COMMENT
Traveling has always been a thrill for us. We both traveled a lot for our work that took us to other countries. Now that we are retired, we want to see the united States. Its a big country with a lot of variety and we have been enjoying it every year since we retired. We started out with a small Toyota Itasca and migrated up to a Class 'A' motor coach by Gulfstream. On the way enjoyed an American made Dodge 2004, Dually, Long Bed, Quad Cab, Cummings Diesel w/Bank's Power Pack Enhancements that effortlessly pulled a 28' Artic Fox 5th Wheeler. I understand this wasn't the most efficient investment process but we were tired of waiting for things, life was moving on with or without us. We figured the time was NOW!!!
Sure loved the setup. The truck rode better than a cadillac (yes, I've ridden in several cadillacs in my time) and the fith wheeler was cozy and easy to haul.
What's New!
We bought this in 1997!
Traded in a perfectly good motorcycle for it (less than 3,000mi on the bike). This was our first RV. It was a very stable, sturdy vehicle that got about 17mpg and had no problems reaching highway speeds. This was a fun vehicle for short beach or park trips as it brought with it all the comforts of tiny home. The only real problem was that we had to take the whole thing with us just to run down the street to the grocery store or whatever. We had to rethink this . . .
- We needed a rest stop! -
We had purchased a screen porch for the Itasca that year. It gave us (and the kids) some more room when camp was set up. However, it took us an hour to set everything up and I soon realized that this wasn't idel when we needed to take off for a few minutes/hours/whatever. To see the park you had to drive yourself around to any the points of interest.
Choices are very limited when carrying your house on your back!
Bought this 'Bad Boy' in Sept 2003
- after touring Yosemite National park with the Itasca above.-
We were fortunate to meet some folks from South Carolina who owned a Class 'A' coach and pulled a jeep behind them. They came into camp with some brake problems and I helped them fix the problem long enough to get to them to a repair facility. They were grateful and, in turn, asked us to join them to tour the expanse of the park the next day. It was a great experience and I realized that our camping days would never be the same. We were on our way home from this five week adventure and decided to stop off at an RV sales site up by San Francisco. That was all it took. We decided to purchase a 5th wheeler. That made sense.... we could park our home and then go off in the truck and see the sites. The Artic Fox was well insulated for the safety of the kids while we were out. The truck was beautiful, rode like a Cadillac and got as good a gas mileage as the Toyota. We certainly had more room in the Artic Fox and I was able to get us parked and set up in 15 minutes. Life was good and just got better....... for awhile! By the way, parking a 1 ton dually in a parking lot full of tourists isn't easy - neither is going to a grocery store for bare essentials - I'm longer and wider than anyone else. Sure looks good tooling down the freeway though.
Bought this in May 2004
While visiting Michele's brother in NAPA. unfortunately, they were having a yard sale at the fairgrounds and I thought it would be nice to take a look.....Michele didn't agree but she's usually pretty good about going anywhere with me if it means getting me out from in front of the TV.
Well, they had a factory rep there sitting in a Gulfstream. I walked in, made a few comments about how nice a rig it was and the next thing I knew I was driving down the 2 way, single lane streets of downtown NAPA. Scared I was going to hit something or somebody any minute. All I remember was the rep and the sales person complementing me on how natural I looked driving this thing and boy I must have driven these before.... NOT! Anyhow, we got back to the fairgrounds and I was flying high, I made them a ridiculous offer that I felt pretty safe wasn't going to fly, calmed my wife down to a gentle roar and then sat back expecting to be told .... sorry, no deal.
It took us 5 hours to unpack the 5th wheeler and transfer everything to the coach that night (didn't realize how much stuff we had collected over the three month adventure that was winding down - yeah, this was supposed to be our last stop before heading home).
Come on now, I save on fuel every time I pull into a campsite and then take off to see the sites in my wife's 2005 Toyota Prius (50 mpg average). It's a good thing!!! I can park that car anywhere and it turns on a dime. Life's good and it just got better. We continued to tool around the country, sometimes at three month stretches. It's fun and we look forward to it twice a year.