We loved our Jayco Eagle, but, after living in it full time for a year and half we decided it wasn’t quite right for full-time RV living. We hadn’t been to an RV show in over a year because of Covid, so we started going to different dealers in the Denver area to do some research (properly masked and with social distancing, of course!). After looking at a good many RVs we were between purchasing a Solitude by Grand Design, or an Alliance. Alliance is a newer company that was actually started by some people who left Grand Design and a couple of other manufacturers. Both companies have great reputations for quality RVs and they both are known to stand behind their products. As you may know, Candi loves to cook and bake and was determined that our next rig would have a nicer kitchen. After much deliberation and many hours going between dealers, we finally decided on a Solitude 3540GK (the ‘GK’ stands for Gourmet Kitchen!). There was a lot we liked about the rig, including color scheme and overall look. Since RV sales are up so much due to Covid, there weren’t many rigs to be had in stock, and, we wanted some options that dealers don’t usually order anyway, so we did a factory order.

All RV factories were really backed up due to Covid, both because of supply issues and the heavy demand. We had been told it would take 10-12 weeks for our rig to come in. Fortunately, we weren’t really in a hurry. When we made the decision we were still in Denver for the summer, but wouldn’t be there long enough to accept delivery there. We already had our winter job lined up for Mesa, Arizona, so we started looking for dealers in the general Mesa/Phoenix area.

We know we could make more money selling our Jayco instead of trading it in, but that didn’t seem realistic now that we have to live in one rig and can’t have the other sitting in our driveway until we sell it. After working with sales reps at 3 different dealers, the best deal with the trade-in was at Lazydays in Tucson. Fortunately, they also have a relationship with a KOA campground right next to their location. They were able to set us up with 2 RV sites right next to each other for several days. This enabled us to take our time (yeah, right!) and move our ‘stuff’ from one rig to the other one. In total moving our stuff took us 2 and a half days, and we were exhausted!

So, with that said – meet Ollie! Which is short for Olorin, which is Gandalf’s high name from the Lord of the Rings. Roughly translated it means ‘dreams’ or ‘dreamer’!

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