My response to Barney the old fat man's comment from yesterday

Roses are red, violets are blue, click all the pics, your good deeds accrue.

Tiny blue wildflowers.

Thank you, Barney, that's mighty kind of you to say. The load in your Arctic Fox is already the lightest load I've ever seen other than the backpackers that saw the handles off of their toothbrushes.

I remember you mentioning Casita trailers before, and they've certainly got enough room in them for one or two people since they're about the size of a van, so I've no doubt you could live comfortably in one of those. My only complaint about them was their lack of what I would call "real insulation."

You appear to be downsizing your possessions for possibly moving into a smaller RV one day; if so, we're both heading in the same direction. So once you've decided that simplifying your life by downsizing is the way to go, it's just a matter of what do you see your future life looking like? And what is the best way to achieve that?

As for me, I want to end up being able to boondock in more places comfortably; that's my goal. And I want to reach that goal by having an RV that will enable me to get to various boondocking areas with as little hassle and stress as possible.

Knowing that much already tells me that most RVs won't work efficiently for what I want to do. And the ones that will work I've narrowed down to small class C's, camper vans, and slide-in truck campers. Since better boondocking is my goal, small class C's and most camper vans don't have four-wheel-drive, at least not that I can afford. And even though having it is not imperative, it does come in handy every once in a while when stress-free boondocking is my goal.

Relatively new camper vans and small class C's are expensive. Vans are the hottest thing on the RV market right now, and their prices make that pretty obvious. Meanwhile, slide-in truck campers have gone up in price but not as much as other RVs, quite possibly because they don't have the status or cool factor that some other RVs have. So as far as RVs go, slide-in truck campers are still relatively inexpensive. And just like RVers themselves, the CONDITION of a truck camper is more important than its age, so used ones in decent shape are easier to find and more affordable.

So having made up my mind that I want to continue boondocking, and I want a better way of getting where I need to go, in my current situation, a slide-in truck camper seems to fit the lifestyle that I've been living, and I want to continue living in the future. Your decision may very well be different than mine, but no matter what it is, specific questions have to be asked, and it's hard to get an answer to a question when you're not sure what the question is.

So I would start by asking myself, what do I want my life to look like in the future? More or less RV park stays? More or less boondocking? Longer stays in fewer places? Shorter stays in different areas? Becoming a Snowbird and making reservations a year ahead of time? Or renting an apartment near the Grandkids and planting an herb garden.

Some of those things might require different RVs; for instance, my Arctic Fox would make a great Snowbird RV because it's big enough to feel like an apartment, and it would only move twice a year. And a camper van might be a much better choice for boondocking. Once you answer the question, what do I want my life to look like in the future? It should be relatively easy to then answer the question of...... What RV works best to achieve that goal?

I know you must like to pull a travel trailer, and you certainly have more backing skills than I have since what I have is not what I would call skills. But right now, in order to simplify my traveling life, I'm looking at any trailer as something that complicates my life. The hassles of hitching up properly to avoid the tail wagging the dog scenario. The extra tires, bearings, and brakes to buy or repair. The dreaded dead-end road, with no place to turn around predicament. Another tag to buy every year. And avoiding places that are too difficult to get a trailer into.

All of these things are adding up in my mind as things I had rather do without. Does a slide-in truck camper solve all my problems? No, it's got numerous issues of its own it brings to the party. But my current way of thinking is I had rather trade truck camper shortcomings for the ease and convenience of having just one vehicle to worry about.

When I first started full-timing, I wanted apartment-like comfort while I was camped; that's what meant the most to me at the time. But now my thinking has swung back the other way, and even though I still want to be comfortable while I'm camping, I now want to put more emphasis on ease of travel and the ability to get to more boondocking areas, which, the way things are going, may become imperative in the future.

So now I want to not only simplify my life by getting rid of stuff I don't need like you're doing, I want to simplify my way of traveling, and the thing that has the most significant detrimental impact on my traveling is, without a doubt the Arctic Fox in particular, and any trailer in general.

I love my Arctic Fox, and when I'm sitting someplace for several weeks, having the extra space is great; it's like living in an apartment. But I'm finding I tend to travel more than I thought I would initially because I enjoy being in different places. But towing the Arctic Fox takes a lot of the joy I get out of moving from place to place. And substitutes the happiness I feel when heading for a new area with the stress and worry of towing a trailer down the road.

 Part of that stress while traveling is because the Arctic Fox is, shall we say, somewhat large... Okay, it's a behemoth. But a large part of that stress of traveling is the fact that I'm towing; it doesn't matter how large or small the trailer is, it substantially increases all the things that can go wrong while toddling down life's highway.

 Now a smaller trailer will somewhat lessen your worries because you have fewer tires, fewer brakes, fewer shocks, but the hassle and stress of towing, parking, and finding a place that's the right size to camp or buy gas is still there.

On the other side of the equation, when I put the little Bronco on the back of the truck and head West on I-70 and watch the mountains fill my windshield, in just a few minutes, I forget that the little Bronco is there. I can drive at highway speeds, up and down the mountains, with almost the same fuel mileage as the empty truck. And with none of the worries of all the things that can go wrong while towing a trailer, most of all, I have far fewer concerns about finding a place to boondock without a trailer behind me.

I want that feeling all the time. And I think that a medium-size slide-in truck camper mounted on a four-wheel-drive diesel truck will stand the best chance of giving me that sense of freedom to boondock anywhere it's legal. The question is, can I long-term boondock as a full-timer in a medium-sized truck camper in comfort. I know I can vacation in one long-term because I've done it, but I don't know if I can full-time in one.... But I might just find out this winter.

                                       Theboondork            

A brand-new flower has bloomed in the garden, it's some kind of a Lily.

Baby Bunny munching on clover in the yard. I would prefer seeing a Deer or an Elk, but Deer and Elk aren't allowed in Denver without an emissions sticker..... It's a global warming thing.