Dan and Leonardbakers,
Thanks for your 3023 feedback.
All forum readers,
Today, we took the plunge and ordered a 2004 3023. We drove up north (from suburban Chicago) to Coloma, Wisconsin (an hour north of Madison), to Danny's Coloma Camperland RVs (
http://www.explorewisconsin.com/DannysColomaCamperland/).
We spent 3 hours with Dan and Michelle, thoroughly going over a 2720SL they had brought inside the shop for us to get acquainted with. I learned a lot. We also hitched it up to my Jeep Liberty to see how much she'd drop without a WD hitch. We measured about 2.5" of drop at the hitch and from the pictures I took, I'd say up to 2" of lift at the front of the truck. I will definitely be getting a WD hitch. Danny sells Reese and I am still researching WD hitches (Draw-tite, Reese, Equalizer etc.).
Anyway, Dan gave us a fair deal on ordering a new unit versus taking one from stock. Essentially, giving us his 2003 deal on the 2004 model. We've got 6 options on order: A/C, Awning, TV Antenna, Upper Cabinet, 2" Receiver Hitch (for bike rack) and Stove Cover.
New production is 7 to 8 weeks, so we're assuming a first of the year delivery.
We're pretty excited and I want to thank everyone who has posted on this forum. TM owners are pretty passionate about their TMs and I've received a lot of encouragement reading all of your posts and replies to my own posts. So thanks everyone and we'll be joining you as site sponsors right away.
Jim