Holiday Rambler has Paloma Picasso specifying fabrics for their high-line coaches. And I think they look fabulous, darling, really I do, even though my own, personal fashion sense runs more toward Cabela’s and Gander Mountain (L.L. Bean for formal wear.) So when I found that the Endeavor Diesel triple-slide motorhome I would be testing had an interior by…Martha Stewart!…I thought Holidays was in for a major culture clash.

Not that I don’t like Martha. In fact, I’m practically married to her. My wife is tall, striking, forceful, creative, hyperactive, overachieving, meticulous, perfectionist and Polish, all traits she shares with Ms. Stewart. However, Leigh applies these traits mostly to business. Our house is relatively free of frou-frou and I feel quite at home in it.

To my pleasure, that’s how I felt about the Endeavor 38PBT Holiday Rambler provided me recently. So much so, I even found myself in a mood for a little cooking and seasonal decorating as you can see in the accompanying photos.

Ms. Stewart and the Holiday Rambler designers have done a great job of combining traditional design motifs and twenty-first century motorhome chic. My coach, which was in tan, had three basic upholstery fabrics. One was an ornate jacquard with subtle color variations, used on the sofa. Another was a subtle woven fabric on the standard barrel chair, although my coach had the optional leather recliner. Both fabrics are used on the tasteful window treatments. The dinette chairs are upholstered in a diamond crosshatch pattern with graceful woodwork in an understated nineteenth-century design.

In short, Martha has conjured up a Victorian design theme without any of the fussy garishness that’s typical of Victoriana. The subtly is perfect here, because, while stately Victorian homes have large, high-ceiling rooms that make room for busy patterns and strong colors, these design elements can cause aesthetic claustrophobia in more confined spaces. And this is, after all, a motorhome, where designers need to add a sense of expansiveness.

And so they have. Not to mention what the engineers have done. My test unit was the new 38PBT floorplan, a triple slideout model that’s going to be terrific for entertaining or for two-person travel.

Room for living
The triple-slide makes for a great, wide-open living and dining area. The road-side slideout contains the sofa (my coach had a nifty electric sofa footrest) and free-standing dinette. Curbside, the kitchen slideout makes great use of space, with the sink at an angle and a flip-up counter extension. Counters are stone-like solid surface. The standard unit has a nice pantry, although my coach had the wider, four-door fridge instead. Both slideouts are flush-floor, and the coach is quite livable and functional with the slideouts in, a handy feature when you make a short lunch stop at a rest area.

The controls for the forward slideouts are included in a new central systems panel that includes all the traditional monitor panel items, water pump switch and other items.
Cabinets are all hardwood with rectangular raised panels. As usual, Holiday Rambler has given you cabinet space everywhere possible, including a neat pantry/liquor cabinet on the aft wall of the kitchen.

The widest expanse of open space in the triple-slide floorplan is between the dinette and the kitchen. That’s a boon in this high-traffic area — there’s actually space for guests to stand or mill about without interfering with the cook or blocking the path to the hors d’oeuvres.

The comfortable swivel rocker sits between the cab and the kitchen, with a fold-up party table between the rocker and the cab passenger seat. By turning the cab seats to face the salon, and with the two extra folding dinette chairs, you have seating to entertain a party of 10.

That party would be well entertained, too. The coach was fitted with a digital satellite system, a Sony home theater system with DVD and a 10-CD changer, all options, plus the standard package of Sony stereo radio, a VCR, and two stereo TVs — a 25-inch model front and center and a 19-incher in the bedroom. There are speakers throughout the coach, and you can turn the stereo off from the bedroom.

Luxury & function in bed and bath
The bath is roomy and luxurious. The angled shower stall has a seat and detachable sprayer. In the private water closet is a large sink with ample counter space (all solid surface) a medicine cabinet and storage in the vanity. There’s a second solid surface integrated sink in the forward corner of the bedroom, equally large and with its own medicine cabinet — a feature that adds to this coach’s attractiveness to traveling couples.

There’s a small shirt closet with four drawers on the curb side of the bath area and a large one opposite. If you want a washer/dryer unit, it goes in the bedroom under the TV, so you get to keep both the bathroom closets.

The bedroom slides out on the road side and features a nice dresser at the foot of the bed. On the aft wall you’ll find a big, deep closet behind mirrored sliding doors, plus another shirt-closet and drawer unit in the corner. The main closet even features a good-sized cubbyhole that makes use of the space behind the TV. There’s a good deal of well-finished storage under the bed.

The coach has day-night shades throughout with black-out shades in the bedroom, to help you enjoy a nap in the middle of the day. The lighting package includes romantic fader-controlled indirect lighting under all the overhead cabinets.

OK, folks, while they’re ooh-ing and aah-ing over all the Martha stuff, check out the cab!
Sitting in the leather-upholstered six-way power seats is like settling into your favorite recliner. With the tilt-telescope wheel and power-adjustable pedals you’ll find the perfect driving position. The passenger side seat was an optional extra-wide one with a footrest. There’s a slideout work station on the passenger side of the dash with power and phone jacks for your computer below the dash. They’ve also added a power outlet and phone jack at the dinette.

The redesigned front cap has a huge two-piece windshield that affords an incredible view. And a new burled-wood dash panel has big gauges that are easy to read through the 18-inch steering wheel.

The entry steps are now easy-maintenance rubber, instead of carpeted, with a tool storage area concealed under the top one. A pneumatic-powered step well cover adds comfort and safety for the passenger.

Road manners
I don’t know if they let Martha Stewart drive an Endeavor as part of her consultation, but if they did, I’m sure the coach’s fastidious road manners pleased her.
Holiday Rambler has installed larger air bags in the front suspension this year and you can feel an improvement in the ride. The rig is as stable as ever. When I hit the freeway off-ramp, braking and turning pretty hard, she cornered as flat and smooth as you could ask for.

Power is a Cummins ISC 330-horse turbo diesel. While drag racing any Porsches will cost you your pink slip (that’s the title, Martha), the coach has plenty of power where you need it most, in the passing range. You can hardly feel the Allison six-speed as it runs up and down the gears. The air brakes give you great stopping power, and a standard exhaust PacBrake helps out on long downhills.

Cool new outside guy stuff
Holiday Rambler has added several great features to the outside of the 2002 Endeavor.
The new baggage doors have powerful gas struts, so that they swing up and down easily. And they latch with the pleasing, solid "chunk" you hear on the passenger doors of luxury cars.
The main storage compartments are polyethylene lined, so you can clean them out with a hose. The forward compartment had an optional sliding tray that makes it easy to stow and retrieve heavy objects from either side of the coach. The door-side rear trunk is larger, and also polyethylene-lined.

Endeavor now has dual fuel fillers, so you can pull your rig and whatever you’re towing up to either side of a gas-pump island. (I’d probably choose a motorhome on this feature alone.)
Other great outdoor things: terrific new painted graphics, sleek new front and rear caps, a folding entry-step assist handle, halogen headlights, a larger picture window, and a heated central water system with city and gravity water fill and a shower.

Well, I had a fine time in my Endeavor Diesel with interior by Martha Stewart, and despite this brief diversion, I think I’ll leave the artsy-craftsy and culinary pursuits to her and get back to fishing and tying flies. Which, now that I write that sentence, leaves me with an unsettling thought: Martha will never, never have to worry about me outdoing her at any of her notable domestic skills — but I’ll bet she could learn in an afternoon to tie flies that’d make me hang my head in shame and bring five bucks apiece at an Orvis shop.

Let’s not give her any ideas.

Dave Bessmer is a freelance writer living in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. he has spent 25 years in or around the RV business. He has authorized several features for Holidays magazine.