Our Marriott Camping on Wheels!
We officially started camping with a small 14' Fun Finder in June of 2009. Since that date, we have discovered that camping can be addictive.
There's just something about camping away from home for a weekend, or even a couple more days that gets into one's soul.
For us it's the total relaxation and the ability to catch fish on many bodies of water we most likely wouldn't get to try.
Well, after 2 1/2 years of a fairly cramped space during camping, we made a decision to upgrade our RV. So, I started researching hundreds of travel trailers, not just locally, but looking almost daily online nationally.
After all that research, we finally came up with a floor plan we wanted. We had narrowed our search down to a Kodiak, Aerolite or Bullet. Our decision not to sell our Fun Finder ourselves led us to contracting with a local consignment RV lot.
January 2012 was the last time we went camping with our Fun Finder, then the search escalated to find our €dream RV€.
One weekend we had decided to drive over to Camping World and just look at some other models. Low and behold, they actually had a 2010 Keystone Bullet in the floor plan we wanted, so we gave it a serious looking over. The minute we walked into the Bullet, our hearts skipped a beat almost simultaneously. It just happened to be EXACTLY what we had dreamed about for our next RV.
That one single day started a researching frenzy for a Keystone Bullet with a rear bath, single slide out and center wall that separated the sleeping area from living area.
I looked at sites all over the US before finally finding a manufactures representative lot in Michigan called Lakeshore RV, which was a mere 100 miles North of where the Keystone factory is located.
After contacting one of their super nice sales people, we started our never-ending request for more information. One of the things we learned was that they wanted $2200 to deliver a new RV to our home in Florida.
It took about a month of discussion with many questions before we finalized our options, price and shipping arrangements. And because of all the options it already came with, we only added a larger A/C, E2 equalizer hitch and a slide out awning. And the best part was the fact that it was priced about $6,000 under full retail! WOW, now they had our attention!
After calculating our traveling expenses as opposed to home delivery, we decided to drive up North and personally pick up our new €Marriott on wheels€.
We took delivery a mere two months after paying our deposit, and that was March 2012.
It took us two full days and a few hours in the AM of day three before arriving at our destination, so needless to say, both our hearts were racing when we finally drove into Lakeshore RV in Muskegon, Michigan.
Since it was still in winter mode, the temperature was in the low 50's, so to us it was literally freezing.
After finishing up the equalizer hitch and slide-out awning install, we finalized the contract and drove off the lot with our 2012 28' Keystone Bullet and a very large smile on both of our faces.
Needless to say, my heart was pounding since I was thinking this monster behind our Tundra was going to be super hard to adjust to, but I quickly found out that it was as easy as the 14' RV we had sold.
We broke out our Passport America camping guide and located a campground in Indiana, so that was our goal for day one of our return home.
About 4:00 PM that afternoon, we arrived at the Caboose Lake Campground near Remington, Indiana and set up for the first time. We spent at least an hour looking over everything from the larger refrigerator to the porcelain toilet. At least we got a chance to operate our propane heater and fortunately for us it worked perfectly.
On day two we made it to Tennessee and booked into the Nashville Country RV Park near Goodlettsville and still arrived early afternoon, so we took some time and walked around the park taking a few photos.
Day three was also an early start of around 6:00 AM, and some 10 hours later we drove into Florida Gateway RV Resort near Jasper. At this point we had driven in Tennessee, from North to South in Georgia and into the northern part of Florida.
It wasn't until the fourth day that we finally ended up at Sun-n-Shade RV Resort near Punta Gorda, Florida, a mere 16 miles from our house. It was here that we finally got to stay more than one night. After setting up, we drove home and picked up our Sea Eagle boat, which fits perfect in the bed of our Tundra, just so we could finally do some fishing.
And on that Sunday, April 1st. we parked our little beauty at our prearranged storage lot and drove off with a tremendous sense of elation having accomplished one of our dreams.
Now we camp about every two weeks and are still addicted to that lifestyle. If you ever get the opportunity to do some camping in style, do it! €Life's too short not to enjoy it€.
There's just something about camping away from home for a weekend, or even a couple more days that gets into one's soul.
For us it's the total relaxation and the ability to catch fish on many bodies of water we most likely wouldn't get to try.
Well, after 2 1/2 years of a fairly cramped space during camping, we made a decision to upgrade our RV. So, I started researching hundreds of travel trailers, not just locally, but looking almost daily online nationally.
After all that research, we finally came up with a floor plan we wanted. We had narrowed our search down to a Kodiak, Aerolite or Bullet. Our decision not to sell our Fun Finder ourselves led us to contracting with a local consignment RV lot.
January 2012 was the last time we went camping with our Fun Finder, then the search escalated to find our €dream RV€.
One weekend we had decided to drive over to Camping World and just look at some other models. Low and behold, they actually had a 2010 Keystone Bullet in the floor plan we wanted, so we gave it a serious looking over. The minute we walked into the Bullet, our hearts skipped a beat almost simultaneously. It just happened to be EXACTLY what we had dreamed about for our next RV.
That one single day started a researching frenzy for a Keystone Bullet with a rear bath, single slide out and center wall that separated the sleeping area from living area.
I looked at sites all over the US before finally finding a manufactures representative lot in Michigan called Lakeshore RV, which was a mere 100 miles North of where the Keystone factory is located.
After contacting one of their super nice sales people, we started our never-ending request for more information. One of the things we learned was that they wanted $2200 to deliver a new RV to our home in Florida.
It took about a month of discussion with many questions before we finalized our options, price and shipping arrangements. And because of all the options it already came with, we only added a larger A/C, E2 equalizer hitch and a slide out awning. And the best part was the fact that it was priced about $6,000 under full retail! WOW, now they had our attention!
After calculating our traveling expenses as opposed to home delivery, we decided to drive up North and personally pick up our new €Marriott on wheels€.
We took delivery a mere two months after paying our deposit, and that was March 2012.
It took us two full days and a few hours in the AM of day three before arriving at our destination, so needless to say, both our hearts were racing when we finally drove into Lakeshore RV in Muskegon, Michigan.
Since it was still in winter mode, the temperature was in the low 50's, so to us it was literally freezing.
After finishing up the equalizer hitch and slide-out awning install, we finalized the contract and drove off the lot with our 2012 28' Keystone Bullet and a very large smile on both of our faces.
Needless to say, my heart was pounding since I was thinking this monster behind our Tundra was going to be super hard to adjust to, but I quickly found out that it was as easy as the 14' RV we had sold.
We broke out our Passport America camping guide and located a campground in Indiana, so that was our goal for day one of our return home.
About 4:00 PM that afternoon, we arrived at the Caboose Lake Campground near Remington, Indiana and set up for the first time. We spent at least an hour looking over everything from the larger refrigerator to the porcelain toilet. At least we got a chance to operate our propane heater and fortunately for us it worked perfectly.
On day two we made it to Tennessee and booked into the Nashville Country RV Park near Goodlettsville and still arrived early afternoon, so we took some time and walked around the park taking a few photos.
Day three was also an early start of around 6:00 AM, and some 10 hours later we drove into Florida Gateway RV Resort near Jasper. At this point we had driven in Tennessee, from North to South in Georgia and into the northern part of Florida.
It wasn't until the fourth day that we finally ended up at Sun-n-Shade RV Resort near Punta Gorda, Florida, a mere 16 miles from our house. It was here that we finally got to stay more than one night. After setting up, we drove home and picked up our Sea Eagle boat, which fits perfect in the bed of our Tundra, just so we could finally do some fishing.
And on that Sunday, April 1st. we parked our little beauty at our prearranged storage lot and drove off with a tremendous sense of elation having accomplished one of our dreams.
Now we camp about every two weeks and are still addicted to that lifestyle. If you ever get the opportunity to do some camping in style, do it! €Life's too short not to enjoy it€.
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