Keystone Cougar 22 MLSWE

After selling Cooper, our Winnebago Micro Minnie, Karen and I began our search for our next trailer, which should also be our last trailer.  We narrowed it down to a Cougar Keystone 22 MLSWE.  We love the floorplan!  It features a forward facing, walk-around bed, a larger bathroom and side-by-side recliners, a dinette, and a 400 watt solar package.

On March 1st, we traveled to Ellensburg to look at a used 2023 version, that the owner said had only been used once.  It was pristine and still smelled brand new inside.

However, his price at $35,500 was a little more than we wanted to spend, even though it included an 84 month extended warranty.  We couldn't verify what the warranty included or excluded.

They still had a loan on it, and needed to get a certain price to pay off the loan.  Plus, because of the loan, that complicated the sale.  We couldn't pay them directly, but would've had to be sure their loan was paid off first, before getting full title.

So, on Friday, March 7th, we traveled to Bend, OR where a private owner named Tim was selling the exact same 2023 model.  He said that it was only used twice and that they sometimes used it for an extra bedroom.

It had a ton of add-ons and extra features, valued at $3000 - $4000 that the first trailer didn't have, including:

• A Back-up Camera
• A Slide Topper
• An exterior coating called Duratain, which is supposed to last 30 years without the need to wax it
• A heavy duty hitch system that included a tongue weight gauge

We made an offer of $34,000 and it was accepted. Yeah!

He patiently showed us how to work everything and helped us hitch up for our return trip.

Because Bend is six plus hours away (it took us 8 hours), we spent the night at a Harvest Host location called "Over the Edge Taphouse" in Crooked River Ranch, Oregon, about an hour north of where we bought the trailer.

We drove home on Saturday, March 8th, leaving our Harvest Host location at 7am and arriving home at 2:30pm.  The drive home went smoothly and seemed much shorter than the drive down.

The trailer is seven feet longer than our last one.  At 27 feet, I wondered if it would fit in our driveway, even though I had measured it several times.

Fortunately, with God as my co-pilot, I backed it in on the first try.  The truck was several feet out into the street, so we set up florescent orange cones and Karen became a flagger.  We got unhitched pretty quickly for it being the first time, and was very relieved, to say the least, that it actually fit nicely into our driveway.

Can't wait to get it set up for our first shake-down trip.  Where should we go?  Maybe Fort Casey?