Rabbit Hash
Advanced Member
We forgot to give a proper introduction! Hopefully late is better than never.
I've been on the fiberglassrv forum for a while now. My name is Joe and my wife is Cherie. Cherie does not do the forum thing, so its always me typing. Sometimes I use the word "I" when I mean to use "we". I guess its cause I'm typing, but its always "we"!
So we have been camping since we met. Now we are 50 yrs old and empty nesters. After years of sleeping out of the back of our Tahoe and in tents, we decided to buy a camper. I do engineering work and have always understood well built, over big and pretty. Slideouts...puke! Paper thin plastic shower stall....puke! I couldn't believe how cheaply built the stickies were at the RV show. After research on the web (I do this for EVERYTHING) I discovered FGRV's.
I'm almost 6'6" tall. Cherie is almost 5'1". After research we decided on an EggCamper. A few years back a member here (rrugg) had one for sale because he just ordered an Escape 19. Cherie and I drove to Indy and met Bob, and he graciously showed us his EggCamper. Problem was, we couldn't afford it! I'm not saying it was overpriced, that's not it at all. We just didn't have the cash in our budget to buy it at the time.
So we kept looking and eventually purchased a 2005 Casita 17SD. I figured "we can make it work" even if I couldn't stand or lay in it. And in all reality, it wasn't TOOO bad. I put a couple grand into upgrades to it – had it all fixed up!! We did a 2 week trip around Lake Michigan and fell in love with the FGRV thing!! We’ve had it on two ferrys, Put-In-Bay Island and Apostle Island. We were hooked!! We came home and all we would do is look forward to the next weekend camp - loving it all the way!! It became our "new hobby". We want it to be our new life! We still work full time so unfortunately the LONG road trips have to wait.
In researching FGRV’s, I knew the Bigfoots and Escapes were awesome – probably what we would love to have. During my research, I would talk to our good friends Rick and Kim about Escapes. They are retired Air Force and young and retired. I’m jealous! In a good way – I’m happy for them. So Rick calls me one day and he says, we did it! While we bought a Casita, they ordered a brand new Escape 21. Wow!! Sooo cool. They took possession a few months ago – made the long trip and pulled her home.
So…..still sitting in the garage was my “old hobby”. I have (had) a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 428CJ. I loved the car. But I found over the years it didn’t get worked on like it used to, like it needed. I would go for rides and hope I made it home without breaking down, or overheating. My wife could care less about the car, but she didn’t mind us having it because she knew it was my dream car. So I started to ponder a new chapter in life. Simplifying. I lost the desire to work on it over the years. Maybe I’m getting older. Selling the Mach 1 and diving into camping sounded good. I told my wife I was going to sell it, and she looked at me like I had two heads. She thought I loved it more than her….ha! Not true at all!
Well, one day I put the Mach 1 up for sale. A few months later, it sold! I almost cried watching it drive away, but I knew it was best long term. Now, the proceeds from the Mach 1 allowed us pad a savings account and dive deeper into camping and FGRV’s. Now we could afford what we really wanted. So longing to be able to sleep straight and stand up in a camper - I instantly started looking for an EggCamper again. It was a frustrating search, with some misses, and one wasted 16 hour drive. But finally the perfect one came along! A second trip to Michigan and we bought our dream EggCamper. This was just a few months ago. We have only used it a few times as I am currently laid up with Achilles tendon surgery which put a screeching halt to our camping this year.
So with the EggCamper and Casita in the driveway, I took the task to sell the Casita. I called our other best friends Bob and Danielle. Told them its going up for sale. Well it didn’t take long and they decided to buy it!! Sweet!! Now we have 2 good friends with FGRV’s and its fun to camp with them!!! Our third set of friends we won’t talk about much here. They are very strange. They bought a brand new Jayco Hybrid 17ft with 2 popouts. I almost had a heart attack. I guess you can’t convert everybody.
So fast forward a few months to today. Now even tho I have NO REGRETS buying the EggCamper – I think to myself. I have LOTS of time to think being laid up from surgery for 6 weeks so far. Cherie and I know the EggCamper is perfectly fine for our current life. Weekends out or a 2 week trip from time to time. But we know what we really want when we retire is a bigger Egg. We may even full time in it – as in sell everything including the house. We are still on the fence about that or buying a little house as a 3 month a year base – but still being gone 9 months a year. We will decide later.
But or employer is never too stable. They lay off at anytime, we may be retired well before we decide – but when the company decides. So I cant help but ask myself and my wife – should we prepare now? Maybe instead of sinking a boatload of work and money into the EggCamper to get it the way I want it (solar, gen, lift, new vent, larger tires / wheels, bike rack, redo storage, on and on), maybe, maybe, we just say what the ****, and buy our retirement FGRV now. We were down to the Bigfoot 25RQ or the Escape 5.0TA. Well, after being in my friends Escape 21 (1” taller than the Bigfoot inside), its still walking around with head bent over. I like standing up straight. The 5.0TA wins!
So now we are searching for a 5.0TA. Have not decided to order new yet as we don’t need an October 2017 delivery – we would rather have a spring 2018 build date. So we have time to ponder a new order! And we found via this forum a couple who is taking delivery of their 5.0TA soon and they live an hour from us. They are letting us see it. We are probably as excited to see it, as they are to own it! Its SOO cool to have to opportunity to see one in person before ordering sight unseen. Time will tell if we order a new one or if we find a used one. Even if we get cold feet – we WILL eventually own a 5.0TA, and until that time comes, we will use the next best FGRV for a tall person, our 6’7” inside EggCamper.
Well, that’s our story!! I apologize for not introducing ourselves sooner, but hopefully this long novel made up for it! Or maybe you fell asleep a long time ago…….
Thank you and we look forward to being members of the forum!
Joe and Cherie
I've been on the fiberglassrv forum for a while now. My name is Joe and my wife is Cherie. Cherie does not do the forum thing, so its always me typing. Sometimes I use the word "I" when I mean to use "we". I guess its cause I'm typing, but its always "we"!
So we have been camping since we met. Now we are 50 yrs old and empty nesters. After years of sleeping out of the back of our Tahoe and in tents, we decided to buy a camper. I do engineering work and have always understood well built, over big and pretty. Slideouts...puke! Paper thin plastic shower stall....puke! I couldn't believe how cheaply built the stickies were at the RV show. After research on the web (I do this for EVERYTHING) I discovered FGRV's.
I'm almost 6'6" tall. Cherie is almost 5'1". After research we decided on an EggCamper. A few years back a member here (rrugg) had one for sale because he just ordered an Escape 19. Cherie and I drove to Indy and met Bob, and he graciously showed us his EggCamper. Problem was, we couldn't afford it! I'm not saying it was overpriced, that's not it at all. We just didn't have the cash in our budget to buy it at the time.
So we kept looking and eventually purchased a 2005 Casita 17SD. I figured "we can make it work" even if I couldn't stand or lay in it. And in all reality, it wasn't TOOO bad. I put a couple grand into upgrades to it – had it all fixed up!! We did a 2 week trip around Lake Michigan and fell in love with the FGRV thing!! We’ve had it on two ferrys, Put-In-Bay Island and Apostle Island. We were hooked!! We came home and all we would do is look forward to the next weekend camp - loving it all the way!! It became our "new hobby". We want it to be our new life! We still work full time so unfortunately the LONG road trips have to wait.
In researching FGRV’s, I knew the Bigfoots and Escapes were awesome – probably what we would love to have. During my research, I would talk to our good friends Rick and Kim about Escapes. They are retired Air Force and young and retired. I’m jealous! In a good way – I’m happy for them. So Rick calls me one day and he says, we did it! While we bought a Casita, they ordered a brand new Escape 21. Wow!! Sooo cool. They took possession a few months ago – made the long trip and pulled her home.
So…..still sitting in the garage was my “old hobby”. I have (had) a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 428CJ. I loved the car. But I found over the years it didn’t get worked on like it used to, like it needed. I would go for rides and hope I made it home without breaking down, or overheating. My wife could care less about the car, but she didn’t mind us having it because she knew it was my dream car. So I started to ponder a new chapter in life. Simplifying. I lost the desire to work on it over the years. Maybe I’m getting older. Selling the Mach 1 and diving into camping sounded good. I told my wife I was going to sell it, and she looked at me like I had two heads. She thought I loved it more than her….ha! Not true at all!
Well, one day I put the Mach 1 up for sale. A few months later, it sold! I almost cried watching it drive away, but I knew it was best long term. Now, the proceeds from the Mach 1 allowed us pad a savings account and dive deeper into camping and FGRV’s. Now we could afford what we really wanted. So longing to be able to sleep straight and stand up in a camper - I instantly started looking for an EggCamper again. It was a frustrating search, with some misses, and one wasted 16 hour drive. But finally the perfect one came along! A second trip to Michigan and we bought our dream EggCamper. This was just a few months ago. We have only used it a few times as I am currently laid up with Achilles tendon surgery which put a screeching halt to our camping this year.
So with the EggCamper and Casita in the driveway, I took the task to sell the Casita. I called our other best friends Bob and Danielle. Told them its going up for sale. Well it didn’t take long and they decided to buy it!! Sweet!! Now we have 2 good friends with FGRV’s and its fun to camp with them!!! Our third set of friends we won’t talk about much here. They are very strange. They bought a brand new Jayco Hybrid 17ft with 2 popouts. I almost had a heart attack. I guess you can’t convert everybody.
So fast forward a few months to today. Now even tho I have NO REGRETS buying the EggCamper – I think to myself. I have LOTS of time to think being laid up from surgery for 6 weeks so far. Cherie and I know the EggCamper is perfectly fine for our current life. Weekends out or a 2 week trip from time to time. But we know what we really want when we retire is a bigger Egg. We may even full time in it – as in sell everything including the house. We are still on the fence about that or buying a little house as a 3 month a year base – but still being gone 9 months a year. We will decide later.
But or employer is never too stable. They lay off at anytime, we may be retired well before we decide – but when the company decides. So I cant help but ask myself and my wife – should we prepare now? Maybe instead of sinking a boatload of work and money into the EggCamper to get it the way I want it (solar, gen, lift, new vent, larger tires / wheels, bike rack, redo storage, on and on), maybe, maybe, we just say what the ****, and buy our retirement FGRV now. We were down to the Bigfoot 25RQ or the Escape 5.0TA. Well, after being in my friends Escape 21 (1” taller than the Bigfoot inside), its still walking around with head bent over. I like standing up straight. The 5.0TA wins!
So now we are searching for a 5.0TA. Have not decided to order new yet as we don’t need an October 2017 delivery – we would rather have a spring 2018 build date. So we have time to ponder a new order! And we found via this forum a couple who is taking delivery of their 5.0TA soon and they live an hour from us. They are letting us see it. We are probably as excited to see it, as they are to own it! Its SOO cool to have to opportunity to see one in person before ordering sight unseen. Time will tell if we order a new one or if we find a used one. Even if we get cold feet – we WILL eventually own a 5.0TA, and until that time comes, we will use the next best FGRV for a tall person, our 6’7” inside EggCamper.
Well, that’s our story!! I apologize for not introducing ourselves sooner, but hopefully this long novel made up for it! Or maybe you fell asleep a long time ago…….
Thank you and we look forward to being members of the forum!
Joe and Cherie
That would never have happened if I was still working 
The bed issue is still resolved, but not the height. So we need to weigh the height vs the other pros and cons. Please bear with us I hope we are not defectors here before we get started! 
