Holy Hymer . . .

Holy Hymer – I just signed on the dotted line – apparently I’m one of a hand full of owners – “early adopter” is what they called it – not sure if I’m elated or terrified . . .

But let’s back up a bit, I’ve been daydreaming about some grand adventure for quite some time – and this mild obsession with RV’s has taken me down several paths from travel trailer to class c and finally to class b (you can read about some of these options here) . . . which spanned several years.

By 2015 I was fixated on a travel trailer (small, manageable, affordable) and then at one of the RV shows in the corner of my eye I saw a small van like thing called a Grand Canyon – I was smitten by the possibilities and intrigued by it’s unique styling . . . hmmm another rabbit hole . . .

A year later I was excited to see another version of this class B under the name of Aktiv – long conversations made it clear that although it was being shown, it still was not available for sale, distributors where not in place and many phone calls later I felt like it’s appearance was just a tease.

I turned my attention to class B research and spent a year comparing many MANY many models, had endless pro’s and con’s lists for them and yet I kept finding myself wanting to take bits of this one and bits of that one and merge things together for my perfect vehicle. If I had time on my hands I would have liked to build my own, but prudence prevailed and as that notion vanished into thin air, I looked into having a custom unit built to my specs but my pocket book was another reality I had to come to terms with.

So this week when the 2017 Florida Supershow rolled around I was pretty well armed with info. . .

– I had already looked at and test driven the models I had narrowed it down to. The Winnebago Travato was appealing for many reasons, but a little too long and a little too low for me (I was hoping to see their new sporty prototype on the short 4×4 chassis but it wasn’t at the show), and the Roadtrek Agile, while the right length was on a Sprinter chassis and I didn’t want that, so it left me with the Roadtrek SRT, which I had test driven and liked . . .

but I was still haunted by the memory of the Aktiv and hopeful by the prospect of it’s rebirth within the Roadtrek factory.

I bounded into the show and went straight to the Hymer pavilion and there it stood, gleaming in the rising sun and calling my name – I was lucky, it was early and nobody else was there so I got to really poke around, luckier still because a couple of Hymer reps where there and we traded detailed info about the technical abilities of the Aktiv. I should note that a sibling unit was also on display – the Sonne, on an even shorter chassis ( I recognized that this was a new take of the Roadtrek Link model that debuted last year ) and I found the layout really intriguing, but I wanted the technology of the Aktiv and when we priced out the Sonne with the same power variables it turned out the Aktiv was a better deal.

And that brings us to this moment . . . Holy Hymer I just signed on the dotted line . . . gulp!  [grin]