Why Did We Change Motorhomes?

Our new-to-us Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40 PDT - 3 Slides
330 HP Cummins Diesel with an Allison Transmission

So the question to answer today is, "Why did we buy another motorhome?"  Was it "RV envy"?  Did we need a bigger motorhome?  Was the LaPalma giving us problems?  Was it just time for a change after owning the gasser for 6 years?  Was I tired of owning a sea foam green RV?  Was it because my brother-in-law bought a 40' diesel pusher?  Was it because I had done all the improvements that I could do to the LaPalma?

There was no one answer to why I wanted to change.  I thought that it was time to own a big boy coach.  Here's how my thought process worked.

Our faithful old Monaco LaPalma 34 SBD
It sold a couple days after we traded it in on the Endeavor.

Six years ago we bought the Monaco LaPalma 34' SBD with two slides and a Ford V-10 gas engine.  It had 48,000 miles on it.  This year we passed 78,000 miles.  That's 5,000 mile per year during the time we owned it.  It was a great RV and we spent close to $16,000.00 repairing, improving and maintaining it during those 6 years. The depreciation on the motorhome during that time was another $16,000.00.

Our cost of ownership was $32,000.00.  That comes down to $444.44 per month over those 6 years.

Now 32 grand sounds like a lot of money but compared to owning the home on Raft Island it's a bargain.  My property taxes and insurance on that house were higher than my monthly cost of owning and maintaining an RV.

The LaPalma was a starter RV for us.  We didn't know if our dreams of traveling and being vagabonds was really something we would like and want to do for many years.  As we start our fifth Winter we are nearing the midway point of our 10 year plan.  We still love our traveling lifestyle.

A question I asked myself was, "Is the LaPalma going to last another 5-6 years and would we still be happy with it after 100,000 miles?  Was it time to start over with another low mileage motorhome?

The new-to-us Endeavor has 28,400 miles on it and it should be our last RV up until we are too old to travel this way.  I didn't want to get down the road 2 or 3 years and be faced with the decision whether it was worth changing RV's for the last few years of our travels.  I don't want the RV dictating that it is time to retire from our planned 10 year goal.

The most important feature is my 'old man recliner'.

So for me it was a long range plan to get an RV that would get us through those coming years.

We loved owning the LaPalma.  It was a part of our successful plan.  Hopefully the Endeavor will take us into our 70's when it will be time to hang up our traveling shoes.

Life is good.

Eva the Wonderdog seems to like her new motorhome.