Jun
2017

Bye-bye Wolfie? Hello Wolfie 2.0?

We’re getting a new trailer and I am so excited! I can’t wait to decorate my bunk.

He said

Yes. So Emelia has let the cat out of the bag. Where last week were recapping another amazing weekend out in Wolfie, this weekend we’re getting Wolfie ready to move on to another family! And we have already bought a new trailer and I will be picking her – Wolfie 2.0 as coined by Emelia – bright and early Thursday morning. And she is brand new… like landed on the lot Thursday morning after an exhaustive search of the only 3 dealers to sell Coachmen trailers in Southwestern Ontario. As it is, I am driving to Whitby to pick her up.

So how did we ge to this place where our beloved Wolfie who has served us so well, will one day soon be out of our lives? Our last trip out we experienced a bit of rain here and there, but it was enough to force us all to be crammed in the trailer bumping into each other and maybe even causing a few extra swears from my mouth. I think it was in that moment that Danielle recognized we might have outgrown Wolfie. 

Truthfully I had been in that place for a little longer. As much as I love that trailer with all my heart and cherish the memories we created with her, one thing that had been frustrating me more and more these days was the routine of setting up and taking down our bed so that we could have the dinette to sit at. When the weather is amazing, we just leave the bed down. But now that Emelia is getting close to my height, I’ve started to notice that our family moments might be bigger than Wolfie can house. When you add that we’ve started to see the signs of Emelia developing into a little lady, I’ve also been thinking a lot about her one day soon, needing (and wanting) more privacy.

So on our way back home from our trip last week, Danielle and I talked about what sort of things we’d want in our next trailer, as we always do after a camping trip. We’ve always known that one day we’d likely upgrade, and so one of the things we’ve just casually always done is talked about what it would take to replace Wolfie on our drive home. Only this time I noticed – and I think Danielle did too – that we were both a lot more open to what was next, and more immediate about when that might be. Where normally the conversation would end and die as we unhitched Wolfie to land her in our driveway, I think we finished the post last week and then started to look online to see what was out there which was a lot more serious territory for us.

What cemented it for us, was when we asked Emelia early in the week what she thought about getting a newer, bigger trailer to camp in. She was over the moon. Before I knew it we were trying feverishly to set up times to go look at trailers that we might like. We went from a place of thinking it might be okay, to literally trying to find one and make it all happen before we head out for our first week-long trip of the summer, this Friday!

What helped us greatly was that our friends Kelli & Bill that we camped with last weekend had just bought a trailer and we got to absorb all their research. And then, our other friends Leanne & Chris who had also just bought, had tons of insight for us too. Months and months of work was all done for us. When the dust had a settled, we arrived at a Coachmen Apex Nano. It was only 18′, could sleep 6, gave us a slideout dinette, and was the lightest in its catergory! The only trouble was it was the most popular model and there were only 3 dealers in Ontario that sold them and all 3 were out of stock. As much as we were super excited about this model and what it offered us, we were now resigned to having one last hurrah in Wolfie.

That was until Thursday morning Danielle got a phone call from one of the dealers we were working with in Whitby saying that the model we were looking for literally just pulled into their lot! What we thought wasn’t possible very quickly was turned into us and the dealer making worlds move to get everything done in time so that I can wake up at the crack of stupid Thursday morning to drive down to Whitby to pick up the trailer and then turn right around and drive back to London to get to work.

The whole family is so excited. While we will all shed a tear when Wolfie pulls out of our driveway and leaves our lives, we also know that what we loved most about her was the memories we created with her, and that won’t stop with Wolfie 2.0! And we’ll have a lot more space to create those memories. And even a toilet when we need one too!

 

She said

Wow what a crazy week this has been! Seriously this time last we were talking about another amazing trip in our much loved trailer and now we are surrounded all around the house and the front porch by the contents of our little 13 foot egg trailer.

Every year we chat a bit about what we would want in a bigger trailer, we dreamed originally of an amazing Airstream that we could make our own but even that was not offering what we wanted. My wish list was not huge, basically I wanted a bigger refrigerator and a trailer that slept 6, not that we were going to sleep 6 people but I wanted a trailer that allowed us to have the beds set up all the time and access to a table when we wanted it. That was it, if I had those and a bit more room I was a happy camper.

Last weekend we ran into some rain which we normally do at least one day on a camping trip. So what does that mean? It meant alot of shifting, it meant taking our bed apart, bagging up everything and making the table. All in a tiny trailer. John’s frustration level was getting higher. So as we took our camp down again after a night of rain I knew that the conversation would come again, what we would have to do have in a new trailer to move pass our much loved egg trailer. I have a strong emotional attachment to our trailer, the memories we have made in that trailer, I loved how unique she was, how she didn’t look like every trailer in the campground. But I knew that we had to at least explore the options.

So Monday night once John was home and we were back from gymnastics we started looking at trailers. My hope was that we would be able to get a used one to save some money. Well we found out quickly that trailers do not depreciate much and a trailer that was a few years old was first out of warranty and second wasn’t a whole lot cheaper than a newer one. So once we had that realization we started to figure out what we wanted.

We started out looking at a great little hybrid that actually slept 8. It had three beds as well as the table. But we had some hang-ups. First we do not have a ton of space here in our driveway so if we had to air out the beds at the end of the camping trip we were in a tight spot. Second again the trailer had a fridge that was even smaller than our current trailer.

So we started to see what else was in our weight class and matched the monthly payments that we could easily afford. So that meant moving to lighter 19-21 foot trailers. With two of our closest friends both buying trailers this year it gave us a wealth of knowledge. Camping with Kelli and Bill last week gave us a chance to really see how their trailer worked for them. We liked the space they had and that it wasn’t too big for our needs. As I was researching our choices I was messaging our friends who all own RVs. They were all a wealth of knowledge. Through messages back and forth with Leanne we decided once John was done work on Tuesday we would pop over to their place to see their new trailer. It was a bit wider than Bill and Kelli’s and gave just a bit more space including a bigger dining table. A few more changes we were starting to make our shift to a Coachmen. But again my hang-up was the refrigerator. By the time we arrived at Leanne and Chris’ place I had already looked at the model we decided on in the end.

After seeing their trailer and the space we knew it was very close to what we wanted. But the refrigerator kept my brain stirring all night. By the time we got home I had messaged the sale RV dealer that they had dealt with and inquired to see if they had the trailer we were interested in. Later that night I got a message from the owner that they were sold out. So we researched other local dealers to find out that there are only 3 dealers in the entire province. I messaged them all the next day and all told me sorry they were sold out, that the trailers fly off the lot as soon as they arrive. So again I went back and forth about the choice. And I kept hearing my friend Stephanie’s voice in my head about her RV telling me you will never regret more space. I woke Wednesday morning after tossing and turning and said to John I can’t live with the small refregetor. So we knew that it would mean a wait and that we might not have the trailer for the trip but we didn’t want to get what we didn’t want just to have a newer trailer.

So we had our name on the list of three dealers all saying their trailers were on order but they didn’t know if they could get it in time, that was until Thursday with a giddy call from the sale rep in Whitby. Our trailer had just pulled in the lot and it was ours if we wanted it. So sight unseen we bought a trailer! They are rushing the paperwork through to get things in order so John can go down to Whitby (over 2 hours away) to get our newest member of the family.

So this has meant a lot of emotions, we are now prepping and soon ton be posting our much loved Wolfie for sale. It has meant that this weekend we have had to plan organizing a trailer we have never seen in person and get things ready for our camping trip that starts right after work on Friday. This week will be a crazy week trying to pull it all together. But bring on Friday and our first trip out in Wolfie 2.0!

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