When I first saw Penelope on craigslist I was afraid she would be blue inside. Generally, the striping you see on the outside is an indication of the color scheme inside. I did not want to be awash in an ocean of pastel blue, or green for that matter. I was relieved to find she had upholstery that was a dark green/gray slate-ish kind of color with burgundy/maroon curtains and mauve carpet. While I could live with the upholstery, I figured I could cover the carpet with throw rugs, and at some point change out the curtains. Why did they make the inside of RV’s so hideous?
The first time I saw the ad on craigslist, she was $10k, (her NADA value was about $13,500 from what I could glean from the ad) but she was more than I wanted to pay so I watched her. Within a couple days the price dropped to $8k and I was encouraged, but I kept watching. There were two others RV’s in the same price range I was watching, and comparing with each other. I could take the time to watch because it was January, a buyers time of year.
One of the others was a 96 Pace Arrow that was brown striped with brown and tan interior, ahhh, neutral colors, and the other, I don’t even remember what brand it was, had kind of a lime green theme, but it was the kind of green that goes well with a chocolate brown, so even that was preferable to Penelope’s colors. All three had various options that I had been looking for, but none had all of them. I contacted each of the sellers.
Penelope’s owner responded quickly and was friendly. The 96 Pace Arrow owner was a jerk, and I never heard from the guy with the lime green one. Dude, if you’re serious about selling, you need to respond to potential buyers, just sayin’. After a few emails back and forth answering my questions, Penelope’s owner said I could have her for $7k, and I had not been dickering on price at all, only getting questions answered because she was 3 1/2 hours away.
I had purchased an ebook which was a guide to buying a used RV, and it had things to look for, and to look out for, when buying a used RV. I didn’t want to drive down only to find a problem, so I asked a lot of questions. She had 89,000 miles on her too, so I also called my brother to get his thoughts on how high of mileage can be expected from a Chevy 454. He gave me some specific mechanical things to look for too.
I made an appointment to see Penelope for a Sunday. The seller worked nights so he didn’t get home, sleep and get up until about noon, and I had a 3 1/2 hour drive, so we decided to meet about noon. I co-opted my friends husband and away we went. (Actually he’s a good friend and went willingly, he enjoys anything RV)
I had tried to prep my friend on the way down, but he hadn’t read the ebook and is only minimally mechanical, so I was relying on him as an extra set of eyes and a sounding board.
It dawned on me while looking at the stove the seller and I had different agendas. I had asked him to have everything working before I came. The refrigerator on, propane and water to test, etc. He was trying to show me HOW everything worked, he knew I was a newbie and was trying to help, and I was trying to see THAT everything worked. Finally, we took a test drive.
This was the first time I had driven anything that long, she is 33 feet, so I was nervous driving through his neighborhood. I wanted to back her up, so we went into a parking lot. I backed her into a parking space. The picture shows what a fine job I did using only mirrors, if I do say so myself. But getting out to see how I did, well…
I drive a Dodge Ram that is a little higher than a stock pick up, but nothing particularly lifted, so I am used to sliding out of the truck and only touching ground soon after I’m off the seat. Yeah, well I started sliding out of the RV like my truck and promptly fell on the ground. It’s about a three foot drop. It was all I could do to take a picture of my back up job that wasn’t shaky cause I was laughing so hard.
Getting back to the sellers house brought the moment of truth. I offered him $6k. He needed to discuss it with his wife, and they took it, no counter offer. This is the kind of thing that makes you wonder, could I have gotten it for less? Either way I can’t complain. I saw units like her only a couple months later in Sacramento for $12k – $14K.
The drive home is where the rubber meets the road, literally. We had driven from Sacramento to Soledad. It was Sunday in January and it was dark. The seller said I should go south to Paso Robles before cutting across to I5 and heading north to avoid Pacheco pass, I think he called it, and traffic. We went away out of our way.
So here I am driving a HUGE RV, in the dark. I don’t know where anything is, but I did find the headlights. I still don’t know where the brights are. And why do RV’s have rear view mirrors when you can’t see out a back window? My dinette is on the drivers side, and there is a large mirror on the wall above the seat. This mirror would reflect the lights of the on coming cars right into my rear view mirror. I couldn’t reach the mirror to knock it, so I had lights coming at me, and in my mirror at the same time. Not a problem heading south on 101, but when we went east…
Heading east was a white knuckle nightmare. In addition to double lights with every on coming car, it got to the point where all the cars I was following were gone, and I couldn’t find my brights. Then, as if it weren’t enough, IT came rolling in. If you are at all familiar with central California in January, you know that IT is FOG! Yep, so now I can only see maybe 10 feet in front of me, no one to follow, lights from on coming traffic, and I have no idea how straight or curvy this road is. At any moment I could go straight or turn right or left, and Penelope is not a sports car. And for icing on the cake, it was a very wet fog. After a while I had to decide if, once I found them, I should turn on my wipers. I had no idea if they would work or be so bad they’d make things worse. Gratefully, they worked.
When we came to I5 and I found out we were in Kettleman City, I knew I should have gone the other way. The trip north was only a little better, at least I didn’t have on coming traffic anymore, I just had to watch for trucks coming from behind because they would push me around in my lane. 8 hours. Yes, it took us 8 hours to get home, and my friend had to work at 5 am. We didn’t get home until 2 am bless his heart.
About the name Penelope. When I was a senior in high school I drove a 1971 brown Pinto. My friend had a bicentennial white Pinto with blue striping, which I later bought. One day when we were talking, I told her my Pinto’s name was Ichabod. She immediately responded that hers was named Penelope. So when I saw the blue striping on my RV, it was kinda fun to call her Penelope.
Best,
Sherrie
P.S. If you’re in the market for a used RV, I recommend you consider getting the Guide to Buying a Used RV like I did. It is not expensive and could save you a lot of money and hassles.
From Bounder to Pace Arrow