theboondork's RV blog

a new beginning

5/27/2019

My view of 11 mile reservoir with the 39 mile mountains in the background.

With any luck last night should be the last night I ever spend in a tent. Hey, I gave it a good shot, I slept in it a lot of times in various conditions and I think the only good thing I can say about it is it beats sleeping outside on the ground.

Tomorrow will start a whole new beginning to my mini-vacation concept when I start getting my truck ready to carry the Palomino Bronco around. I've done this before so it cant be to hard. I'm hoping I can even use the same holes I drilled the first time I put a popup truck camper on the truck. I bought the Happijac tie down system which is exactly what I had before so I believe it will be a simple bolt on operation.

For those of you that have towed a trailer around, and you know who you are, I think we can agree that there is a certain amount of stress involved. All those extra tires, bearings, brakes and other running gear. Along with the difficulty of getting in and out of gas stations and other tight places. The horror of having to back up ..... Well its a horror when I have to do it. That gut wrenching fear of accidentally going down a dead end road with no place to turn around, and you have to backup for three miles in the dark. those are stressful situations that are avoided camping in a light weight popup truck camper.

So since I've done both I would have to say that going camping in a small, easy to deal with RV is far more relaxing and stress free than dealing with a heavy, immense RV, but when it comes to full time living that humongous RV sure is comfortable and spacious. But having a small comfortable easy to handle RV available opens up a different world of places to go you would probably never attempt in a large RV.

theboondork

This is a tennis ball size cactus that grows in rocky areas on my property. They all had buds on them but they hadn't bloomed yet.

My view of the high country

Peeking out of my tent I took this picture of the last rays of the sun.

6 Comments

Barney Ward link

5/28/2019 03:42:21 pm

You have it exactly right about trailering as far as I am concerned. That is why once I learned of the rotten corner of the Castle I have been looking at smaller rigs. I definitely want a trailer over a motor home. The pickup camper is not a first choice for me, but definitely in the realm of possibility. I wonder what I will do?

Tom

5/28/2019 05:46:26 pm

One of the major problems with a pickup camper is to get a decent sized one capable of being lived in comfortably, takes a monster size truck to haul it around. And I really don't want to use a 1 ton Dooley as an everyday driver.

I think a Van has a lot going for it, especially for someone like you that has the experience to pare down to just the essential things you need to live with. I haven't reached that point yet, but I can see it on the horizon.

I think a trailer or a fifth wheel is the best way to full time, but its not necessarily the most stress free way of full timing, and stress-free has become very important to me. Simplicity is important, and simplifying your life is a great thing but I think it may not be the simplicity itself that brings happiness, it might be that simplicity brings less stress into your life and the reduction of stress may be the key to enjoying the freedom that full timing brings.

This would be a weird combination but for the way I live the best full timing rig might be a pickup truck with a slide in pop-up truck camper on the back towing a 25 foot trailer. I would have the pop-up camper to go running around and exploring, and the trailer to comfortably live in every day. I would probably look like the circus coming to town.

It's hard to figure out what to do, full timers are faced with a lot of options nowadays and there's as many ways to full time as there are full timers, and the only thing thats certain is every option will have good points and bad points so there's no perfect solution there's only the best compromise.

Tom

5/28/2019 07:48:06 pm

You are exactly correct about the streess in my opinion.

I have seen more than a few truck campers pulling smaller travel trailers in my life. It definitely has its merits.

I spent a good while today checking my stuff to see what would need to carry in the truck if I got smaller trailer. The back seat would not even be filled. I wish AF still made the 17 foot trailer that they had back in the early 2000's. It is going to be an interesting summer.

5/28/2019 09:14:35 pm

You do have the "stuff" under control better than most anyone else, which gives you a lot more options in what type of RV will suit your lifestyle best.

Maybe you could find a gently used Arctic Fox 17 foot trailer somewhere. I think the desert areas are a good place to find used RVs. There's a lot of them for sale, maybe some of them have hardly ever been in the rain, and if they have they've had plenty of time to dry out in the desert.

There's a lot of modern trailers that are built with aluminum frames and fiberglass walls so there's less wood in them to rot so maybe you could find another brand that would hold up to the rigors of a full-time lifestyle. But I think one of the problems will be most entry-level sized RVs are not rated for full-time living mostly because of the moisture produced while living in it.

But in general I would say figure out where you mostly want to be, doing what you enjoy the most, and pick an RV that best suits that lifestyle. And pick one that has some room for a couple of Grandkids, because pretty soon they'll be visiting you.

Tom

John link

5/28/2019 08:36:03 pm

I really like that last photo.

5/28/2019 09:16:51 pm

Thank you John, I really appreciate that.

Tom

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