How many of the Newbies will be around in a year?

[FlyingTina]

I'm a class-B-ish newbie and I don't think I'll grow weary of it...but I respect that getting away from it all is difficult right now...and that may color my future decisions on keeping or selling.
I grew up with a 70's VW "bus" and have been enamored of that ever since. I also grew up with a yearly, weeks long trip, via pop-up camper, when the VW wasn't practical for our family of 2 adults and 3 kids, anymore.
Adulting, my husband and I camped everywhere, and then got our daughter into it. I love tenting...but my back does not.
Then, I tried the pop-up life; and for a weekend every summer and the one 2-week-vacation we used it for, it was great. However, without electricity, we're just camping in a slightly more comfortable bed. The pop-up turned out not to be worth the trouble of the hook-up, backing, maintenance, that we went through for very little use. (I sold that camper last last spring and broke-even after 5 years. Great experiment.)
Fast forward to now to COVID and I've lost my mind, being stuck at home. I'm such a newbie that I bought a Ford E-250 airport shuttle, and "converted" it. I am THRILLED! It's down and dirty but, although it's not everything I dreamed of yet, it's well on it's way, just by having a real-ish bed and potty, on wheels.
The pop-up was my midlife crisis. The van is my continued midlife crisis mixed in with a loss in my faith in humanity. It's the only place I can leave real life behind.
With that said, I live in fear that this was a poor decision since I bought the van at 118,000 miles and am not sure how long it will last; or how much it can sit. I also wonder if I should have scraped a bit more cash together and bought a legit class B. To further complicate things, the full campgrounds, remote learning, lack of time, job, etc are making it difficult to get out with the van...so for the last month it's been sitting in my suburbia, one-car-driveway...which altogether isn't good...BUT it IS there for any time I need to GTFO (pardon my french)....
Long story short, I don't plan to get out any time soon. I've been wanting a vehicle like this for ages!

[themexicandoctor]

If you cannot see yourself being able to use it in the likely future, now would be the ideal time to offer it for sale ...

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by FlyingTina

I'm a class-B-ish newbie and I don't think I'll grow weary of it...but I respect that getting away from it all is difficult right now...and that may color my future decisions on keeping or selling.
I grew up with a 70's VW "bus" and have been enamored of that ever since. I also grew up with a yearly, weeks long trip, via pop-up camper, when the VW wasn't practical for our family of 2 adults and 3 kids, anymore.
Adulting, my husband and I camped everywhere, and then got our daughter into it. I love tenting...but my back does not.
Then, I tried the pop-up life; and for a weekend every summer and the one 2-week-vacation we used it for, it was great. However, without electricity, we're just camping in a slightly more comfortable bed. The pop-up turned out not to be worth the trouble of the hook-up, backing, maintenance, that we went through for very little use. (I sold that camper last last spring and broke-even after 5 years. Great experiment.)
Fast forward to now to COVID and I've lost my mind, being stuck at home. I'm such a newbie that I bought a Ford E-250 airport shuttle, and "converted" it. I am THRILLED! It's down and dirty but, although it's not everything I dreamed of yet, it's well on it's way, just by having a real-ish bed and potty, on wheels.
The pop-up was my midlife crisis. The van is my continued midlife crisis mixed in with a loss in my faith in humanity. It's the only place I can leave real life behind.
With that said, I live in fear that this was a poor decision since I bought the van at 118,000 miles and am not sure how long it will last; or how much it can sit. I also wonder if I should have scraped a bit more cash together and bought a legit class B. To further complicate things, the full campgrounds, remote learning, lack of time, job, etc are making it difficult to get out with the van...so for the last month it's been sitting in my suburbia, one-car-driveway...which altogether isn't good...BUT it IS there for any time I need to GTFO (pardon my french)....
Long story short, I don't plan to get out any time soon. I've been wanting a vehicle like this for ages!

Welcome to the forum Tina!

Sounds like you have a lot of camping experience and a desire to do more. Use this current down time to improve your van in preparation for the time when you can finallly journey out. Your improvements will likely increase the value of your rig, bringing you more for it should the time come to sell. And 118,000 miles isn't necessarily a lot of miles. If the condition of the motor, transmission, etc. concern you, get a mechanic to check it out. Unless he finds something serious, you'll be reassured on that front.

Good luck.

[Doctor Old]

We made no bones about it when we bought ours: two years and then we’re selling. We have been hiking in Europe annually and were slated to go again this year until the pandemic. We don’t envision using air travel until 2022. Our plan was to “see America” years from now when our hiking days were over. With everything going on we just decided to do that now. When we feel safe traveling abroad (and when Europe will allow Americans) we’ll sell and go back to our normal mode. That said, we’ve been on the road for almost a month and have enjoyed it. The one downside is that we can’t go exploring many of the cool little towns we pass through because of social distancing. Could we change our mind and keep it long-term? Possibly, but not likely. We’ll see.

[MsNomer]

We also had been regularly hiking in Europe, and plan to go back when it's safe, but it doesn’t have to be either-or.

[Monstermash74]

We camped for many years in the back of our pickup TopperEZlift was fine but age has a way of making it harder to crawl out. So we bought a 2000 Dodge 190 popular a year ago August. We will be using it for some time to come.

[AdamG]

We are brand new to both RV's and camping of any kind. But we didn't buy our class b primarily for camping (but we will try camping with it). My wife has Crohn's disease and traveling can be tricky. I told her I wanted to buy her "peace of mind". having a bathroom while traveling is priceless. So far we absolutely love it! I drove it 1000 miles just to get it home and it was great. We are going on our first camping trip next week (a "color tour" of the U.P. in Michigan).20200917_130227.jpg20200919_175343.jpg20200919_175513.jpg

[Doctor Old]

Originally Posted by MsNomer

We also had been regularly hiking in Europe, and plan to go back when it's safe, but it doesn’t have to be either-or.

This is true. But these RVs are a money pit and for the money I will put into this upfront and annually, I can see so much more of the world. And after completing our first month long trip in the rig, I can tell you we have much more fun traveling with our backpacks instead of this rolling mini house. Much less to worry about. Much more freedom.

[pacificstar]

We ordered our Solis a month and a half ago. We get delivery mid November. I have to wait a bit to answer your questions. We looked at so many Class B vans, New Van's with custom build's, used vans of all types....Ram, Mercedes, Transit mostly. Check out all the different conversations on each. The Solis, hit all the things we wanted and felt comfortable in the unit. Hey even our dog jumped right in the Solis and look at "home".