We Sold Our E-trek!

In my last post, more than six months ago, we had just returned from our Halloween weekend trip to Shepherdstown, WV. At the end of that post, I mentioned our grandiose plans to drive 1200 miles to Florida for a December wedding; however, we never made that trip. In all honesty, the idea of driving the E-trek 2-3 days straight, attending a wedding, and driving 2-3 days back home with two dogs just seemed crazy. Although our initial goal was to make these trips, the reality of traveling such a distance was not in the cards for us. We just don’t like to be away from our home. We hate flying even more since we would have to board the dogs, and the Amtrak auto train was sold out, so we skipped the wedding…

In the meantime, we had also learned that we were violating the township ordinance by parking our E-trek (i.e., motorhome) in front of our house, even though our house is not visible from the road and our E-trek hardly looks like a motorhome. I discovered this innocently when inquiring about permits for a storage structure for our E-trek (the huge snow storm of January 2016 had resulted in a broken antenna, so we wanted to protect our unit from the elements.) Our home is nestled on a hill, so we have little to no side yard, nor access to the backyard, so there is no way to park it “legally” on the side or back. We could apply for a variance, but that would take months and was subject to the approval of our neighbors. That was the last straw.

We contacted one of the dealers we had visited when purchasing our E-trek. Although they wouldn’t buy it outright, they offered to sell the E-trek on consignment. After removing Topper’s dog crate (which had been installed behind the driver’s seat) and replacing it with the captain’s chair, we were off on the 90-minute drive to Pennsylvania. I followed Karl down in our Volvo, and after about 30 minutes of paperwork, we were on our way home, minus our E-trek.

In late February, the weather was unseasonably warm, and we were just about starting to wish we could take a trip in our E-trek, when the dealer called with an offer. Several phone calls later, we had agreed on a number and that was that. Two weeks later our loan was paid off and we had a small check from the dealer.

We have no regrets—although we enjoyed many of our trips, we didn’t like traveling enough to justify the huge loan payment. In January, we drove our Volvo up to Boston for our son’s birthday. We were fine with it—the dogs road comfortably on the back seat and we found a hotel we like just outside of Boston. All for much less than the amount of the monthly loan payment.

We are also relieved that we no longer have to worry about “what could possibly go wrong.” Just this past week, we had our front lawn graded and reseeded. For nearly two years it was the parking area for our E-trek, and that is where we had planned to install a carport to protect the E-trek, had we obtained a permit. One day after the landscaping work was completed, a tree fell from the woods into the area–had our E-trek still been there it would have certainly sustained damage, so we once again feel we made the right choice!

Someday, if we live in a more RV-friendly neighborhood, we may try an RV again. We did like the comfort and convenience of having a home on wheels. We would probably like something a little larger, such as a Class B+. We would definitely need a larger fresh water tank and removable black/grey tanks such as the EarthRoamer provides. We would also like a smoother ride, so we would insist on upgraded shocks such as the VB Air Suspension. We may even give propane a try, since the all-electric model had limitations. These items are detailed in our RV Feature Wish List.

So for now, the adventures of the new RVers have come to an end. Probably the hardest part for me was the blog, which I temporarily shut down after the sale was final. However, I have decided to reactivate it, and eventually, I will incorporate relevant posts into a new blog. Ideally, I can somehow incorporate my various interests, which include fitness, scrapbooking, cross stitch, and dogs. I’m not sure what it will be called, so for now, it will remain TheEtrekBlog.