After selling the motorhome it didn’t take us long to lock in on our requirements for the next RV. We decided that we were probably done with the 7 to 8 thousand mile circumnavigations of the country and therefore didn’t require another motorhome (not that you can’t go on a long trip with a trailer). We also decided that we didn’t want a pickup truck as a tow vehicle because we have 3 grandchildren and a German Shepherd grand-dog to haul around when we visit them. We’d rather have an SUV with three rows of seating. This ruled out Fifth Wheel campers.
We also knew that we definitely required a king size bed. It didn’t take us long to determine that whatever we would purchase would be in the 28′ – 30′ size range and weigh over 7,000 lbs. That eliminated our current tow vehicle (2012 Tahoe). Tahoe’s are capable of towing over 7,000 lbs, but only if you purchase one with the Heavy Duty Towing Package which ours did not have. While we were in Wisconsin this summer we ran across a neighbor that had a 2018 Ford Expedition (and he was towing a decent sized Travel Trailer). We really liked the looks of his Expedition and he said that he was very happy with its towing capabilities. The same situation exists with the Expedition in that you have to make sure you purchase one with the Heavy Duty Towing Package in order to tow more than 6,000 lbs. Those are hard enough to find new, even harder used. Fortunately, the Queen of Gasbuddy is just as good at finding vehicles as she is fuel. After a few weeks of searching she found a 2018 Expedition at the AutoNation Ford in St Petersburg. She saw it online in the late afternoon and made an appointment with a salesperson to see it the next day at 11AM. The next morning while we were getting dressed we even got a call from the sales manager to verify that we would be there at 11AM to see the vehicle. We arrived at 11AM and they could not locate the vehicle on the lot (even though the salesperson had seen it in person the night before). It turned out that some customer in their Brooksville dealership had requested to see it and even though we had an appointment to see it they shipped it to their Brooksville dealership overnight. We were NOT happy. By the time they finally found the vehicle the customer had not bought it (we don’t know if they ever saw it). Because it’s so hard to find used Expeditions with the Heavy Duty Towing Package, we put $1,000 down on the vehicle (sight unseen) and had them ship it back. We put it on the credit card so we could cancel it if the vehicle turned out to be a dud. Then we went to the beach for lunch and took our time. When we returned from lunch the vehicle had just arrived and looked excellent. With only 29,000 miles on the odometer and 7,000 miles left on the bumper to bumper warranty we didn’t hesitate to complete the purchase transaction. Because it was Missing In Action upon our arrival at the dealership, Beth named it “Mia”.
Mama and Her 2018 Expedition (Mia)
Shortly after purchasing the SUV we found a Travel Trailer floor plan that we really liked. It was a Keystone Cougar 25RDS which Camping World sells. We just had to find one with the right options (two air conditioners, refrigerator with 12 Volt residential compressor, and theater seating). In our initial searches there were none in Florida with all of those options, but once again, the Queen of Gasbuddy eventually discovered one that had just arrived at the Camping World in New Port Richey. We went up and looked at it the next day, were very pleased with the floor plan, and after some haggling purchased it. Because the model name is Cougar, Beth named it Kitty.
Passenger Side of “Kitty” 
Kirby Inspecting the Living Area 
“Mia” & “Kitty” on the Way Home
