We planned to leave Kansas City and try to make it as far as we could, hopefully St. Louis. On our way out of town, we planned to make a stop at the World War I Museum, but we never made it.
More Issues with the Bounder
Around 10 minutes into the drive, the Bounder overheated yet again. Our previous times dealing with this left us on the side of the road. This time, we were on the side of the road in a not-so-great area of town. We called a local mechanic and once they found out where we were, they advised us to stay in the RV. After waiting for 2 hours for a tow, we decided to try to drive back to the Elks Lodge, and we made it despite having to pull over a couple of times.
Selling the RV on Craigslist
We somewhat hit our breaking point with this breakdown. So, while on the side of the road, we decided to put the Bounder on Craigslist for cheap and see what happened. That evening I made a post for a “Mechanic’s Special” outlining all of the great features of the Bounder but also detailing the engine issues. We didn’t hear anything that whole evening. Of course, I listed my phone number incorrectly, so I’m sure that didn’t help. However, the next morning I got a couple of emails from people interested. Thirty minutes later, we had a man, Patrick, look at it, and he told us he wanted it and he wanted it that same day to use as a man-cave on his farm!
Packing it up!
This is where things really got crazy. We had no idea we would be selling the RV so things were not ready at all. Leigh and I quickly decided to rent a uHaul, pack it up, and tow the Jeep back to South Carolina. We only had a few hours to get everything out of the RV and into the uHaul so we had to start moving. We picked up the uHaul and got to work. At first we tried to organize things as much as possible, but by the end of the day, we were just throwing things into the truck. Naturally, our towing system from the RV didn’t work with the uHaul, so we had to rent their system also. Patrick planned to visit his clients and stop by the bank to pick up cash for the RV. He’d meet us at 5 o’clock to make the transaction.
Absolute Madness
We worked nonstop all day, and by 5 o’clock we had everything loaded and ready to go. The only problem, we hadn’t heard from Patrick. He texted around 5:30 to let us know that he couldn’t make it today, so we’d have to do it tomorrow, Saturday. Great! Not only is all of our bedding packed way, but now we’re starting to have serious doubts about whether this is even going to happen at all. Patrick said he had work calls to make in the morning, but he’d be available to meet us near his farm after 2PM tomorrow. We unpacked our sleeping bags for what we hoped was our last night in the RV.
Making the Transaction?
On Saturday morning at 11, we drove out to dump the tanks on the RV and fill the propane tank near where Patrick planned to keep it. After getting everything taken care of, I texted Patrick to let him know we were ready when he was, and we grabbed lunch nearby. After we finished lunch at around 1, we still hadn’t heard from Patrick yet. To be honest, we were both starting to really wonder if the sale was going to happen.
A super nice couple from Texas actually called while we waited. I explained the situation to them, and they offered to buy the Bounder if it didn’t work out today. The guy was a mechanic, and they had a way to trailer it back to Texas. The only problem, we’d have to wait until the next weekend. It’s nice to know we had a backup plan at least!
Around 1:45, we finally heard from Patrick. He’s on the way and only about 15 minutes away. Phew! We didn’t frantically pack up our home for nothing. We helped him fill up with gas, and I drove the Bounder out to his farm. The drive to the farm was actually beautiful with fall foliage. When we got to the farm, I dropped it off at the front of the driveway and jumped in the uHaul with Leigh. In less than 48 hours, we’d sold the Bounder, and we were on the way back to South Carolina!
Goodbye, Home
It’s hard to believe that our home for 2.5 years is no longer ours, especially since it happened so fast. We had so much fun RVing and can’t believe it ended like it did. However, we are really excited to start living on our sailboat and are already planning for what kind of RV we will get next. There are so many places left to see! In some ways it’s nice it happened so quickly – like ripping off the bandaid.