We took the Aspect to LaMesa RV today and said good-bye to the Aspect. It was bittersweet handing over the keys. The Aspect has been a good RVing partner for us, and it wasn't an easy decision to make this change.
We weren't sure what to expect with our time today at LaMesa. When we bought the Aspect from LaMesa in Tucson, we went in, parked the HitchHiker next to the Aspect and started moving stuff from the 5th wheel to the motorhome. A service guy came out to give us the orientation, which took less than a half hour... and during that, he said, "You know more about this than I do." He was not wrong. We put in the time to learn all we could about it in the time between making the deal and taking delivery of the Aspect.
This experience today was very different: a nice presentation...
Mike is the delivery person who did our walk through...
He was thorough and patient. He had a system: start with the outside of the coach and go all around it, explaining each item, asking if we have any questions. Even though we are experienced RVers, we let him do his thing, and we learned stuff along the way.
With the exterior done, we moved inside the coach - and there is a lot more to go over. He started at the back, working his way forward. Plumbing and water systems, electrical systems, learning the procedures with the lithium batteries (this coach can run all the electrical, including the air conditioner, microwave, and induction cooktop without being plugged in. This is all new to us and was interesting to get the basics... we will still need to take this out and run through everything on our own to learn how best to use it. No generator in this coach; that is "old school" with the lithium batteries and 3000 watt inverter.
A "tour" of the bathroom. Learning the tankless water heater. No sewer dump facilities at this LaMesa location, so we'll need to give the macerator a run through to see how it dumps the holding tanks.
And then onto the cab, starting at the driver's door and working our way left to right across all the tech built into the dash. (I did mention that Mike had his "system" of going through things so nothing got left out. I did video along the way, as a reference if I don't remember something.
This walk-through took about 2 1/2 hours. From there, we went to the Finance Office where you sign the papers and they try to sell you on various extended warranties (no, thank-you). And then, we were done.
Joan thought we should stop somewhere for a nice meal to celebrate the new RV... we had a light breakfast before we left to go to Mesa (yes, LaMesa is located in Mesa) and we were both hungry. This looks like a job for Texas Roadhouse.
From there, it was back onto the freeway for the drive home. The Roadtrek drives more like a nice SUV than a motorhome. Good visibility, nice handling. We pulled it in front of the house and looked over a few more items inside; the light was starting to wane...
A bit more understated compared to the fancy paint job on the Aspect. The color is silver with black accents, including the blackout grille and wheels. The interior is accented with light gray wood and Italian leather on the seating surfaces; white solid surface countertop.
There was a brief moment of concern when we couldn't get the doors to lock... and then discovered that the side sliding door was not quite closed. With that taken care of, all the lock/unlock features worked as designed. When we turned the inverter off, the lights on the microwave and induction cooktop didn't turn off. I had read about this situation, went to the actual inverter (in an underneath compartment) and flipped a switch on the inverter... and now everything on the Firefly electronic panel(s) control everything in the coach: all the lights (on dimmer controls), the inverter, the air conditioner, furnace, water heater, awning extend and retract, and some other things I'm probably forgetting.
After giving Murphy some outdoor time, Joan went out to the coach to start setting up the Sirius/XM radio (need to transfer our subscription from the Aspect). Tomorrow, we'll work on getting the Apple Car Play and U-Connect (whatever that is) set up. We need to load an app to get our phones to connect to the Firefly system. All in due time. It's a LOT more tech than we've had on any other RV.
We haven't decided where to take it for a short outing, yet; I'm sure there will be some local driving around to get comfortable with it.
3 comments:
Hi Jim, Well all caught up. I enjoyed reading your Blog from start to finish. So many things to say but nothing you haven't heard already. You and Joan are living the Dream! Congratulations on your new home and the new family Truckster. Say hi to Steph and Dan and give Murphy a scratch behind ears for me.
Hi Mark - Wow, thanks for following along. That's 16 years of posts! You're the first who's posted about reading through all of it in one swoop. Looking at the numbers/statistics Blogger provides, I am always surprised at the number of daily views. I know Blogger requires readers to sign up and log in to make a comment, and people rarely do that. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Best wishes!
Congrats on the new rig! You need a new type rating! It sounded like a nice briefing and lots of new tech to learn. Once you get used to it, you will wonder how you got along without it. Our 2016 F150 has some tech but the 2019 Subaru better integrates the iPhone via CarPlay and what it can do - music, maps, etc.
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