July 4 at Santee Lakes

July 4 is one of those holidays when we rent nearly all of our units. After a grueling week preparing for the rush, after the last rental rolled away, we loaded up one of the few remaining units – the 32’ Sprinter trailer with 2 bedrooms – and headed to nearby Santee Lakes to camp near some visiting relatives.

The Sprinter is an amazing trailer. A 2008 model, the interior is pristine. The front bedroom has a queen bed and the rear bedroom has 4 bunk beds and plenty of storage. In the large living area, the sofa opens into a true sofa bed and the wrap-around dinette makes into a large bed as well. There are beds for 10, although you could squeeze a few more in on the floor. The trailer has two separate entrances and, interestingly, the second entrance opens into the bathroom. This is a great idea when you are camping and you don’t want to track dirt or beach sand through the entire trailer to get to the bathroom. (With the sofa bed open, it blocks the aisle, so the occupants of the front bedroom might have to use that second entrance to get to the bathroom at night too!)

Our weekend in the Sprinter also reminded us why it is so important (besides being fun…) for us to try out all our rental units so we know all the features and problems to tell future renters about. This unit had never been rented yet, so if we had not used it ourselves, we would not have known about a blown fuse. Dan ran up to Wal-Mart and fixed that in a few minutes. We also discovered that if you run the air conditioner, an electric skillet and a coffee maker at the same time, the a/c fuse will heat up and pop repeatedly. We turned off everything and let the a/c breaker cool off and when we started up the air again we had no problems. If this problem had happened to a novice renter, it might have spoiled their vacation.

Santee Lakes is a great little getaway in the middle of the city. As a matter of fact, I am typing this blog sitting at the dinette in the Sprinter using their free wireless internet access. The dogs are looking out the door at Nicholas and his cousin riding bikes out front, barking at any ducks that stroll by. The older kids are at the pool. Earlier, we rented a couple of bumper boats…I mean paddle boats. You can go fishing from a boat or the shore. With cable TV hookups, we can catch some fireworks shows from the east coast on the large flat-screen TV on the wall between the living room and bedroom (which, by the way, you can rotate so the TV is in the bedroom instead).

Car seats in RV's part 2

In a previous blog, I talked about the difficulty finding a safe place for a child car seat in an RV.  One of the dinette seats is forward-facing, but the seat belts in the dinette are only bolted to the wood frame, not the frame of the vehicle like the front seats.  I mentioned that I heard some motor home manufacturers make an anchor for a car seat tether behind the dinette (for the LATCH system).  Two of our motor homes, the 29' Itasca Spirit and the 29' Minnie Winnie, have these anchors.  I will be checking the other motor homes to see if they have the car seat anchor.  

Jeremy the Eagle Scout

Our 17-year-old Jeremy has been something between a junior partner and a janitor at Rice RV since he graduated from high school last summer (2 years early).  He thinks he is a slave and we think he has a cushy "job" - spending an awful lot of time in the air-conditioned break trailer watching Sesame Street with Nick when he should be dumping holding tanks or changing generator oil.  But, in his own unique way, Jeremy usually gets things done.  Last week, he had his final meeting with Boy Scout higher-ups and is now officially an Eagle Scout, following in the footsteps of his stepbrother, Chris.  I think it's sad that, like Chris, he will wear the red-white-and-blue neckerchief only a couple times before he leaves scouts behind him.  But Chris says his Eagle Scout belt buckle, which he wears every day, has opened more doors for him that he ever imagined.  Chris just started working for the City of San Diego in the motor pool.  We expect him to work his way up to mayor!  Oddly enough, Jeremy does not see a career in RV cleaning and is talking about signing up with the San Diego Sheriff's Department.  

Rice RV sales picking up/new inventory coming in

Perhaps the economy is improving or perhaps this is related to my previous post about so many other local dealers closing, but sales are definitely up at Rice RV in the past couple of weeks.  We are also getting in tons of new inventory (thanks to Dennis being back on the job!).  As usual for this time of year, the summer rental reservations are pouring in, so we are all busier than ever.  If you want to drop in to buy or rent an RV, early Sunday (we open at 11) has been a less-busy time.  Or drop by on a morning mid-week.  

I have never seen a motor home this luxurious before!

I've been in some really nice motor homes, like the 2007 Fleetwood Revolution we used to rent out. But this 40' Tiffin Phaeton takes the cake! We took it in as a consignment to sell (and to rent VERY selectively, for about $400 a night!).

Where do I start? Push a button and the jacks come down and automatically level the coach. Push a button to open the electric awnings. Open the 4 slides and you see tile floor, granite counters, beautiful hardwood cabinets and leather upholstery. There is a 40" flat screen TV in the front. A huge backup camera monitor is bigger than my computer screen. But wait! Not only do you see a view behind you, but when you use the blinkers, you see the view from the two side cameras. It's also a GPS navigation system and, if you buy wireless broadband, a full PC computer with Windows. Update your MySpace page or play a game while your spouse drives. Or you could fire up the in-motion satellite and watch some sports. Some satellite services come with wireless internet nowadays, so you could use that for the built-in computer. Push a button and the passenger chair turns into a recliner.

The sofa bed is not the usual small fold-flat RV sofa. You open it up like a real sofa bed, but the mattress is an air mattress. You blow it up with the electric air pump. Way more comfortable than any RV sofa or sofa bed! In the kitchen, there are tons of cupboards, but if you want more counter space, you can pull out one row of cupboards, to reveal a granite-topped counter. There is a microwave/convection combo and a 4-door refrigerator with ice maker.

In the bedroom, there is a king-sized Magic bed (like a Select Comfort with controls for the firmness on each side) and a washer/dryer unit in the closet.

Driving this thing is like driving a giant Mercedes. The 350 Caterpillar engine is 40 feet behind you, so you barely hear it. The transmission, braking and suspension systems are smooth and powerful. The windshield is all one piece, so you don't have a line down the center blocking your view.

If only we had some time off so we could borrow this and take it to a luxury RV resort for a weekend of pretending we are rich!

How much to own this little gem? It's a steal at $159,000. It cost $230,000 new in 2007 and it is still in perfect condition.

Where do you put car seats in an RV?

This is a tricky question for parents. Child car seats are designed to be in a forward-facing seat. In most RV's, the only available forward-facing seats are the front passenger seat and the forward-facing bench of the dinette. However, at the dinette the table is in the way, and even if your car seat fits in the space, in an accident the table could come off its supports and injure your child. We ourselves have opted for the front passenger seat with Nicholas, now 3, as long as there is no passenger air bag or the air bag can be turned off. Another issue is that the dinette seat belts are fastened to wood, whereas the front seat belts are bolted to the frame of the vehicle and are much more reliable in an accident.

Because this is a gray area in the law, many people opt to buckle car seats on the sofa, even though it faces to the side. I consider this to be safer than the dinette with the table hazard, but in a serious accident, the car seat would not protect the child's head from side-to-side motion, since car seats are signed for forward-backward protection.

I recently read something about some RV's having tethers for car seats behind the forward-facing bench of the dinette, which would be a great benefit (although I would probably lower the table to the bed position rather than leaving it up).

The fact of the matter is that traveling in an RV is not as safe as a car and you have to sort out the risks versus benefits for yourself.

We have one interesting class A RV for sale at Rice RV which has four captain's chairs in the front, with an additional set behind the driver and passenger seats, presumably with frame-mounted seat belts. They face forward while driving but swivel around to be part of the living room when you want. See photos of this 1998 30' Itasca Sunrise here.

Two amazing little RV's we added to our rental fleet

This year, our rental fleet made a jump from 24 to 31 foot units, but now we have a brand new 26' Coachmen Freelander with a slide out. Check out photos here. It is small and easy to drive but has a private rear bedroom.

Our other exciting new unit is a 23' Gulfstream Vista Cruiser diesel class C with a slide out. Gorgeous inside and out, it gets an amazing 15-18 miles to the gallon! Check out photos here.