“RHODA”, our 2000 Roadtrek 170 Popular has been our home for 13 months of cross-country and Canadian travel, and several week-long West Coast road trips. We love that this small Canadian motor home was small enough to park in all standard city-marked parking spaces, even with 2 bikes and a tire mounted on the back, bringing it to 19 ft length. It also provided good mileage, many of the creature comforts you miss when tent camping, and was easy to drive. It became our only vehicle, small enough for around town use also. We would put a halo around her in the photo if we could, instead she just gets a sacred setting in a show of appreciation for all the great miles she gave us.
However, the bed was just too darn small for a 6 ft.+ tall guy, and a 5’5″ gal. Our enthusiasm for heading out in April 2014 for a 6 month road trip to Western Canada and Alaska was tempered by a horrible case of…. “BED DREAD”. The solution? Buy another Roadtrek, only 8 inches longer and reconfigured with a Queen size bed. The Roadtrek we wanted was only made in 2007: a 5 cylinder Mercedes Benz diesel engine for 23 mpg highway driving, only 8 inches longer than “RHODA”, and a foot taller so Steven could stand at full height.
We are pleased to introduce “DEE-DEE” (our first diesel vehicle), our new 2007 Roadtrek Agile SS. We saw this model being made when we visited the Roadtrek factory in Canada last year so we knew just what we wanted. This 2007 rig is very hard to find as the Agile SS (for ‘short Sprinter’) in later years got bigger engines and longer chassis. Miraculously, we found it the first night we looked, in our price range, only 24,000 miles on the odometer, well cared for, and in Washington State.
We jumped on it, and were rewarded with the vehicle of our dreams. How sweet it is! Dee-Dee is one grand ride…and a great bed! We are so-o-o-o happy that the ‘Vancouver Gals’ (sellers) and our ‘Portland Gals’ (pals/provisioners) and Sal’s mom (interim loan provider) allowed us to move quickly to complete the transaction in just a few days, before someone else snatched Dee-Dee out of our hands. With brisk action on our Craigslist ad for Rhoda, we quickly sold her to the “San Francisco Gals”, but she is garaged just a mile away in Berkeley so we can still visit.
To test out Dee Dee, the 2007 Roadtrek, we quickly headed out for a one week road trip to the Central California Coast. She did not disappoint: more and bigger windows, 23 mpg, easy parking, and a big comfy bed as promised! She even provides several things we don’t have at home: a convection oven (crispy thin sliced pizza, really fast, yippee!), TV, a fancy adjustable roof antenna, a bigger refrigerator, and a moveable electric sofa/bed that adjusts to all positions like a hospital bed. After long hikes in the Nicene Marks Redwood Forest, we were only too happy to sit on our be-hinds watching the Winter Olympics so we could test the sound system, TV and antenna, and all the different bed/chaise lounge/sofa positions. Yes…it will definitely do. We will depart in late April for Inuvik, Northwest Territory, Canada, near the Arctic Ocean, arriving in early July (after 3500 miles on paved, and the final 481 miles on gravel roads) in time for the Great Northern Arts Festival. Wanna meet up in the Arctic this summer, in the Land of the Midnight Sun?
