From Gonnabee to WanderBee!

Joatha · #1 03-17-2014

So, here I am. I’m probably the longest tenured wannabee (or gonnabee as I have termed myself) on this site. If I am not, I have to be close! If you go back in time, I first contracted the Bird flu back in about 2005-2006 or so. I don’t really recall the specifics of when. I’ll not recap the hows and whys, etc. All that matters is that I had it and I had it bad.

About 6-7 months ago, life circumstances FINALLY came together so that the wife and I could consider buying. When I began the search, I had THOUGHT that what we would get would be a BMC. I looked at more than a few along the way. But, nothing struck my fancy although some I had seen previously would have done very nicely for us. Plus, I started to realize that I just might be able to afford something a little newer and slightly bigger – something that didn’t seem tenable before. I absolutely did not want to exceed 40 feet, though. A few such coaches had shown up that were only a little over the initial budget and the wife seemed to like those better. So, I expanded the scope of the search.

Well as you might expect, there was one that Randy had that I REALLY liked (I think there’s more than 1 of those for all of us). It was well out of our price range but I did drool over it a few times online (along with others over there). Then, out of the blue, Randy posts that there was a price drop on that Bird. And, my eyes got a little bigger and the wheels started turning. It was still just over what we wanted to pay. Maybe, though, it WAS within reach. Hmmm….

So, we gave it a shot and made an offer. It was turned down. We made another and it was also turned down. Finally, we gave it a 3rd shot (after probably way too much deliberation). That offer was acceptable. But, there was a catch. Someone else had booked tickets and was flying in to give it a once-over that day. That was the price we paid for pondering our navels I guess. We had to wait for them to look at it and decide. The wife and I held our collective breath and waited. And waited. And waited. Hours seemed like days! Randy finally drops me a note and says the person passed and we now had a deal. Woo-hoo!!!!!

I will get to the rest of my adventure later concerning picking it up and all the adventure that went with that. At this point, I am very proud to announce that Deborah (my wife) and I are the very proud new owners of a 2001 Bluebird Wanderlodge LX - which we have named WanderBee!

Joatha · #2 03-17-2014

So, before I recap the adventure, I want to mention that we bought the coach from Norm and Trish Brown and I have to give a big thanks to them. They were GREAT in the walk-through and getting us up to speed on things and showing us not just the good of the coach but also the realities of it. They have a beautiful place and their horses are absolutely beautiful as well. They also told us to NOT hesitate to call them with questions on the coach. I am going to do my best to limit my calls. But, it is nice knowing that I can reach out to them. They are terrific folks and it was great to get to meet them. I know that I took their baby home with me. But, it is in good hands and will be loved, cared for and fully enjoyed!

Now…back to the adventure….

HummerH1 · #3 03-17-2014

Congrats Jonathon. I remember the adventure of purchasing and picking up our first Bird. Enjoy the ride and the friends you will make along the way.

mpierce · #4 03-17-2014

Congratulations! Waiting for the story. LOL

Rick · #5 03-17-2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joatha

So, before I recap the adventure, I want to mention that we bought the coach from Norm and Trish Brown and I have to give a big thanks to them. They were GREAT in the walk-through and getting us up to speed on things and showing us not just the good of the coach but also the realities of it. They have a beautiful place and their horses are absolutely beautiful as well. They also told us to NOT hesitate to call them with questions on the coach. I am going to do my best to limit my calls. But, it is nice knowing that I can reach out to them. They are terrific folks and it was great to get to meet them. I know that I took their baby home with me. But, it is in good hands and will be loved, cared for and fully enjoyed!

Now…back to the adventure….

Way to go!

sfedeli · #6 03-17-2014

Well holy cow!!! That's great news. Congrats on the purchase.

dackerman · #7 03-17-2014

Congratulations!

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

I am extremely happy with the bus I bought from Randy and I had a couple questions here and there but the kicker was when I was at my first WOG outing and was not really prepared for it to be cold. I had to ask Carol how to turn the heat on, something I never had to do since owning the bus for about 6 months. So her answer, with some assistance from Randy was there is a switch for that on the dash. So now, "there is probably a switch for that somewhere" is part of my troubleshooting for every issue.

Ernest Ekberg · #8 03-17-2014

Best wishes. Bim and I inspected that coach before Norm bought it. Nice coach.

isp2952 · #9 03-17-2014

Congrats Jonathan. We are happy for you guys. Enjoy it!

Joatha · #10 03-17-2014

Back to the adventure....

I had 2 contingencies on the deal. The first was I wanted it inspected professionally – especially the drivetrain and chassis. After I made some arrangements, Norm took it to Cummins in Ocala and it passed with flying colors – very very minor stuff is all they found. The second condition was for us to inspect it in person and get a full walk-through of how everything worked. Due to some other commitments, Deborah and I couldn’t make it that coming weekend. Plus, Norm needed to take care of some business back up north. It was going to be the next weekend before we could get down there (which was this past weekend).

We made arrangements to fly in on Friday night to see the coach – that saved us from having to drive down from the Atlanta area and see it Sat AM with little sleep following a 6 hour ride the night before. We wanted to be refreshed and alert. We would then drive a rental car over to a nearby hotel, inspect it Sat AM, and drive home with or without the coach (based on the inspection) on Sat afternoon. Airline tickets were purchased and car/hotel were booked. This was no easy feat I will note because the Gatornationals were in Gainesville this past weekend and that is where we needed to go. I ended up having to fly in to Jacksonville because airfare was well less than half the cost of Gainesville. No worries…it wasn’t that much more of a drive! Mother Nature, however, had her own plans instead.