A Tour of Our (Motor) Home

We've had many people ask us about our motor home, and request more pictures of it.  So while we are sitting in one place, it seemed to be a good time to give a tour of it.  We started shopping for her a couple years before we retired, and finally made the purchase in October 2014.  We bought her used, and she is a 2013 Tiffin Allegro Red.  In this case, "Red" doesn't describe color.  It is an acronym for "Rear End Diesel."  We just had her washed, so it was a good time to take a few pictures of the outside.

She has four slide outs, and they are all deployed in these pictures. The rear view shows her other two slides, and the proximity of the fruit trees to us in Mission, Texas.

Those four slides make for lots of room in the interior.  Because we have deep opposing slides in the living area, the interior is over 13 feet wide.  That means that we never feel crowded when it's just the two of us.  That also means that we can seat 8 people in our living room with everyone having a comfortable chair.

Because we purchased a used motor home, we didn't get to pick the fabrics.  Some day we will make changes. We also wouldn't have chosen to have four televisions in our small home.  (That would be two in the living room, one in the bedroom, and one outside.) But one advantage for us to buying used was that the previous owners had upgraded the furniture.  This L-shaped sectional is actually quite comfortable, and the air bed sofa sleeper has hosted several overnight guests.

We have found the table to be a great place to work on projects, compute, and we even eat here.  Extended to its largest size, there are four chairs that can fit around it.  The buffet behind the table is also a great asset.  Many motor homes don't have a place to display pictures and knick-knacks, and we have enjoyed this surface.  Also, the storage it allows is priceless.  A hanging file drawer is essential when you live in a motor home, and the computer station is awesome.  Good design!

That dining area is adjacent to the kitchen, and is part of the same slide-out.

Our kitchen is small, but very functional.  The stove is usually covered with its hard surface covers, but when we are cooking we don't have much counter space.  We're glad to have a convection/microwave oven instead of a separate gas oven.  Those two big drawers under the stove allow for some great storage, and we don't know what we would do without them.

We are also enjoying the residential refrigerator.  We don't have to limit the fresh foods we keep on hand, and it can keep Mark's ice cream hard!  The down-side is that we don't have the capability of running it on propane when we are camping without hookups.  That electric refrigerator will drain our batteries quicker than we would like, but we have learned to live with that.

The storage on this model is the best we saw any where.  When planning out the cabinets needed for dishes and pots and pans, it's also important to think about where you will store food.  We have two sliding pantries that make an incredible difference in the ease of getting to our food items.

Our bedroom also has two slide outs, so it is roomy as well.  We had to switch sides of the bed because the upgraded mattress is taller than usual.  So Denisa enjoys having the step in the back to get into bed.

We moved from a bedroom/master bath with 26 drawers; so moving down to four bedroom drawers was another change in life-style for us.  But we also have good storage over the bed, and it's nice to have a built-in hamper.

When we were shopping for motor homes, Denisa didn't think she wanted a washer and dryer.  They take up valuable storage and add considerable weight.  But this used model had both, and we have enjoyed them this year.  We're not sure if we could do without them now.  The rest of the rear wall is our only storage for hanging clothes.  We have adapted from our huge walk-in closet, and see that it is better to have fewer clothes instead of cramming too much into this space.

The smallest part of our floor plan is the bathroom.  It's definitely a one-person-at-a-time space, and we have had to learn to share nicely in the mornings when we are both getting ready.  But if we were giving up space anywhere, the bathroom would be our preference.

It's so little that it is hard to get far enough away to take a picture of the bathroom.  But it still has a roomy shower with a built-in chair and is comfortable even for a six-footer like Mark.

Are there things we would change about our home?  Sure, but overall we are very happy with our selection after living in it for a year.  This is a Tiffin 33AA model, but it is actually 35 feet in length.  That length means that we can get into most of the state and national parks that we enjoy.  Its 4 slide-outs mean that it expands into a comfortable home when we are parked.  But we can also spend a night or two with the slides in when necessary, as we can get to all parts of the motor home that way.  That isn't true for all motor homes.  The following picture shows the view from the front with all the slides in.  That narrow walk-way means we can still get to the bathroom, the refrigerator, and the bedroom--all the necessities.

Its Cummins 340 hp diesel engine has gotten us up all the mountains we tried in Colorado, and its engine brake helped to get us safely back down.  We are pleased with its diesel mileage that ranges between 9 and 11 miles per gallon.  

Being full-timers, we must carry more things than the average vacationers.  We would enjoy more basement storage, but we are doing all right because of its one large pass-through storage area. 

We are finding that staying longer in a parking spot without full hook-ups is easy because of our large tanks.  We have a 90-gallon fresh water tank, a 70-gallon gray tank, and a 50-gallon black tank. That equates to being able to stay in a state park without sewer hook-ups for up to two weeks if there are showers available and we are very careful with our water consumption.

It's been a learning experience, but we are still very happy about our decision to sell everything and move into this motor home. Bring on year number two!