By Steve Thomas, F453140
October 2017
My wife, Lisa, and I retired and moved to the piney woods in east Texas. We had the time and desire to explore our interesting country, and what better way than from the windows of a motorhome.
We purchased a 1993 Type C coach from a local couple. Our first stop, to an RV dealership in Nacogdoches, was for advice. As we pulled into the lot, we were met by a saleswoman coming out the door, who said, “It looks like it is time to trade in this motorhome!”
“We just purchased it,” I said. With that, she sheepishly retired to the sales office. We do not know what she said, but soon, a group of technicians and salespeople came out the same door and started analyzing our new purchase. Their critical inspection and constructive comments made us realize we had a major project ahead. After a quick panic attack, we decided to look at this as a challenge and a learning experience.
We caulked the outside seams, installed new trim where the old had broken away, and felt confident nothing would blow off as we went on our first road trip. I am a firm believer that problems will appear on the open road, not in the driveway.
We headed toward our destination — Vicksburg, Mississippi — keeping a large pad of paper and pen handy so that as we drove, we could make a list of things that needed repair. At the top of the list was the newly failed air-conditioning system.
We were on the second page of our to-do list when we pulled into an RV park in Vicksburg. Vicksburg National Military Park, site of an important Civil War battlefield, is a wonderful place to tour the lovely hills and monuments, but not a place for your front brakes to seize up. After a day of waiting on brake parts and the repair work, we were back on the road and heading home with our list of more repairs.
We dropped off our motorhome and list with our mechanic and waited for news. The work was extensive and the shop’s bill was even more so, but after three weeks we had a safe and smoothly running motorhome.
Then our work began. It involved tearing out everything inside and replacing it with cabinet-grade birch. We cut, fitted, sanded, stained, and applied clear coat to all the wood, and made many improvements. The seats and couch were reupholstered. We were now starting to look good!
The outside of our motorhome needed elbow grease to remove oxidation and to apply polish. We added a new storage box to the back and placed a large decal on it that displays our motorhome’s name: “The Escape Pod.”
We have experienced thousands of wonderful miles exploring this beautiful country. See you on the road!