) for a new Ford Escape to pull behind who we named "Blackie"...  Now this is great.

2011 Holiday Rambler Enveavor 43DFT
Purchased at The RV Shop, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
During travel with friends in summer 2011, we agreed to rendezvous as a group and take in the 2012 Tampa RV Supershow in January 2012. We should have known better than to look at new coaches. In the beginning we didn't see a thing we liked better than we liked Mona. After all, we loved Mona, but she did have a few shortcomings -- namely, carpet and a "headbanger" TV over the cockpit. On the last day of the show, we took a scond look the Holiday Rambler Endeavor 43DFT. Ceramic tile throughout, 42" mid-coachTV, residential refrigerator, fireplace, central vac and a huge bathroom! I fell in love with it and couldn't shake the fever.  I finally uncovered a deal worth considering on a new 2011 with the same floorplan and colorscheme we'd seen in Tampa. We set a plan in motion to trade. The transaction would take us to the Baton Rouge Monaco/Holiday Rambler dealer. In the end, we were even able to use our custom desk and chair in place of the sofa on the curb side. 

I believe ours was the final of the new 2011's remaining for sale anywhere! Going out on a limb here but I really believe this one is the very last coach we'll ever own. We love it! We've named her "Endie". Before we were finished, we also traded Blackie (the 2010 Ford Escape) in on a 2012 Ford Edge who we'll call Big Blackie.  Update:  By the summer of 2015 Big Blackie was bursting at the seams. It was loaded with two bicycles, dog wagon, stroller and two sets of golf bicycles. After weeks of deliberation and research, we traded it for a new 2015 Ford F-150 with a bed liner and Tonneau cover to keep our many contents secure and dry.

If you'd like to see inside Endie and take a look at the brochure for her specifications, simply scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page and click on the picture I've posted there.  You'll see what we call home. Update: With Navistar's sale of Holiday Rambler, our spec sheet seems to have been deleted.