The New Camper

Alternate title: How to Get All Your Neighbors to Find a Reason to Stop Over
Second alternate title: When Mike Changed Everything and Sara's Brain Got a Cramp

It's been a wild few weeks here. And by wild, I mean that Mike got an itch and changed everything up! The kids and I basically buckled up and hung on tight. First on the list, we said good-bye to Mike's Trailblazer. It was making some funky sounds, which sounded like they could be expensive. We had been going down the path for a while of sinking money into it and were at the turning point. He also had a long term plan that required more towing capacity. And we wanted to get one car with the third row of seating. So just before Easter, a Dodge Durango came to live with us. We'd settled on a Durango, but I was still surprised by the text at work that said, "Oh, by the way, I bought a car today." He found a really good deal and jumped on it. So far, he's very happy with the trade.

Next up, Mike decided to sell his boat. We haven't used it much since the kids were born, usually one to two times a year, and Mike was spending a lot of time keeping it running. When we do go out on the boat, we're usually up in GR - where everyone else already has one. He was pleasantly surprised at the amount of interest he quickly got after posting it on Craigslist - and ended up selling it for double what he paid for it. He's put a lot of work into it, so he earned the money. But it was still very exciting.

Once the boat sold, we started looking at a camper upgrade. While we loved our vintage camper, by the end of last summer, it was becoming quite clear that it was not made for a family of five plus large dog. Not a deal-breaker, but Mike was also hoping to find one with a little toilet - so that Bugs doesn't have to do her daily flush in a little tent that we set up for her. The tent works until we are camping in a big storm. We found nice several pop-ups in our price range, but most of them didn't have a bathroom. Mike also found one hard-sided one that was at the very top end of our range - but looked to be in great shape. He preferred a hard-sided camper over the pop-up, so went to look at it one day over lunch.

Yet again, I got a call at work that a major purchase had been made. But it was hard to be upset at him for too long. When he saw the camper (which, indeed, was in great shape), he could also tell that the guy was anxious to get rid of it. It was listed for $5,000, so Mike asked the guy if he gave him $2,500 cash, would he take it. And he did!!! The more we work on the new camper, the more we can't believe what a great deal we got. It's really awesome and we are looking forward to our Father's Day camping trip. And thank goodness for the extra towing capacity of the new Durango.

With the new camper in our possession, Mike listed our old camper late Thursday night. By noon on Friday, he had 15 people interested. Most of them offering full price sight unseen. One lady leap-frogged the line by offering us $100 more than what we were asking. She came today to pick it up and was so genuinely excited to get it that we couldn't be happier to sell it to her. And best of all, between selling the boat and the camper, we just about paid for the new camper!

Now maybe Mike can settle down on all the changes. The kids and I are exhausted!