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A Long Walk......since October 2014


Nomad family Botes

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Greetings from two new members, Buks and Sonja Botes

We live in South Africa and I  joined the forum in October 2014 and raised the topic " can a foreigner on a tourist visa purchase, register and insure an RV in the US". We were overwhelmed by the reception we had on the forum and the advice that we received and I became a regular follower of the different conversations on the forums. In the meantime my wife and I started planning early retirement and the wrapping up of whatever kept us from fulltime travelling. Since we first went on a motor home vacation in Spain in November 2010 we had a dream to one day come to the US, purchase an RV and travel extensively in your beautiful country. My wife was in Real Estate and she sold her business three years ago. I went on early retirement in October 2016 and we started travelling in Asia until a few days ago.

We are now in the US for just over a week and we have become full members of Escapees, with a physical and mailing address, (all required to register and insure a vehicle) a US bank account and an insurer who will insure our RV. I can even obtain a Texas drivers licence if I choose to do so. We have visited all of the different departments and offices where we would be registering and insuring the vehicle and we managed to tick  all of the boxes..... yes, we can buy, register and insure a vehicle in the US while on a tourist visa! And this afternoon we personally collected our first mail from the Escapees office... our debit and credit cards sent there by the bank.

We have spent many days looking at RV's,talked to dealers and individuals, drove a few of them, read hundreds of reviews and have visited a few RV parks and also the beautiful State Park at Livingston.

We are leaving the US next week to return home for final preparations like medical insurance and a few other minor formalities and we will return to the US  in May to purchase a vehicle and actually start living our dream.

We have sorted the difficult issues out like a Class A versus a class C and "to toad or not to toad", which manufacturer etc, etc. We have decided on an A class gas vehicle, 30 foot (give or take a foot or two) and a toad. The big question that remains now is the make......extensive research point us towards the following three brands, in the order of preference. 1) Newmar, 2) Tiffin and 3) Winnebago. A four to five year old vehicle will fit our budget and we will most probably purchase a warranty for the vehicle. Toad would most probably be a Honda which we will tow with all wheels down.

We will buy the rig and the toad cash and our budget is (vehicle is paid for and our medical insurance is covered) around USD3000 a month?

Any advice and or comments would be appreciated as we realise that in spite of all the research and planning, there will be many things that we have not foreseen that we will have  to deal with. Will our budget be adequate, the choice of our vehicle.......... etc. We can not really afford to make big and costly  mistakes and we rely on our fellow members to point us in the right direction if  necessary.

But one thing is for sure, we can not wait for the day - hopefully soon - that we will get into our motor home and drive off into the "unknown". You are blessed with a beautifull,country, an amazing infrastructure, a safe environment and we plan to enjoy and appreciate every moment of our journey.

 

 

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Welcome to the Escapees RV Club! You won't be the first members from South Africa as we met and became friends with "Peter & Margret" who also come from there but I believe may not be members any longer, as they have sold the RV and moved on. We look forward to meeting you in person so please do plan to spend some time at Escapee events when you get that RV.

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1) Newmar, 2) Tiffin and 3) Winnebago. A four to five year old vehicle will fit our budget and we will most probably purchase a warranty for the vehicle. Toad would most probably be a Honda which we will tow with all wheels down.

This looks to me as though you are moving in the right direction, but with the Honda you do want to be careful in the year & model as not all Honda's can be towed. We loved our CRV but unfortunately the new onces can not be towed on their wheels.

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We will buy the rig and the toad cash and our budget is (vehicle is paid for and our medical insurance is covered) around USD3000 a month?

Whi.e you won't be living like "kings" that should be ample funds for travel in the style that the majority of us do. It is very close to what we now spend per year. We live a very comfortable lifestyle and I'm sure that you will also.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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If you are in Texas PPL Houston is worth a visit. Their sales staff are not on commission so no hard sell.SEE http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/

Get Texas driving licences if you can. they will give you a much wider choice of insurance companies and save you $100s on the annual premiums.

If you plan to visit the National Parks get a America the Beautiful 2017: National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass. At $80 US for both of you it is bargain.

FT since September 2007

Safari Trek + M/C

http://johncarolandcharro.blogspot.com/

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Welcome! Sounds like you've done your homework very well and you've made three good choices for your RV search.  Best of luck to you!

Full-timed for 16 Years
Traveled 8 yr in a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star 40' Motorhome
and 8 yr in a 33' Travel Supreme 5th Wheel

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Kirk yes, the Hondas up to 2012 seems to be the right ones for a toad and apparently the 2013's and up can not be towed with all wheels down - but yes, I will be carefiuull whem making the selection. I hope that we would be able to meet some of the members in person - we will be totally "friend-less" when we start our travels and just to meet a few people would makes a difference.

Assassin - hi there - I receive the weekly updates from PPL and have also visited them last week. Their website helped a lot over the years to educate me on the variety of vehicles available and prices. You are right about the comission motivation -  we have been to a few dealers who seems not to have listened when we explained exactly what we were interested in -  they kept on promoting vehicles that was way outside of the specifications that we set for the purchase-  they would show us super sized diesel pushers in the USD200k range and up  etc etc. On the flipside, we also met a few really great salesmen who were pasionate about their products and we will certainly make sure we end up with someone who has our interest at heart.

The parks pass would certainly be one of the first things we sign up for - we were so impressed by the facilities and the infrastructure of the parks that we visited and as we would spend more time outside that inside cities it would make sense.

Thanks for the comments to all of the other members and we look forward meeting some of the Escapees in person - which will happen when we join some of the events off course.

 

Buks and Sonja

 

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Welcome to the forum and good luck with your journey...you won't be "friendless" very long!!! The Escapees and RV'ers in general are some of the most helpful and friendliest folks you will ever meet!! Don't be shy about asking for assistance on places to go and things to see, there are so many folks on this site that have been full timing for a long time and are extremely helpful with any thing you might need help with. Many of them have blogs you might want to read while you are planning your trip. That helped us tremendously. Safe travels!! 




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  • 2 months later...

After spending a few weeks around Houston in March to research our travel plans we have left for the last leg of our extended Asia tour and we then went back home to South africa in May for the final arrangements before the start of our US RV Adventure. We are back in the US since Tuesday 30th and we now have to take the first step. We are in Houston in a hotel and we really are in a hurry to get out of here so the first priority is to buy a car, and in the meantime we are searching the internet for the right Motorhome..

We have decided on the Honda CRV and will start looking tomorrow.

I cannot find the discussion on the forum but, I vaguely remember that apart from the year that has to be a 2012 and older, there may be a problem if the vehicle is not AWD/4WD.

Question: can the Front Wheel Drive also be towed four down.

The different websites that I have visited say yes, but we just want to make absolutely sure.

Over the next few weeks we will be asking some questions and advice as we move through the different steps and we hope to become active and contributing members of Escapees.

Buks and Sonja

 

 

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Welcome back! Good to hear that things are progressing. 

11 hours ago, Nomad family Botes said:

I cannot find the discussion on the forum but, I vaguely remember that apart from the year that has to be a 2012 and older, there may be a problem if the vehicle is not AWD/4WD.

The Honda CRV is towable in any configuration up through 2014 as is the Fit through 2013.  You can get towing guides from Motorhome Magazine or you can check specific make/model cars with REMCO Towing via these links. 

11 hours ago, Nomad family Botes said:

Question: can the Front Wheel Drive also be towed four down

If you mean the front wheel drive version of the CRV, then the answer is yes up through the 2014 year model. But to make absolutely sure with any car you choose, look in the owner's manual for towing instructions since it is always there for any US sold automobile. I towed a front wheel drive, 2009 CRV for more than 2 years with no problems at all, and a 2000 AWD-CRV for 9 years. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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