Last week, I almost bought a 1994 RV. I'm going to Burning Man at the end of August. I remember the first time someone told me about an event where thousands of people hang out in the Nevada desert for a week. I didn't totally get it then and I still don't know what to expect. When my daughter Whitney invited me and my sister to go with her, I figured it was time to see for myself. I might have pitched a tent in my younger years, but not these days. Turns out, it's tough to rent an RV for Burning Man. Apparently, the fine playa dust can get into filters, hoses, and engines. Per Burning Man task lists, we had planned to tape up all the vents with blue painter’s tape to keep the dust out, but we still couldn't find someone who would rent us an RV. So, my sister and I decided to look into purchasing a used one.
The white 1994 RV was listed on Craig's List for 13k, but the owner said he'd take 11k. When we pulled up for a test drive, the RV hulked hugely in the parking lot. Though relatively small as far as RVs go, only 23 feet, it looked gigantic to my driving-this-thing-down-the-road eyes. The ad had noted the generator didn't work and I thought we'd just stick a new one in, like replacing a battery. Nope, not that simple. The seller suggested building/welding a rack onto the back of the RV to put the generator on so it wouldn't take up space in the RV. Okay, now we're talking crazy. But wait, he has a guy! So far, so good.
I took the RV out onto I-15 and driving it actually felt surprisingly fine. The sticky-outy mirrors were helpful. The RV had less than 60,000 miles on it, but he rattled down the highway like the little old man he was, which alone wouldn't totally be a dealbreaker, but a few other things were concerning—the age of rubber and plastic things in the engine like hoses and filters, a shower that maybe works, tires with small fissures in the sidewalls, and a few long narrow cracks in the front exterior metal side walls of the RV (which were creatively and nicely taped up with gorilla tape). Yikes!
My sister called me an hour later to tell me she'd found an RV we could secure at almost double the price of the first five RVs we'd attempted to rent, but they're okay with Burning Man because they know how to take an RV to a mechanic to get the engine cleaned and get hoses and filters changed. Done! Phew, that was a close call!
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