1. How did you decide to buy an RV? Why did you start renting it out?
My wife and I have been working in the oil and gas business for a lot of years. We bought our first RV in 2006, a Carriage Compass II with three slides. I had never towed anything more than a small flatbed trailer behind me, so pulling that 36-footer was a learning experience, to say the least.
We’ve always enjoyed entertaining and hosting, so Outdoorsy is the best of both worlds.
We traveled all over the South, staying in all kinds of places: from the rustic Great River Road Mississippi State Park with limited power and no television, to some private parks with every amenity and a free potluck and show every night. Sometimes our little rig looked like a miniature compared to the big rigs parked next to us.
We bought a new rig in 2014, a DRV Mobile Suites Houston 44′ (the one we have on Outdoorsy now), and traveled to Wyoming on our latest work assignment. Now we’re back in Texas for a while, as the oil and gas business is in a slump. We decided to rent out our rig, because it’s just like a refrigerator- if you want it to work well, you’ve got to use it!
2. What’s your happiest memory or best trip in an RV?
We had a few weeks off from a project in Beaumont, TX, and decided to take the RV on a coastal drive from Port Arthur down to Ingleside on the Bay, near Corpus Christi. The weather was perfect and the fishing was excellent.
3. What’s a bad or crazy moment you’ve had in your RV?
On a trip to Wyoming, we were stopping for the night in Buffalo, in the foothills of Bighorn National Forest, when the driver’s side tire on the RV locked up and burned off. We had just finished a four hundred mile day, and it was a long night before we got it fixed and back on the road.
4. What dreams do you have for the rental income you’re earning in the RV business?
Out dream is to stay home for a while and enjoy the great people we meet!
Most of the renters we get are just going on a three to seven day journey somewhere, and it’s our pleasure to make it enjoyable, memorable and exciting (but not too exciting). We’ve always enjoyed entertaining and hosting, so it’s the best of both worlds.
