Our New Trailer Has Arrived in Arizona and we made it into a Magazine!

Well, after much waiting our new trailer has finally arrived at the dealer in Prescott Valley, Arizona!  It's been a long wait which was impacted by the factory shutdown due to COVID-19. 

Here it is, a 2021 Grand Design Reflection 297RSTS!  It's almost 34' long with two slide outs.  We decided on this model based on 1) additional kitchen counter space for Al to use while cooking, 2) more clothes storage, 3) a fireplace, 4) a sofa bed in additional to the theater seating, 5) bigger refrigerator, 6) big back window for more light and views, 7) bigger propane tanks, and 8) two air conditioners. 

 

Last April and May while we were camp hosting at Snow Canyon State park in Utah we met a photographer and writer, Dan Leeth, for Utah Life magazine.  He gave me a back issue of the magazine and I liked it so much that I bought a subscription.  A couple of months ago I was contacted by the magazine to write a letter to the editor so I did.  I wrote about meeting Dan Leeth and enjoying his articles in the bi-monthly issues about parks in Utah. 

When the latest issue arrived in our mail, I thought to myself, I wonder if my letter made it in to the magazine. 

I opened up to the mailbox section of the magazine and the very first letter was mine! 

In this issue is the article that Dan Leeth wrote about Snow Canyon State Park.  I quickly found the article in the magazine and noticed our old RV made the magazine!

We're the trailer on the far right!

Then, reading through the article we got a mention as "campground hosts".  We're the hosts that suggested the Padre Canyon Trail to Dan and his wife. 

Well, that was exciting to get my letter in the magazine along with a photo of our RV and a slight mention in Dan's article.  My two seconds of fame! 

While the financing was being worked out for our trailer, we did another hike at Watson Lake in the Prescott, Arizona area.  It's a great place to hike and paddle board. 

One night while hanging out at Bill's house, this storm was visible from his back yard.

And looking the other direction was sunset.

The check finally arrived at the dealer from our credit union on July 3rd.  The dealer was open on July 4th so we signed papers at the dealer and put some of our stuff inside the trailer.  We also did our inspection of the trailer where a tech goes over the whole trailer with us explaining all the systems.  Since we now have experience it wasn't as overwhelming as when we picked up our Imagine over two years ago. 

Here are photos of our new home.

In order to avoid the 9.1% sales tax in Prescott Valley, we took possession of our new trailer in Laughlin, Nevada.  That meant a three hour drive following our trailer to Laughlin while it was being towed by our dealer's employee. 

Once we arrived in Laughlin, we had to go to a notary to sign papers that we indeed took possession of the trailer out of Arizona.  Then we towed the trailer three hours back to Prescott Valley. 

Leaving the dealer in Prescott Valley

The notary office in Laughlin

Time to disconnect from the dealer's truck

and connect to our truck.
It's officially ours now!

We found some cheap diesel near Kingman.

Set up the new trailer in Bill's driveway.

We had our first visitors, Bill and his step-mom, Sherry.  Sherry was in shock after seeing the inside!  Her jaw just dropped in surprise.  We also had two of Bill's neighbors come take a peek inside.

We had the trailer in Bill's driveway one night to load some more of our stuff inside and then Al took it to Apache Junction just east of Phoenix where Above & Beyond RV repair will be installing solar and our four Battle Born lithium batteries while we're on a houseboat at Lake Powell. 

We're getting ever so close to getting back on the road......finally!  Just a week on Lake Powell and then back to Bill's house for a few more days to clean up from the trip.  Then off we go! We'll be headed to Texas to register the trailer and get it inspected.  From there we're headed north through Colorado.