First, the cost of our pull vehicle. A 2014 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 Mega Cab Limited. What all those things mean are cost, cost, cost! Even though the costs were higher than we would like to be, we had the peace of mind in knowing that we were covered under warranty (when we bought the truck, it was bumper-to-bumper until 36k miles) until 100k miles for the powertrain (engine, trans, drivetrain-related). This was a big deal for us as we had issues with our previous truck that ended up costing us thousands of dollars in repairs. Being that it was our only vehicle, reliability was a huge factor.
Second was our trailer. While we loved the space, storage, and high ceilings inside of the fifth wheel, it's ended up being less than ideal in terms of size. There are many places that we simply could not get to with a rig of that size. The length, height and weight limited our ability to get into many camping and boondocking spots. The amount of storage in the trailer was more than ample for our needs. Almost daily, we find that there are many things that we simply don't use and don't need anymore. The standing rule is that if we haven't used something in (at least) the past six months, it no longer has a home in the RV. This just makes good sense. The minimalist lifestyle we've chosen dictates that we hold needs over wants, with a few exceptions :)
Beauty and the Beast |
The third and final reason is the combination of the truck and the trailer. If either one is down for repairs, upgrades, etc, we're pretty much in a spot. If we don't have a pull vehicle, we can't move our home. If we don't have our home, we're relegated to a hotel (fun finding affordable ones when you have two giant dogs!), AirBNB, tent, or crashing with friends/family. None of these are ideal when you're used to being in your 'home' full time. So we had to come up with a solution.
The third wheel - something like a Toyota Sunrader |
We thought about a smaller fifth wheel, an Airstream, or a class A. Each class of RV has its own pros and cons that can be as individual as the people making the choice.
"Betty" |
After doing extensive online research and searching/scouring the country, we found a few we were interested in but would have to go to Texas, Arizona, or Oregon. Fortunately, we found one at Dick Gore's RV World in Jacksonville, Florida. On the way returning to Florida from Colorado in early April, we made a stop and viewed (what is now) our 2001 Country Coach Magna - "Betty". At 40', she's slightly longer than our 5th wheel, but overall about 100 sq ft less because we now have one 12" slide vs four 36" slides. In addition, with our planned toad (Toad = Towed Vehicle), we will be decreasing our overall length by about 6 ft. While this doesn't sound like a lot, we are gaining even more in versatility as our toad will be a fully capable 4x4 SUV.
Similar to what we plan to have as a "toad" |
Time will tell! :)
Did we get it right? Do you have experience or knowledge about this post? Please make yourself heard! Comment below and we will respond as soon as possible. As always, thanks for following us! Disclaimer: We are not paid writers. We write for enjoyment and to share information about our travels with our families, friends, and our followers. The information that we provide is based on our experiences with the products, services, etc, that we write about. It is 100% non-biased!
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