Our first campground with the Bears Den

We left the kmart parking lot once I got my driving grove on and our plans included stopping at an Oklahoma State Park on the way back to Texas.  We figured we would be leaving at around 1 pm and that is what it worked out to be so we had several on our list but one stood out of our list of 4.

Once on the highway and as I was getting up to speed the "Lady of the Coach" made an announcement.  "WARNING OUTSIDE BAY DOOR IS OPEN"  I had this flash of a famous movie in my mind, looking in the rear view mirrors, I was thinking I would see things strung all over the highway.  "WARNING OUTSIDE BAY DOOR IS OPEN", seeing nothing I quickly got over to the right hand lane and made a quick exit, looped around, caught a green light at the exit and stopped over into a parking lot.  I had pulled on all the bay doors the only one that had felt loose was the engine bay door, and I thought one lock was good enough.

I jumped out walked pulling on each bay door, LOCKED, but when I got to the engine compartment thats where I saw it, there is ONLY one lock and that was not locked.  So I locked it, I think the wind once we got moving started it to vibrate.  So this was my first "excitement moment" of where there is a few more to come..

Remember when we opened the BIG Zip Dee awning and how nice it was....well I am so glad we did cause at the time our walk thru person did not want to take the time to open it, but you know it was in the UNLOCKED POSITION.  He said, Im so glad we looked at it, I thought that was in the locked position you would have had a real mess on your hands on the highway if this had dropped open.!!

I got back into the coach and off we went, no hitches payed our first toll, a 1.50, and took a lunch stop at around 2 at an Ihop.  The waitress was so nice.  As she stood there visiting I said not to busy right now.  She said, "I was worried this really pretty bus came in the drive a little bit ago, and our manager had just let 3 people take the afternoon off, Im not sure where all those people went.

Was it green and white ?  Yes it was so pretty too, guess they just went to the motel in the back lot. We said well there is only 2 in there and we are the 2.  REALLY, that is so pretty.  I said, yes it is a 1997 we just got it about an hour ago and it talks to you too.  REALLY it looks brand new, and it talks to you, I don't remember anything that talked to you back in 1997.  Well this one does and we told her about our bay door open story.

So after lunch we found our way to our camp grounds, just missed the check in at the camp store so drove to the location and had the pick of the slots no one was camping in January when the night time temp is going to be below freezing.  But that was not going to stop us.  Linda found a spot she liked, a pull thru for me, not to close to the water, she did not want the Bears Den to roll off in to the lake on its first night.  I guess I need to explain air brakes better to her and how they work.  But it was a nice spot and helped us to create our first Safety Tip for campers something I wont forget any time soon.

I Stopped the coach where Linda wanted it, leveled the coach, we plugged it in, turned on the heat, found the bathrooms and like Gilligan said, "It looks like clear sailing."

Our Lake View from the Bears Den

Mama Bear and the Bears Den

Papa Bear and the Bears Den

As the unit is "winterized" we would walk back to the public restrooms, not far, but on the 3rd trip it was dark, and the light was just right, when we came back, I got my next "excitement moment".   All this white smoke was coming out the back by the heater, at least thats what I thought I saw.  Look the old boy that had this coach never ran the heater and now the darn thing has caught fire, I move quickly into the area sniffing for smoke, Linda saying, Steve that does not look like smoke.  Then it hits me.  Oh my gosh, I remember this from living in Michigan, this is an inversion layer and all this is steam....Dah....Then as I take a step DOWN I GO, Linda tries to grab me and as I go down to the pavement with a few choice words, Im like, "what was that."  See the safety tip now to learn more.

Later we tried to sleep on the bed but it was just too hard, was not to either of these bears likings, so we each grabbed a couch and had a great nights sleep.

All in all our first night went pretty good, we left the slide in, only used electric, and did not need any awnings out.  We did point out to the camp monitor when she came later that evening to collect the pit fall in the back, all she said was that was not there the other day.  We just felt they needed to know to protect the next camper like us.

Watch the video to see the campground from inside the coach.

Watch the video to see the campground from outside the coach.

Better go Grey Hound

We decided to take the bus Friday evening after working to get up to Tulsa as our walk thru the coach was to begin at 9:15 am.  The bus left Dallas around 8 pm. got to Oklahoma City at 11:30 pm and on another bus at 12:30 am to Tulsa which arrived at 3:00 am, we walked up a hill to our downtown hotel, checked in and it was a very short night for sleep.

Our sales person Daniel was super, he picked us up at the hotel, this was our first time to meet him as he was off the Saturday before, but was very nice to take us to the RV superstore.  He introduced us to Ken who would be showing us all the features of our coach.

When I went in to put our luggage into the coach, I knew then with the DVD playing, the heat blowing warm, all lit up inside it was going to be our home on wheels....but later as we went thru there was even more !!

We started outside first on our tour with Ken from Dean's RV.

2 Bears with Ken our Dean's RV Tour Guide

First Bonus, was the pull out zip dee awning, was it ever nice.....YEAH glad we pulled it open.

Second Bonus, was the pull out for the generator it is manual, simple unlock switch, pull with muscle and YEAH and out it comes, no wasted time waiting on a motorized slide.

Third Bonus, all the slide hydraulics had been replaced along with the motor....YEAH !!

Fourth Bonus, outside cable plug for easy access. Not that I want to watch TV that much.

We go inside and go to the bedroom to start our inside tour now.

Fifth Bonus, was under the bed, full engine access..... YEAH !!  I was so excited to see that.

Sixth bonus was the way the heat was blowing in from all areas.....YEAH I love to be warm.

Seventh bonus, the storage holders for the sink covers and the range cover....awesome.

Eighth bonus, how easy it was to level the coach...even I can push one button....oh this is NICE.

So we finished our tour, signed the papers, got all the paper work, and drove over to the kmart to take a few test turns before heading back to Texas.  I have drove trucks full of sand on golf courses, but nothing quite this heavy or long so I needed a few moments to get my drive grove on.

Later we found additional bonus items which included the alarm system still intact, all door codes and safe codes work, the outside cooler cleaned up really easy, both couches fold down, it rides really nice, nicer then the test drive and the SAT dish works when we put in our old Direct TV box YEAH.

Sure we have some things to do, we are working on fixing the head board, the front door to have the shock, cleaning, fixing under the slide where some of the coating is missing, some lite rust to remove under the slide, a piece of moulding to replace over the slide, and a door lite bolt that I broke when trying to get the light to work in the Propane Bay.

Im sure we will find other things to do, so stay tuned we are super excited to get on the road with the Bears Den.

Going to Tulsa to see the Country Coach

Its 4:00 am Saturday morning, weather forecast for the drive to Tulsa via Oklahoma City is for snow in OKC I want to get to Tulsa by 9:00 when they open so we can have time to look this coach over.

We leave at 5 am, and if we run into ice decide we would turn around and wait, but we make it to OKC but snowing really hard speeds at 30 or less on the freeway, then I miss my exit, off we go the wrong way, see a wreck aftermath, and we route our selves onto the turnpike to Tulsa, and things clear off just wet pavement, one stop mid way for a breakfast and we get to the RV Superstore at 11:00, wrong place, they had moved up the street not far, so we arrive at 11:05.

We meet Mike a salesman there that is going to show us the coach, as the person we had phone conversations was going to be off and we knew that no problem to us.  He finally found some keys to it, and off onto the lot we walked to the coach, from the side it was next to another unit, so from the front was my first view....listing...heavy to the drivers side...I thought oh no hear we go again......and after an 6 hour drive.....Linda looked at me, and I thought she was not liking it either.

I stood there...Mike said...He would start it up....I said no rush...He said no another salesman wants to have me start it, so he cranked it up.  Bluma, aaaaa Bluma aaaaa, he came out and said thats normal, they start that way when they are cold, of that I knew.  We looked at the engine, he pointed out some items as he use to be a Cummins man.  He said go ahead and look all we want, it was about 33 that morning snow on the ground, but the parking lot was just wet....no way to look under without soaking.

I walked around outside, the generator was running and the engine.  Linda was already inside, and I was looking in the bays....things looked like they did in the on line photos, and the awning had been put back.  We found out later they had replaced all the hydraulic lines and motor for the one slide.  YEAH

Linda comes back out helps with a couple of pictures hands me the ipad and says she needs to go to the restroom, so in the coach I go with I pad in hand....and once inside...Im sold...oh my gosh...this thing is solid...and the pictures well not as good as the real thing....so whats the catch...hmmmmmm.

As I look in the bedroom area, Linda comes back and so does Mike.  He says hows it going...I said well we just started which its been about 20 mins so far...Mike says well we need to hurry things up as another couple local is with another salesman to look at the coach.  I say wait we want to take a ride in it first.  Mike says sure, you were here first.  He goes out side to start locking the bays and sweep snow off the slide.

Linda is furious, "THERE is NO WAY I am rushing this....if we like this coach its ours, and we have been looking a long time and drove a lot of hours to get here for a local couple that could have come during the week to want to bump us is unfair.  Im not budging till we are done.  I say maybe they are just trying to get us to buy this thing.  But then.....

As I am trying to get warm in the passenger seat there comes a couple with a young child and another salesman looking at us in the coach talking and staring at us....we stare back.  Mike enters and shuts the door.  We say is that the other couple, he says yes...but we are not going to rush this drive.  I said good, cause we are liking what we are seeing and if we put down money do they get to drive in it...No he says, once you do that and you have first option cause you were here first, they have no say.

Good so we drive off the lot, up the freeway, smoothly in a high wind, conversation is good, he pulls off the highway and into a place to let me test drive and around a large country block we go.  I said well if you with me Linda this is the one.  Linda says YEP this is the one.  Mike says OK...we switch drivers back and tell him our 5 year story and about following other full timing RVers as does he.  Then we tell him about 2 Bears and a Pie.  He says Im so glad you guys are going to get this coach it is the steal of a deal especially as the manager made a pricing error on it.

So we put down our money, take a few photos later with the Sales Manager as we lost Mike some how, and we drive off, in shock back to Texas that we made a deal, now all we need is to get our financing in order and the deal would be done....We need to go back next Saturday another long drive.......or maybe we have another idea.....better go GreyHound.

Years ago in the Year 2011....

I started looking for a motorhome in 2011.  Thought I would find one pretty quick...NOT !  Plus I had to convince Linda that it would be fun to travel the United States do some work camping and see all the sites the country has to offer.

Boy was I in for some surprises along the way.

First Linda, is security minded, I think most women are, and that is a good thing, otherwise most of us men would be broke or at least I would I love to spend money when I have it, but since I have gotten older, well not so much do I spend, about twice I year I splurge on a video game..

So we started looking went to a big place looked at a 2003 Monaco Signature....and several others, to leave thinking this is gonna need some big money for a Diesel Pusher.

I wanted tag axel Diesel Pusher, either Monaco, Newell, Prevost or Blue Bird...maybe outside chance for a Country Coach, but the one we would get would have most of the bells and whistles.

We looked at a lot, always bigger money then we had in our hands.  And financing for us was like climbing all the way to the moon, it was so far out of reach we needed to save, ....somehow.

Finally Christmas day 2015 looking on RVtrader.com as I did just about every day along with many other sited, I think I spent about an hour a day average looking and writing.  Wrote about this 1997 Country Coach sitting in a dealership in Tulsa Oklahoma.  Oh we live in the DFW area of Texas.

After 4 days, nothing I tell Linda about the coach...now somewhere along the timeline of 2011 to 2015, she went from doubt about it all to looking, to REALLY looking and when we went to look she would slam doors and give the coaches a once over to see if they were well made,..... So she calls the place in Tulsa, Deans RV.

It goes to a fast busy...I think it is maybe a scam, that someone else is using the photos.  Then a week later on a Saturday someone called us, Linda is on the phone, Its the RV place....I look at the site, price is up over 10,000 I tell Linda to ask the man on the line whats UP !@!  (10,000 Up).  Linda on the phone, "oh ok, I see so if we come look at it you will honor the price we saw it at?  Ok good, well its too late today, we will drive up next Saturday to look at it."  Ok sounds good.....

For a week Linda and I look at it on the website.  She starts using the words ours, our coach, our tires, our, you get the picture Linda is sold on this one, and so many times the pictures look a lot better then what the real motor coach is really like.....but this one turns out different...see what happens that next Saturday when we are going to Tulsa to see the Country Coach.