Jim and I have been looking at truck campers for a loooong time. We have visions of four-season camping (not just summer) and we love the idea of doing more adventures with our kids. New campers are crazy expensive, so Jim scours Craigslist for used campers in good condition often. Every end of the summer, we say “next year, we might have a camper” but we hadn’t found the right one for the right price. Jim and I each have a list of must-haves: dry bath, bunk bed, a/c, driver side slide, generator, awnings, etc.
And then he found it!
It is a 2008 Lance 971. It was previously owned by an older couple, no pets or kids, and stored under cover. They didn’t use it much (only 11 hours on the generator) and sold it back to the dealer they bought it from. This was ideal! We went to look at it with both kids to make sure we felt comfortable inside with four people. It is perfect for us, and it is so clean and well maintained… with neutral décor instead of the horrible dated pink and teal you sometimes see in RVs.
The dealer was closed over the holidays so we had a week to pray about it. When they opened again after New Year’s, Jim called and said we would put a deposit down until we could come pick it up. Then the “fun” began… they ordered parts for our truck so we could pay wholesale and Jim installed them over the course of several late nights (one into the wee hours of the morning) before we picked it up.
On Friday we put the kids on the bus, went to the bank to pick up our check, and went to the dealer. They had fixed everything on the list – some even better than promised – and threw in a side awning and cross bars on top so we can bring our pod with us for extra storage. We were thrilled!
We did a walk-through and then started loading… I’m so glad this is Jim’s job, not mine!
We have a local one-nighter planned so we can do a dry run with the camper before we take it somewhere more fun… like a ski weekend at Crystal Mountain!
The Keene Family 