If you follow us on Instagram, this won’t be a big surprise. If you don’t follow us on Instagram, you should! 😆 And also… we bought a “new” RV. Okay, okay, we bought it back in January–and it isn’t quite new. It’s a 2001 Newmar Kountry Star, but it is the newest RV we’ve ever bought. Our Santa Fe is a 1999 and our Rockwood is a 1995. We’re moving out of the 90’s, baby!
Why We Went to the Darkside
Yes, we still have both pop up campers–for now. And yes, we’ll probably always own a pop up camper. I absolutely love pop ups, and the Santa Fe was my first foray into the world of RVs. I can’t imagine ever getting rid of her. The kids have big plans to use that camper, and we’ll probably use her ourselves for stays inside the national parks. It’s a little easier to find space for her than for a big rig. So if you are wondering why we bought a motorhome after so many years of pop up camping, here’s the story.
In a nutshell… our babies have left the nest. Our girls are both off in college, and honestly between work, school, and pets, it is really hard for us to get out as a big family. Our oldest has already graduated college and moved out on his own with a real job. It went so fast, and I am so grateful we bought the pop up camper when we did and soaked up those last few years of their childhood. We had some amazing adventures. When I tell you all to enjoy the kid years (and yes, even the teen years), I mean it. It goes by so quickly.
So now that we have no kid schedules to accommodate, Justin and I can hit the road for longer. We can both work remotely, but having a Zoom meeting in a pop up camper is less than ideal. That requires real desks and real walls–and a motorhome just seemed to work best for that. We couldn’t afford a fancy, brand new rig, but on the bright side, we also don’t have the payment that would come along with it. We’re just going to roll up our sleeves and make her into the coach of our dreams.
The Desert Rose (Desi)
Here she is in all her glory. When we were first shopping on Craigslist for a motorhome, we came across some sketchy listings. On one outing to see a rig, I texted a friend and said that if things went south Forensic Files style, he should look for us at The Desert Rose Motel and RV Park. We didn’t end up buying that motorhome, but from then on, we knew whatever rig we bought was going to end up being called The Desert Rose by our friends. So we embraced it. 😆
We’ve Got Big Plans
We’ve got big plans for her. In fact, we’ve actually done quite a bit of work on Desi already. We’ve even taken her on the road a couple of times. Of course, every trip has had a setback, but at least we know her inside and out now. If you follow along on Instagram (I’m never gonna shut up about that, right?) we’ll be posting some progress pictures along the way.
Here’s a little sneak peek of the bathroom remodel, which we just finished up over Labor Day weekend. If there is one thing remodeling our pop up campers has taught us, it’s that you don’t have to rush your renovation. You can take it a little at a time–and you can use your camper in the middle of a remodel. In fact, I’m glad we did. After using Desi on several road trips, we had a good idea of what we wanted in the bathroom before we ripped out anything useful. It allowed us to make good renovation decisions. I’m so pleased with how it turned out in the end.
What’s Next?
We’ll probably be writing a few posts on the RV remodel here on the blog, but we will always be posting about pop up campers first and foremost. We love being part of this RV community. We’ve met so many amazing families who’ve renovated and traveled in their pop up campers. Many of those first-time campers moved on to bigger RVs after they realized how much they loved camping. Some of them even remodeled those bigger rigs because of their experiences remodeling their pop ups. We think that is awesome and have enjoyed sharing in their adventures.
We hope you’ll stick with us for the next part of our journey, and let us know if there is any content that you’d like to see more (or less) of. And if you are only here for the pop up camper content, don’t worry, we’ll still be posting tutorials and features here.
Happy Camping!
I love all your content-pop up or not!
What size is this mirror? I love it! We just remodeled a camper as well and looking for a bathroom mirror, love this!
This one came from Target. You can find the link to it here.
Wow! That bathroom is fabulous!
We also moved from a pop-up but to a little tow behind. I donated the pup to a family. I also have a solo hybrid teardrop that is like a pup, so its still in my blood, too!
I am looking for ideas to make my camper dinette comfortable for dining AND lounging.
Bathroom looks fabulous! We recently bought a hybrid camper and I am so excited to start making it ours.
Can I ask what did you use for the countertop?
We actually had a local countertop fabricator make us one from their “boneyard.” We basically picked out a piece of scrap material that was large enough to make the countertop, and they cut it for us for a reasonable price. We installed it ourselves, and I’m in love with it. I always loved the butcher block look, which we were originally going to go with, but I was worried about water stains. This countertop is my favorite thing about the bathroom, and I’m so glad we did it. 🙂
Congrats on the new camper! It’s crazy how fast the years fly by. My husband and I are in a similar place with our teens and it’s bittersweet. We recently sold our pop up and purchased a small travel trailer since it’s just the two of us anymore. I am so grateful for all the years we had in the pop up and the special memories with our kids. I look forward to watching your journey continue in the motorhome!