My wife and I have enjoyed the RV lifestyle since 2010. The 2018 Vanleigh Vilano 375FL at the right is one of our two megacoaches. As life long avid sailors we've traveled all over the US in recent years and sailed some extraordinary locations which you can read about below. We spent the years 2010 to 2017 cruising around the United States in a variety of different RV's, as we visited many fascinating destinations, while towing our sailboat, a beautiful Catalina 22 MkII (below right), and chasing the warm winds in search of new sailing adventures. We hope you enjoyed traveling around the country with us online. And now the adventure continues, spending summers at Fernridge Reservoir in Oregon. See our Vilano photo gallery.

In May 2021 we added a new horse to the stable... a gorgeous 34' Class A Thor Miramar MotorCoach. See the Miramar photo gallery for this compact cruiser with its 50A electrical system and Xantrex inverter to support the essential minimum of two roof air conditioners. It has a towing capacity of 8000 lbs to tow our Durango, with its ultra reliable Ford F-53 chassis and 320 HP V-10 gas engine. And at just 34', a full 10' feet shorter than our Tiffin Allegro Bus diesel pusher (see below), and just two feet longer than our recent Class C Forester motorhome, this one is the perfect balance, full comfort with a roomy full body slide, and opposing bedroom slide which features a memory foam king size bed, yet easy to drive even for Libby at the helm!

The vehicle you tow behind your motorhome is often referred to as a "dinghy" or "toad". Our original dinghy on our cross country odyssey was a 2009 Chevrolet Suburban LTZ 4WD. We replaced that with a newer vehicle in 2018, a pristine used 2016 Dodge Durango R/T. The R/T with its legendary 360 horsepower hemi V-8 engine is excellent for towing our boat and great for use as a dinghy because it has the same 2 speed transfer case as the Suburban, meaning the rear wheels can be set to free wheel under tow. In 2023 we upgraded our 2016 Durango with a brand nws 2023 Dodge Durango R/T in Chrysler Motors' stunning "white knuckle" paint. But we are getting a little ahead of ourselves...

First, a bit of history...

In 2017 we sold our beautiful Tiffin Allegro Bus, a 43' luxury diesel pusher (right). If you would like to go back and see this splendid Class A Motorcoach, I have left the Windseeker III Allegro Bus homepage on the site. We had a grand time traveling all around the US seeing and sailing the far reaches of this great country. After a brief hiatus of about 14 months, we decided to wade back into the waters, first with a new Forest River Class C motorhome, and ultimately with the new Miramar. We don't plan to take long extended tours as we did in the Bus... just some favorite spots around the western US like Fernridge Reservoir in Oregon. There's also Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, and the magnificent Flathead Lake in Montana. We also planned non sailing trips to national parks, as well as road trips towing our car hauler trailer with my MGB onboard.

For seven years, from 2010 to 2016, we owned several different RV's, visiting lakes first in 2010 and 2011 with our compact Lance truck camper, and then in 2012 with our Gulf Stream Bounty Hunter, a unique 40' Motor Coach, also shown at the right. This Class A Motorhome was also a motorized toyhauler, and featured a unique 12' garage bay in the back. This way we were able to carry the perfect companion vehicle for this venture... a little Chevy Geo Tracker, the only 4WD car made which could fit snugly inside the garage bay of the coach, so we could carry it with us while towing our sailboat. With 4WD low range, the little Tracker could pull the Catalina up any boat launch ramp with ease. By all accounts, a pretty neat arrangement!

After six months touring in 2012 we enjoyed the lifestyle so much we decided to take it to the next level. Everything in life is a compromise and we knew that the Gulf Stream was the only option where we could travel in one vehicle, tow the boat and carry a 4WD car on board. A larger, more luxurious motorhome, ideal for extended travels, would mean we would have to drive a separate car. After much discussion, we decided it was worth the tradeoff, and we sold the Gulf Stream and purchased a 2008 Country Coach Inspire 360 43' special "Founders Edition". Although we later sold it and traded up to the new Allegro Bus, we have kept a gallery on this beauty as well as the original brochure which lists all the great features of this mega coach. Someone who saw the coach suggested it warranted having its own zipcode!

After a year and a half of touring in the Country Coach, we just couldn't pass up a golden opportunity in March 2014 to trade up to my dream coach, a Tiffin Allegro Bus 43QRP with four slides, a spacious kingsize bedroom, larger kitchen, fridge, and bath, designed for full time RVing with a commensurate level of quality, comfort, convenience and luxury. And either I towed our Catalina sailboat with the bus, while Libby drove the SUV, or she could tow the boat. Either way, this gave us a more comfortable daily driver for local touring wherever we go, and one that could also comfortably tow the sailboat anywhere we wanted to go. And since most of the hops on our planned 2014, 15 & 16 itineraries were only a few hours apart, the issue of driving two vehicles was relatively small. We could also take non-boating side trips towing the right car.

In the fall of 2011 we took Windseeker I, the Bounty Hunter, on her initial shakedown cruise to Clear Lake, CA with sailboat in tow. In the spring of 2012 we continued our adventures, setting out to explore the great Pacific Northwest, starting with a month at Fernridge Reservoir in Oregon. From there we went on to Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, Flathead Lake in Montana, and Lake Okanagan in B.C., before returning to Hayden Island Marina in Portland OR for the fall sailing season on the Columbia River. We spent about a month in each place, but always remained flexible, never knowing where the wind might blow us! Therein lies the real adventure.

2013 was our year of touring with Windseeker II, the Country Coach. Towing our Suburban we headed south for the winter with our two indefatigable Westies. We slipped out of Oregon through the mountain passes in January down through California and Arizona for several months on our 2013 itinerary. In spring we drove north again to pick up the sailboat from storage and spent a month sailing Clear Lake CA once again before heading up the Oregon coast (right) to spend another summer at two of our favorite northwestern lakes, Fern Ridge, and Coeur d'Alene. We had to cut short our trip and skip Flathead Lake, because we got word we had a buyer for our home. So we headed back to Oregon to start packing. After moving into our new home, we decided to trade up to the Windseeker III, the new Allegro Bus, and returned to sail all three NW lakes in the summer of 2014 as part of another shakedown cruise.

In late 2014 we had our boat transported the 3500 miles to Florida while we headed across country in the Allegro Bus towing our car to winter at Lake Monroe, Florida near family. Flying home for occasional breaks, our 2015 itinerary took us up the east coast with stops in Savannah GA, Charleston & Lake Murray SC, and on to Lake George NY, and the St. Lawrence Seaway's Thousand Islands. Heading back down to Florida for another winter, we made stops in Long Island, NY, Philadelphia, Asheville, NC and more. Our 2016 itinerary took us back to the Thousand Islands for the summer, as well as Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay in Ontario. With the aid of Active Captain's Interactive Cruising Guidebook, we traveled in our magnificent Allegro Bus along with Corey, our intrepid Westie for several years exploring other new lakes from coast to coast.

After concluding our extended USA Grand Tour in the splendid Tiffin Allegro Bus, we returned home at Thanksgiving 2016, sold the bus, and decided to spend a year at home enjoying spring and summer in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. But in early 2018, the bug bit us once again, and we decided to buy a new Forest River motorhome... first a 2018 Sunseeker, then trading up to this slightly larger new 2019 Forester 3041DSF (right), with the idea of continuing our adventures to distant locales, national parks, and warm winter destinations with our Dodge Durango in tow. In January 2021 we sold the Forester, and in May we upgraded our rolling stock to the beautiful 34' Thor Miramar MotorCoach with the same gameplan in mind.

After spending the summer of 2019 in Eugene, OR and sailing Fern Ridge Lake once again, we added a major new toy to our arsenal to serve as our summer sailing headquarters in the coming years, a gorgeous new 2019 Keystone Avalanche 382FL. This RV is called a 5th Wheel, meant to be towed by a pickup truck. At this time we do not own a pickup, so we had it positioned at a lakefront RV Park in Eugene, Oregon. Then in late summer 2020 we upgraded the Avalanche to this luxury Vanleigh Vilano 375 FL (see floorplan right). You can read details on why we made this upgrade. See the new large format Vanleigh Vilano photo gallery for dozens of large photos inside and out.

We now have the best of both worlds, a beautiful Class A Thor Miramar MotorCoach for travel on the open road... and the beautiful Vilano which will serve as our summer sailing headquarters at Fern Ridge Lake. From our RV, I can now look out my kitchen window, or from our wood deck alongside the coach while sipping my morning coffee or an afternoon brewski and see exactly what the wind is doing! I can watch other sailboats out on the lake and see how they are moving. This has always been the ideal arrangement I have sought since we started sailing the Catalina. For more about our RV fleet, check out the 2018 Vilano full color brochure and the 2019 Thor Miramar factory brochure.

In summer 2023 we decided to add a new sports car to our stable, a silver Ford Mustang GT Premium Convertible. Not only do I fit in the Mustang well, it has a backseat so the dogs can go with us on our adventures. The top goes up and down in a flash with the push of a button, and of course the car has a full factory warranty which we extended out to 2028 with the Ford ESP warranty. We'll keep it with us in the summer down at Fern Ridge Lake near Eugene, OR and supplement our sailing adventures with some fun local top down adventures over to the Oregon coast or into the mountains. For more, please visit my special Mustang photo gallery.

We've felt most fortunate to have the time, health, ability and funds to live the dream. Traveling in our modest truck camper, our king size Gulf Stream Bounty Hunter, our magnificent Country Coach, and the splendid Tiffin Allegro Bus, we met many retired folks living in their motorhomes full-time as they travel around this great country. The lure of this joyous nomadic lifestyle was irresistible. Besides exploring all the wonderful lakes, we've enjoyed discovering many new places and the incredible beauty this country has to offer. In our new Thor Miramar, we'll continue to travel in comfort as we follow the lure of the open road. We'll travel in the spring and fall and spend summers hanging out at Fern Ridge Lake in our Vilano 5th Wheel and go sailing! It has all been an opportunity we simply could not pass up. Let the good times roll!