Our Bird "Bird Brains"

Underground Storage & 04 Rokon 2x2 Trailerbraker 2 wheel drive trail bike

When we purchased our new to us 1988 Bluebird Wanderlodge, we were lucky. The previous owner had spent several thousand dollars getting it trip ready, they took one trip & parked it in the garage. It never came out until our purchase. We were extremely happy to be able to find a gracious bird with low miles 82K and at a price we could afford. Our coach is powered by a Caterpillar 3208 300HP turbo mated to a 5sp ZF transmission, the bus will sleep 4, and has an on board 8KW Onan generator providing our power needs. The bird has all the aminities of home, full bath, gas cook top, convection microwave oven and a Dometic fridg. Our bird has been run well above the legal limits for speed for hundreds of miles but it purrs like a kitten around 63 MPH and that is where we usually run her. What we have discovered and most bluebird owners will tell you is that the average motor home buyer would rather spend 10's of thousands more for a new or much newer staple & sticks RV then spend less money for a ground up, all steel construction, older bluebird motor coach. This is where the others go wrong, Bluebirds are built tough, and with roughly less then 5000 bluebirds built they were built to last. We know of 25 - 35 year old bluebirds on the road providing quality service to their owners but can you say that about Winnebago, nope or not really. Our bird is pretty much original, the original interior; we've replaced 4 tires, we bought 12R - 22.5 Michelin XZE all-position radials, we replaced the on board - fresh water pump, both the power converter and the inverter. We changed all the old fluids & filters in the drive train from front to rear, washed, waxed the bus and have lubed the chassis. We had to have the rear wheel seals replaced this year due to bad advice from a truck shop service tech from a previous visit - last year, so we also had to have new brake shoes installed on the rear - this year. That pretty much sums up our investment in our motor coach. Since our ownership we have logged over 16K in 2 years and had one incident when we had to have the fuel pump replaced. While we were at that we had it relocated to a more convenient location on the bus chassis and had a spin off fuel filter installed in line with the Racor filter. On average our annual upkeep of the bird has been around 1500 per year. That does not include fuel expenses, storage fees, tags and insurance. During the summer we keep it in publc storage under cover & during the winter months we store it underground with temps averaging around 60 degrees, this way we don't ever have to winterize our coach and it is ready to hit the road with a few hours notice. MPH well above the legal limits, MPG well that's a secret between us and OPEC, no just kidding our milage is between 8 - 10 mpg and much better then one would think for a 32K pound vehicle running above legal limits and only stopping for fuel once every 1800 miles or so. Why Wanderlodge, Why Not? American made, 100% metal body construction, towing capacity of 10K, sleeps & feeds 4 or more when needed, and is the only motorhome on the market which has a US Government Roll-Over Safety Rating. Made by the same folks who built the Blue Bird School Bus your kids went to school in. That's why.