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Old 11-20-2018, 07:45 AM   #1
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Location: Richmond, Virginia
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Talking Jay - travel nurse from Virginia!

Hi guys, just put down a deposit on a 5.0 TA yesterday.


My name is Jay I'm a 33 year old nurse from Virginia. After a few years of traveling staying with friends I'm transitioning into full timing so I can take my dogs on the road with me more easily.



I had been looking at larger stick built campers, but after seeing a few I was unimpressed with the quality coming out of the big manufacturers and the idea of a slide while tempting ultimately just sounded like something that would break / leak. Then I started thinking about airstreams due to the high resale value and availability of used trailers but the idea of having an easily dented aluminum skin made me sweat. I was lucky that in my area of Virginia there were lots of Scamps and Casitas for sale on craigslist at the end of the Summer. I discovered molded fiberglass and took a deep dive into all of the manufacturers I could find. After a long search I found Escape and felt that on paper they seemed to give the best value and customer service. The company seemed to be the right size to still be very customer-centric.



After contacting Escape they gave me the contact info for Gerry and Carolyn who had a 5.0 TA nearby. Gerry was so great and getting to "kick the tires" on the trailer made me realize, that for the same price as many of the other big stick built trailers I could find, that the Escape was a huge step up in quality. I was lucky that the available completion dates were about a month before my current lease ends.



My current hopes are as follows:

1. The process can slow down a little from here although I have to have my buildsheet finished by 11/30 before the price increase.

2. Exchange rates stay where they're at.

3. I find the Ford F150 of my dreams for the right price.

4. The weather is nice in Chilliwack at the end of April
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Old 11-20-2018, 08:44 AM   #2
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Welcome, Jay. The paths to choosing and Escape vary a lot, but yours is similar to mine, in that when looking for a new trailer I settling in first on the idea of moulded fibreglass, and then decided an Escape best fit the bill for us.
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Old 11-20-2018, 08:55 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trvlrn View Post

2. Exchange rates stay where they're at.

3. I find the Ford F150 of my dreams for the right price.

4. The weather is nice in Chilliwack at the end of April
We discovered Escape and started looking around March or so, placed our order in late summer for a 12/28 production date. I was nervous about what the exchange rate might do and checked it all the time....in the grand scheme of things it has fluctuated relatively little this whole year. We decided that the likelihood of the exchange rate getting worse was higher than of it improving since rates are pretty favorable this year, so we made additional deposits and paid in full by the time we finalized our build sheet just for the peace of mind of not having to worry about the exchange rate any more. You can always make one or more partial deposits to hedge against changes in the exchange rate.

Odds are with you looking for an F150 since it is the best selling truck, lots of them out there.

We are also looking at picking up in April, driving from Texas, and will be hoping for nice (or at least not terrible) weather on the mountain passes between here and there.
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Old 11-20-2018, 11:19 AM   #4
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Welcome Jay, this was just posted, not too far from you and it includes Ford tow vehicle
http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f1...tml#post270085
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Old 11-20-2018, 01:08 PM   #5
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Your comment on Exchange Rates

>>>2. Exchange rates stay where they're at.<<<

/6C Canadian dollar futures have been weakening since late September and today trading at .75053 . The present trajectory looks as though a retest of June 27 low of .74805 may be in the cards. The DXY (US Dollar index) has been uptrending since April. If I was forced to bet on higher or lower for the $Can., I would bet on the same or lower given the /6C chart which is downtrending and bearish.
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Old 11-20-2018, 03:20 PM   #6
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Seems like Ford is offering 0% financing on 2018 F 150 models now. There are several F 150 SuperCab with the 5.0L V8 engines at my local dealer and they have pretty good discounts in addition to the good financing rate. I would rather get an Eco Boost engine but the current SuperCab V8 models have the tow packages, payload packages and big tow mirrors.
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Old 11-20-2018, 07:09 PM   #7
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So you're a traveling nurse traveling in the RV? You'll do well--good salary and you pocket the housing expense? Yardsale (retired OT, worked with lots of travelers in SN)
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Old 11-21-2018, 11:30 AM   #8
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this community is amazing

You guys are great I really appreciate all of the awesome advice. Gerry who showed me around his 5.0 just called me today to let me know about the one for sale in SC. It just about brought a tear to my eye. Not used to having near strangers looking out for me :-P
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Old 11-21-2018, 11:35 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chama View Post
>>>2. Exchange rates stay where they're at.<<<

/6C Canadian dollar futures have been weakening since late September and today trading at .75053 . The present trajectory looks as though a retest of June 27 low of .74805 may be in the cards. The DXY (US Dollar index) has been uptrending since April. If I was forced to bet on higher or lower for the $Can., I would bet on the same or lower given the /6C chart which is downtrending and bearish.
This was such a helpful comment I thought it was looking pretty stable but it's still nerve wracking to have it up in the air for almost 6 months I think we are going to try and out more and more down as we can.
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Old 11-21-2018, 11:37 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yardsale View Post
So you're a traveling nurse traveling in the RV? You'll do well--good salary and you pocket the housing expense? Yardsale (retired OT, worked with lots of travelers in SN)
Yes! That's the idea, my girlfriend and I will be living apart for a while due to her job so instead of trying to find pet friendly apartments in every town I decided to go the RV route. I'm hoping to see the big bucks at some point but I have lots of student debt and so with the new trailer and having to find a tow vehicle it's going to be pretty tight for a while
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Old 11-21-2018, 12:12 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by trvlrn View Post
You guys are great I really appreciate all of the awesome advice. Gerry who showed me around his 5.0 just called me today to let me know about the one for sale in SC. It just about brought a tear to my eye. Not used to having near strangers looking out for me :-P
You will find the vast majority of folks here truly enjoy helping others. It is a great community.
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Old 11-21-2018, 03:23 PM   #12
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what jim said. there aren't many strangers in the escape community! i got so much help and good advice in my build sheet quest, and at the rally last may, and since. quite a few friends i haven't met (in person) yet.
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