The Rise and Fall of the House of Outrageous Pt. 1

After having read "Commander" Conrad Evarts, a former radio personality and rabid journalist, stories on the joys of mobile home ownership. I could contain my nomadic desires no longer. I had read of how Craig Chilton supported himself through college driving motor homes from points A to B. Also I had a copy of Harold Hough's masterpiece Freedom Road.

To further these ambitions out local weekly Nickel Nik paper published a rag called RV Wheel Deals. For about 3 weeks a RV sales lot in Moses Lake, about 100 miles west had been offering outrageously low prices on various RVs.

I could wait no longer, I hopped a greyhound (bus) to Mo's Hole, an adventure in and of itself. I arrived, and hiked to the Used RV Lot. They told me the ad expired last week. I held a current issue, and intended to hold them to their asking prices.

I intended to score a Class C mobile home, an RV with a van front end. I was big on Dodge and Ford, having not encountered a Chevy Van except for the neighbors, which labored along under the constant care of 3 to 4 shade tree mechanics. I had almost committed to a Dodge 360 engined RV, but the salesman saw it leaking from the heater control under the hood. I should have just driven it to a hardware store and installed a cork and piece of tubing. I carry those now for future use.

Finally we settled on the beast the salesman intended to sell me from the get go. A 1980 Toyota Dolphin. We drove it around the lot, and I took it up the freeway to the next exit and brought it back. I was hooked, I could see myself living out of this for assorted SF conventions, Job searches in different cities, or just a what-the-hell road trip.

It was of course, more money than I brought, So I signed a promise to pay 380 a month for 7 more months. I drove home in my new home.