How much do Larry and Becki Vassar love the RV lifestyle? Put it this way: on a scale of 1-10, the Arkansas couple registers a 12 – that being the number of motorhomes they’ve owned over the past (40 years.)
As you may have guessed, their 12th is an Emerald – a brand new 2020 H3-45 quad slide edition to be exact. It’s the fourth Prevost they’ve owned, which tells you something about how sold they are on the bus platform over conventional RVs.
“We were in the trucking business, and at one point had a bus contract with several minor league baseball teams,” Becki explains. “Over time we developed an understanding of how dependable buses were, and how well they handled on the road. That’s something Larry always wanted in a motorhome.”
So the move to Prevost was a natural one. After brief experiences with a used single-slide Marathon followed by an early Outlaw Conversions model (“one of the prettiest buses we ever had”), they bought one of the first Emeralds, a (2015) X3-45 double slide.
“I called it ‘my condo’ because we were downsizing at the time,” Becki laughs. “But we loved it. I really like how Emerald’s coaches are laid out, especially the booth set-up. And they do a great job in providing a lot of storage, both inside and below the coach. You can never have enough storage, especially when you’re on the road as much as we are.”
Becki is even more enthusiastic about their new H3-45, starting with the extra space afforded by the quad-slide plan. “I love the bath-and-a-half configuration, with the big bath and shower in the rear,” she says. “The décor is beautiful – I really like the dark cabinetry – and the composite floor is very durable, which we need to accommodate our two dogs.”
The coach is perfect for the Vassars’ retirement lifestyle, which is, as you might expect, exceptionally RV-centered. For most of the year, the couple resides at their home in Sherwood, Arkansas, a suburb of Little Rock, where they split their time between golf, the occasional road trip, and come fall, a full schedule of college football tailgating with the “Arkansas Razorback Road Hogs.” In January, they head south for a few months of Florida sunshine at their winter home in the Gulf Coast community of Destin, using the coach for short trips around the state.
With a schedule like that, it’s easy to see why the Vassars value their coach’s dependability as highly as its luxury. Not to mention Emerald service, which Becki says is second to none.
“Gus (Garrison, Emerald’s service manager) is absolutely wonderful,” she says. “He’s worked with us on every Prevost we’ve owned. There’s no question, he’s one of the reasons we keep coming back to Emerald.” Coming from an RV warrior as experienced as Becki Vassar, that’s about the best endorsement we could ever ask for.