I’m 65 years old.

I had a very close relationship with my grandma (on my mother’s side), and I was very close to my mother-in-law who just recently passed away after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s.

Neither of my sons had a close relationship with their grandparents.

My granddaughter is due in November and I want to be close to her.

Today was my first water aerobics class and

I LOVE IT!!

My goal is to get in real good physical shape in the next 12 months so I can live to be 100 and see my granddaughter graduate high school and maybe have children of her own.

I always do better when I have a tangible goal.

After my 2006 motorcycle cycle, I haven’t attempted to ride again.

I’m now ready – 13 years later.

I bought this cute Vespa so I can tool around campgrounds and see sights when I’m on the road.

I’ve signed up for the Motorcycle Safety Training course (again) and am confident I’ll overcome my fear.

Her name is Barbie.

This is my new-to-me motorhome! Her name is Minnie.

She’s getting on in years (like me), but has been very pampered!

She’s a wonderful 1992 Winnebago Micro-Mini Warrior that’s on the Toyota chassis. I was the first in line and bought her sight unseen because there were two people behind me who wanted her!

Put all new tires on and had the timing belt done because of her age and it had never been done. She has a little over 61000 miles on her.

She’s in beautiful shape as she is, but I do plan to refresh the interior to make her interior a little more modern looking. Ryan and I just installed a 32″ TV in her too!

When I found her on 9/15/2018, I paid to have both the truck, and the cabin inspected by two very reputable and highly recommended shops close to the dealer. I hadn’t even seen her yet, but I knew this is exactly what I wanted!

With a clear understanding of what I was getting, I made the final commitment and asked the dealer to help me get the work done before picking her up. I still hadn’t even seen her!

The dealer (John at Country Motorhomes in Mount Vernon, WA) was the best. He got her to the truck mechanic who had recommended the new timing belt and tune up. Motorworks Northwest also in Mount Vernon was great to work with.

They then took her back to the RV inspector (Action RV in Burlington, WA) who had recommended a new converter, LP detector, LP regulator with hose and roof seal after the inspection showed no leaks and overall in great condition. Les with Action RV was also great to work with. I still hadn’t even seen her yet.

Action RV took her to Discount Tire where all the tires were replaced.

All three shops commented about how wonderful a rig she was, and two of them had people who wanted to buy her from me; she had obviously been pampered. I still hadn’t even seen her yet.

I verified with Toyota that the head gasket recall had been taken care of (confirmed done in 1998).

I also verified that she was manufactured with the right (6 lug, dual axles on the rear) so there would be none of the 5-lug axle issues that caused problems for earlier models built on the Toyota chassis.

I just knew in my gut she was THE right rig for me.

With all the required maintenance work done, I took a train up from my home in the south Puget Sound area up to Mount Vernon to pick her up. I finally got to see her in person and go through the walk through with John at Country Motorhomes.

I was so impressed with her! It was truly a blessing to find her, and now call her my own!

I met the woman who owned her before me (she was sold on consignment) and we exchanged a little bit about ourselves. Getting to know her that day just confirmed that everything happens for a reason, and I was the obvious perfect ‘new’ owner of this little gem.

Why do I love this little Class C so much?

I owned an older Apollo 30′ Class A gas engine for one year back in 2000, and took it across country with my two sons and two of their friends. Two weeks after I bought it I had to replace the transmission. That done, we took off on our adventure. We enjoyed the trip, but the motorhome had lots of little issues that took away from the enjoyment; not to mention the A/C quit in the middle of Alabama’s hot and humid summer. I sold her at a $5,000 loss when we got home.

I also owned a Arctic Fox travel trailer (pulled with a Ford 350 diesel truck) and towed it solo one year for a few trips in 2011. It was a solid travel trailer, but hooking it up by myself was worthy of a Saturday Night Live sketch. I journaled about one trip here

My trusted mechanic (who I’ve known and used for over 20 years) told me after my Class A and Travel Trailer adventures that what I really needed to get was a good little Toyota motorhome. I stuck that piece of advice back in my head for a few years.

What I paid for this little Class C is exactly what I will be able to sell her for 5 years from now; maybe even a little more. (unless the whole economy implodes again) In other words, her depreciation is done. And everything I do to her now will hold her value IF I ever decide to sell her.

Also, I’m a huge Toyota fan – I have an FJ Cruiser and my youngest son has a Prius he inherited from me. All have been incredibly dependable, and also as important, very easy to maintain.

I’ve already promised my youngest son he will inherit her when I’m gone – and she will be in loving hands when that happens.

Here’s what she looks like right now (before the TV was installed). I’ll update this next year when I start working on refreshing the interior.

My Dad died while married to his second wife, Barbara. She had him cremated, with his ashes spread in the ocean.

I want him to be remembered for all eternity so I obtained all of the paperwork to show he qualified for a memorial marker at Tahoma National Cemetery near our home.

This is his marker.

I’m grateful and blessed to have lived long enough to do this. While Dad and I always had our challenges, he was an honorable man dedicated to his children. I’ve never met anyone like him, and I doubt I ever will.