Day #4 - Sliding Into the Next Phase

It was not that long ago that Art and I said to each other “We’ll never get a motorhome with slide-outs!”

And then recently we were asking each other “How many slide-outs do you think we should get?”

We are a classic example of the following:  When one’s circumstances change, so too does one’s perspective.

Our changing circumstances were our motorhoming habits which recently went from some-timing in a Class C to full-timing in our soon-to-be completed Class A.  I think that might be enough to change anyone’s perspective about slide-outs. :-)

And so there we were, on Wednesday, August 12, Day #4 of our build...and we’re about to get our slide-outs installed.

How many?  As many as Tiffin would give us.  Which is four.  Which is really surreal considering we once believed we’d never have any slide-outs.

We arrived bright and early on Day #4 and first watched as the Tiffin workers of Station #8 installed our air conditioners and our satellite antenna.  Yes, camping is tough...but someone’s gotta do it.  :-)

Then something caught our eye, just beyond the station.  It was a veritable candy store of slide-outs.

Would our four slides be among them?

Before going over there to find out, I’d like to first tell you about #102148.  That is the production number we were assigned when we ordered our Tiffin motorhome.  That number is written on absolutely every single component that will be installed in our rig.  That’s how we found our chassis on the very first day of the build, and that’s how we found our inverter, our tanks, our tile floor, our washer and dryer, just to name a few.  It’s been great fun hunting for all the different pieces...kind of like an Easter egg hunt. 

So we went to check out the "candy store" for our slides.  And yes, there was our bedroom slide!  And yes, that box is our bed.  But no, we won’t be sleeping inside it...that is storage, glorious storage.  And there will be a comfy mattress on top of it all.  And those four “holes” above the bed?  Cabinets...more storage!  Every RVers dream come true.

So one slide down, three to go.  And there it was...our living room slide, complete with sofa, and space for the recliner that will soon be installed.  And five more cabinets...still more storage!

We have two more slides to find, but first, I just want to mention that I had absolutely no idea how much was pre-built into the various slide-outs.  As you can see from the photos, the bed was already in the bedroom slide-out, the sofa was already in the living room slide-out (and the recliner would have been there if our chosen color had been in stock...we are assured it will be there soon).  All the cabinets (minus their doors) are already built in.  And it makes sense, a lot of sense.  Some of the components would be almost impossible to bring in after the slides are installed.

Now back to the slide-out hunt...

And there’s another!  This one is a combination slide-out: the left half contains our bedroom dressers and the right half has our bathroom sinks and cupboards and drawers.  There will be a pocket door separating the two.                                        

One more slide-out to find.  The one I most wanted to find.  The dinette and kitchen slide.  Now that I knew most of the components were pre-installed in the slide, I was nervous.  Would it be the right interior design?  Would they have remembered not to install a dishwasher?  Would the induction cook-top we ordered be there? 

Yes, yes and yes!  Whew!  The big space on the right is for the refrigerator which - due to obvious reasons of weight - is not pre-installed in the slide-out.

Okay, we found our four slides...now let’s get them installed into the motorhome.

Evidently, to get a slide-out to slide in to its proper place, you use whatever works.  Be it  straps and pulleys and lifts...

...or good ol' manpower.

Please, I beg of you, please do not drop my kitchen!

I can only assume they know what they are doing.

The slide-outs are in!  Here are the driver's side slides...

...and here are the passenger's side.

And to cap off an amazing day, they even gave us a door!

And so ends Day #4 of our new motorhome build.  And so also does my documentation of our build.  Art is doing such a great job telling the story of the build on his blog, and since there are other things that I am chomping at the bit to blog about, it really doesn't make any sense for both of us to be posting about the same thing.

So please do return here for musings on the build (just not day-by-day documentation), full-timing and travel, but please do go and visit Art’s blog (arts-work.blogspot.com) for what I feel is a really terrific summary of the building of our next motorhome.