This my first post in 2014 and it’s already January 4th! We celebrated the new year with Debbie and Bruce Bednarski and Kim and Pat Chapman at their place on the Colorado River. We told each other that we would never make it to midnight, but guess what. It was after midnight before we headed back to our coach!

New Year’s Day was low key. Debbie and Bruce headed home to La Costa, California. I started packing the trailer. I rode the scooter to Yuma and walked a couple of RV lots. They were closed, but I wanted see if there was anything interesting. I didn’t see anything that required a second look, so I decided to head north when we left Hidden Shores. We had dinner with Kim and Pat on Wednesday evening – leftover prime rib, salad, and baked potato skins with all the fixings. Visiting Debbie, Bruce, Kim and Pat was such fun. The week flew by.

On Thursday, we loaded up, said our goodbyes to Kim and Pat and hit the road before noon. We drove east through the US Army Proving Grounds, then took US95 north to Quartzsite. We stopped in Quartzsite and unloaded the scooter. We had lunch in a little Mexican cafe, then started checking out the RV lots. The big RV show in Quartzsite starts on January 18th. Lots of RVers and vendors are already there. I was disappointed in the lack of good coaches in our price range. I felt like most of the coaches we looked at were overpriced. Nothing really struck our fancy.

We pulled out of Quartzsite around 3:30pm and took I-10 east. We stopped just before dark at a Walmart Supercenter in Buckeye, Arizona. We overnighted in their lot along with a few other RVs and a couple tractor/trailer rigs. Donna bought a roasted chicken in Walmart and made an excellent salad with chicken for dinner. In the morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds. I had two egg and sausage burritos. I haven’t eaten at McDonalds in years – now I remember why.

RV neighbors parking overnight at Walmart in Buckeye

We were on the road again by 9:00am. We wanted to find a place to stay in Mesa, Arizona, for a couple of weeks while we shopped for a motorhome. Donna was on the phone checking availability and prices. We found a place to stay that was near many RV lots on Main Street. We’re at the Sun Life RV Resort located at University and Higley. This place is mainly single-wide mobile homes (not really so mobile). It’s an “active senior” park – not exactly our type of park, but we needed a base while we searched for an RV. Donna commented that we are going to feel either really old or really young here.

Dropping the trailer in the site and backing our coach in was a tight operation. I maneuvered slowly and carefully, finally getting the coach positioned just right. After hooking up and showering, we were ready to go look at coaches. There were a few I had found on the internet that looked promising. Donna and went in search of those coaches first.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through coaches and comparing features and condition. We kept going back to an Alpine Coach that we both really liked. The mid-entry door is a little unusual for a diesel pusher. It’s 40 feet long (12.2 meters) and has three slide-outs. It has an open floor plan with Wilson laminate wood flooring.  The kitchen counter is spacious and features an induction cooktop. Donna has a place to set up a work station up front. We spent a couple of hours in this coach discussing how it would work out for us.

Alpine Coach

Nice counter space in the kitchen

We finally decided that this could be the one. We took it for a test drive. The handling and power was awesome. Alpine Coach was a brand made by Western RV in Yakima, Washington. They produced their own chassis, known as a Peak chassis. The Peak chassis is known for its fine handling characteristics. This coach is powered by the optional Cummins ISL 8.9 liter (543 cubic inch) turbocharged six-cylinder diesel engine. This engine produces 400 horsepower and a whopping 1250 lb/ft of torque (1695 Nm). The acceleration was hard for me to believe. The ride was smooth and quiet. I did notice the difference of an extra three feet of wheelbase compared to our present coach. Turns need to be taken a little wider.

Donna and I left the RV dealer and went to Tia Rosa’s for enchiladas. (Some of the finest Mexican food is found in Arizona.) We talked about the coach while we ate. We decided go back for another look and start negotiating. The coach needs new tires (due to age) and batteries. We struck a tentative deal, pending further inspection.

This morning, I went back to the dealership and inspected the roof. The one-piece fiberglass roof looks good other than the Dicor sealant around the skylight and roof vents is dry and cracked. This is an easy fix and the dealership agreed to reseal it. We’ll try to finalize a purchase agreement next week.