On Wednesday, Ann and I returned from a very quick trip to St. George, where we purchased a 2003 Alpine 38′ Motor Coach with three slides. While I had my reservations about purchasing a vehicle like this, then driving 1000 miles in it, the rig performed flawlessly. We couldn’t have asked for more from it. Still, there’s a bunch of things we need to learn. Here are some pics.

So, how did we arrive at choosing an Alpine? Well, that’s a bit of a story … 

Ann and I have spent the last few months trying to decide how to approach going to a jeep race event. Do we get a slide-in camper for the dually? Do we get a toy hauler? Do we get a motorhome? Do we just tent it? What truly works best for us?

We eliminated the slide-in camper early on, because I was concerned about Ann’s ability to climb up and down into an overhead bunk. I didn’t think it would be safe, so we eliminated that idea.

Ann’s back and knee issues also helped us reject the tent idea.

The toy hauler was a reasonable strategy, but we eventually rejected it because (a) it was hard to find used haulers that had anything but stark, utility feeling interiors, and (b) I didn’t have much luck finding very many haulers that could deal with the weight of the race jeep (they are out there, but expensive).

Finally, we agreed that a motorhome with a 10K hitch was the solution (the tour jeep will likely be around 5k, so that will be the true heavy load). However, a surprising number of motorhomes only support 5K hitches. We found that a limited class of Class A “Diesel Pushers”, those coaches with a diesel in the back, were the best of our options (though there is a Super C class that might have worked, but used ones were much more expensive).

We started by looking at Motorhomes under $20k. The one we found, a Holiday Rambler, owned by a friend of a friend, we drove four hours to see, only to discover the mustiness inside caused Ann to have an asthma attack. So, back to the internet we went.

After reading through forums, I finally decided upon an Alpine motor coach for the following reasons.

• Alpine was manufactured just west of us in Yakima and there are still some parts available there, even though the company went under in 2008 (as did other RV manufacturers).
• Most or all Alpines after 2000 had 10k hitches.
• The company produced their own branded chassis (PEAK), which is well-regarded as an excellent handling chassis.
• Alpine only produced coaches with a side radiator, a highly desirably characteristic (according to the forums), because without the radiator in the back, working on the engine was much easier (according to the forums).
• Alpine also built a special cabinet on the back passenger side that allows the gas filter and air filter to be quickly changed by owners.
• Alpine used higher quality materials and parts, such as hydraulic (not air) brakes, real wood, glue and nails/screws instead of staples, etc, etc.
• Finally, anytime an Alpine appeared on Facebook, it was bought quickly. So, we felt that if we bought one and we discovered that it didn’t really work for us, then we’d be able to resell it and not suffer too big of hit.

By the time we figured out what we wanted, finding one wasn’t easy. We looked at one near us, but it was an early one that turned out to only have a 5k hitch. We drove four hours to look at one in Bend, Oregon, a fixer upper that “had a lot of of little things needing fixing”, but the reality was that it had some big things that needed fixing, so we didn’t get that one. There were three others that hit the market in good condition, with prices ranging from $45k to $56k, and they sold in a couple days.

Eventually, I found an Alpine that had been posted twenty weeks earlier on Facebook. It was owned by a couple who raced RVs and owned a dragster. He had a 2003 with a 400hp Cummins. It was under 40′, which was another requirement we had. All he wanted was to have his loan paid off, which was a little over $50K. The pics showed it to be super clean and comfy looking on the inside and nice on the outside. Ann liked it and I liked it, so on Monday morning we left for St. George, Utah, which is just about 1000 mile trip one-way.

The whole trip down I wondered if this was a good idea, but sometimes you gotta just take a chance.  On our way down to Utah, we looked at the weather in St. George: a heat spike was driving the temp for Tuesday to 110 degrees! Yikes! So, on Tuesday morning, we arranged to see it at 8am.

The coach was as clean and nice on the inside as the pictures showed. Was it perfect? No, after all it’s a 21 year old vehicle. The outside wasn’t quite as nice as we had hoped, as there was some fading and wear, especially along the passenger side where someone scraped something. When we asked why they were selling it they explained they’d been in a bad car accident the previous year (cement truck rear ended their car), and they hadn’t used the rig in almost a year. Instead of paying on the storage and the loan, they decided to sell it and decide later if they wanted something else.

At that point, we climbed in for a test drive; it was my first time ever driving a Class A motorhome. It took a little getting used to, but was surprisingly east to drive. Happy with our experience, we accompanied them to his bank, paid off their motorhome, and started our drive back home.

In Salt Lake City, we stopped to show it off to my kids and share dinner together. They thought we were crazy, but they did enjoy our short spin around the neighborhood (thank goodness for Salt Lake’s wide streets). After dinner, we drove up to Brigham City (about an hour north of SLC), where there’s a Walmart that allows camping. The next morning (Wednesday), just before we left, Ann discovered a bat handing out in a large window between the blinds and the screen. She’s usually a pretty tough woman, but she was too tired to want anything to do with a bat. Fortunately, both the window and the screen slid in a way that allowed me to get the bat out. I suspect the previous owner had opened the window and screen to vent the coach after he pulled it from storage, as there was no evidence (or guano) that the bat had been there very long.

The rest of the drive home was uneventful, which is just the way I wanted it! The coach had no problem running at 75mph up most hills and the engine braking going down the hills made going down Cabbage Hill (near Pendleton, Oregon) way easier than with other motorhomes I’ve driven.