We bought what is now out tow vehicle in August of 05 and  had been talking about getting a camper. In March, the following year, we stopped at a local RV dealer looking.  I wanted a 12ft box and DW wanted a shower/potty. That dealer didn't have any with those features. This was a Saturday mid-day, so we decided to make an hour and a half drive to Tom Johnson's, in Marion,NC. After telling the salesman what we were looking for, he took us to look at what would be the pop up we would buy. Closed the deal that afternoon, and picked it up the next weekend.  So, guess we could say we looked for one day.

Bought our camper from someones back yard, I've been looking for a new one now for two years.

Kicked around the idea of Hybrid when my wife was pregnant with our first child.  Upgraded the tow vehicle once the baby was 8 months old, when to an RV show when she was 15 months old, and looked at both htt or pup.
She loved bouncing around in the pup, and was saying high to everyone that went by that front bunk end.  I was not going home without a pup that day!

I spent about two years looking and toying with the notion of getting a camper and moving "up" from the tent. But actually having the money and seriously looking, I spent about 6 months. Went and looked at a few different ones that needed way more attention than I was willing to give at the time. I went with a smaller starter camper that didn't need  a lot of repairs, and had fewer options than I wanted, but it fit the budget. Plus it will give me time to decide on what features I want and don't want.

I know that this year I am going to be either adding a lot of features to mine, or putting that money into another one. I still can't get over the itch to get a classic to restore. Something about bringing back something from the past to give it new life. Must of been all those years growing up restoring classic cars with my old man.

We hit a bad stay at a "rustic" cabin and decided we wanted our own bedding, our own housekeeping stuff....we started camping in a tent!

One night we had such a bad thunderstorm the ground shook underneath us.  When it was over DH said it was time for something on wheels, spent that next winter researching, eating and breathing PUPS, new or used, which model, what do we need to know etc. etc.  In the spring we ordered our Palomino, because every dealer we went to tried to talk us into something heavier than we should have been pulling, just like the bulletin board said.  It arrived just before Memorial Day and we never looked back.

Now we are like Dave, have been looking at Hybrids for two or three winters.  We are afraid to go to an RV show, cuz we'll walk out with one. We are slow to go for it because, well we like the PUP and we know how to work it, and we don't want to sign up for all that money again!

So a day for a tent, a winter for a PUP, maybe a decade for a hybrid?

Lynn

[quote author=Steve A link=topic=445.msg2413#msg2413 date=1295448309]
WOP, I've seen some decent early model Scampers on CL.  In fact, had I not gotten the :chief: Apache bug there was a late 60s(?) offered west of Richmond, VA that would have followed me home.

Heck, it would have done so anyway if the previous owner had ever answered emails with more than a 2 sentence answer.

Ciao,

Steve,

I followed your story over on PUP, and I am a fan of the Apaches as well, I had a lead on one but it was in need of more repair than I could give it at the time last year. But I feel i will be looking this year for a new project. Guess I need to start hanging out over on the apache forums to see what I can find.

I'm still amazed how quickly we found ours. We had talked about looking for one for about three years.  We had moved twice during that period and finally settled down.  One day I mentioned it to the DW and she said let's do it.  I started doing some homework, learned about Livin Lite's Quicksilvers, and surprisingly found one for sale a week later on Craigslist.  As there aren't a lot of of them around to begin with, it was a stroke of luck to find one, and it even matched our  maroon Toyota Highlander!  I guess it was meant to be...

I spent a little over a year looking on EBay, Creigslist, and RVTrader online. I went to RV shows and dealers all the time and could not find the one that was right for us. I ended up at a dealer over an hour from home and they would not move on the price (about $1500 too high) so at that moment I all but gave up on looking. The next morning I looked on CL and seen a pop up two towns over for a good price. I called and he said he had just placed the ad online and had plans, so we set it up to go look at it Monday night. Ten minutes later he called me back and said he just took five calls on it and said if I wanted it to come look at it now (at least he gave me first grab of it) We bought it right there on the spot and we pulled it home with his tag on it. I paid what he was asking because it was a good deal, and he had so many other calls that fast, he would not come down. We love it and have had great times in it so far.