I know I'm kind of jumping the gun here a little...  I tend to overthink things and plan out too far in advance.  Then again, if we're blessed with a quick sale (house listed today), it won't be that far out...

I have my eye on what seems to be a great 5'er + truck combo but it's located about 3000 miles away (I'm in NJ, the rig is in SoCal).  Since it's used, I want to have an inspection done by a certified RVIA inspector (btw, can they also inspect a Ford F-350 or does that have to be done separately by an auto mechanic who specializes in diesels?)

Anyway, my question is whether I personally need to be present for the inspection?  My concern is that airfare is not cheap and if it turns out that something is wrong and the sale doesn't go through, I'd still be out a few thousand $ just to get out there.  My thoughts were perhaps to find a fellow Dreamer who lives or is camping near there at the time and pay them a few $ to go on our behalf.  Maybe even communicate with us live via Skype.

Do you think that's a good plan, or should I just take the risk and lose the airfare as a worst case scenario?  Oh, that would also have to include transporting my 3 cats on the plane, as I still haven't found them a new home, and I don't have anyone who could keep them while we're gone for a month or more (the plan, if we buy the rig, would be to stay out there for about a week learning to drive it,  getting used to it, possibly doing the add-ons there (like a generator and/or solar panels, although that could possibly wait as we probably won't be boondocking right away), then driving to FL where we'll visit some relatives and do all the paperwork needed to establish our domicile (including registering the vehicles and getting our new drivers licenses).