Where has the time gone

Two years ago (04/04/11) we accepted an offer on our house, the final hurdle in our plans to live full-time in the RV.  Sitting here now it's hard to believe it's been a full 2 years since then. It seems so long and yet has flown by so quickly.

So what have we learned?  For starters, that we should only travel with 1 vehicle and trailer - you may remember we started off with 2 vehicles and 2 trailers: the pickup towing the 5th wheel trailer and the SUV towing the utility trailer.  While the utility trailer has been great for garaging the motorcycles, the financial strain having to buy fuel for both vehicles, as well as the physical strain with both of us having to drive identical trips was wearing on us.

One year after we started fulltiming, we decided to get rid of the SUV and to leave the utility trailer and motorcycles with friends while we traveled.  Nowadays we talk about getting a toyhauler to eliminate the necessity of leaving the motorcycles behind and free us from the utility trailer.  Based on what we've seen from various RV manufacturers, that plan is sometime in the future.

Another biggie we wish we had done from the get go was the air bag hitch in the truck for the trailer, thereby having much less bouncing between the rig as we drive down the road (we did swap to an air bag hitch after one year).  Also there's the desire for a rear bumper on the RV so we could put a bike rack on that instead of carrying the bikes strapped to the RV ladder.

We joined one discount RVing club when we first started camping, but would have joined another one sooner if we had really looked at how much we were going to travel.  Good Sam has been a good 10% discount at almost every RV park we've stayed at, but Passport America is even better at 50% off the regular price.  Granted the rules for Passport are more rigid and change from campground to campground (blackout days, # of days, specific sites, etc).  Still, any savings we can find while traveling are appreciated. Getting life memberships in these two clubs was smart also - we recouped those expenses within 1 month of travel.

When camped at an RV park with only 30 amps, we've quickly learned to NOT run the a/c and coffee pot and/or microwave all at the same time.  We've also learned to locate the breaker for our site within the campground if it's not right on our electric post.

Less obvious things we've learned: half the items we've packed in the RV are still "packed", we don't need / wear all the clothes we brought; there's not much room for personal decorations - what open wall space we have get covered when the slide rooms come in so nothing can be placed there permanently and hardly any shelves to display mementos; how to build a decent campfire (do not stack wood and kindling in a heavy pile, rather form a teepee shape), and with the fire, how to cook a decent frozen pizza over a campfire; you can never have enough pieces of wood in various lengths and thicknesses to use for leveling blocks. Pullthru RV sites are much easier to maneuver on than backins, and cement pads are better than sand or grass sites.

What got us going RVing.

The big countdown is on. After discussing this option for over 18 months, we've decided to give full-time RVing a go. We are C&J, a mild manner couple with 2 standard poodles. We'll be traveling about in our 5th wheel camper. Some of you may want to know a bit of our back story into RVing; this blog will cover some of that.

It all started about 5 years ago, we took a mini-vacation back to a romantic B&B. While there, we got talking with another couple who were also guests of the property and learned that he was a sales rep for A-Liner campers. We spent an afternoon discussing the units with them. On our return home, we decided to try camping for our own and located a dealer who rented units. We brought the rental A-Liner home and parked it in the backyard to give it a try. Our plan was 3 days in the yard and 3 more days at a local campground.

While in the A-Liner we quickly learned what features were important to us - a walk around bed, and coffee pot were the 2 we learned in the first 24 hours. The 3 days at home were fun and we headed down to the campground. About an hour after checking in the heavens opened and we had 2 days of continuous rain. Another item we realized was important to us was an awning. All in all, it was fun and the RVing bug had bit.

We started looking at used units on the web and saw a 21' travel trailer by Forest River. We checked it out and made an offer on the spot. Needless to say our offer was accepted and we now owned a trailer. I should point out that at this time we only had 1 dog, so space wasn't so much of an issue then.

We used the 21' TT a lot that summer and fall and realized we found an activity that both of us enjoyed. Over the winter a job opportunity opened up nearly 200 miles from home. It was just a seasonal 2 month position but housing was not included. Before even starting that assignment we realized that our little 21 footer might not be big enough for more than weekend use and started shopping.

In the spring we found our next unit, a 26' travel trailer with a single 18" deep slide made by Homestead. It worked out rather nicely, except we got the 2nd dog and needed room for a dog crate. Fortunately the unit had 2 recliners, so we put one in the basement of our home to give us the room needed for the crate.

The following year the seasonal job was expanded from 2 months to nearly 6 months and the decision to once again get a larger RV was made. This time we opted to go with a fifth wheel by Open Range. We purchased a 34' 5er with triple slides (full 36" depths). Opposing slides in the living / dining area gave us a spacious 15' width. We learned a lot with our 5th wheel and I'll cover some of those at a later date.

With the decision to go full-time in the RV, we once again decided that a different unit was warranted. We spent the winter researching our options and in March of this year placed an order for our "new home", Cameo by Carriage. Our dealer phoned us today to say production on the RV actually starts this week and it should be completed in a week. Then some general inspections, delivery and such and we could be 3 weeks away from taking possession.

The timing is coming together well for us as we close on the house the first week of May and our new trailer will be ready the second week. A week or two living in our "old" 5th wheel will cover us in the meantime. Looking forward to sharing more of our adventures (good and bad) as we travel the roads of life.