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Choose Your Rv

Choosing Your RV.

The best advice I can give to someone who wants to do fulltime Rving is to attend a large RV show. These are usually held in the winter season in many cities. Rosemont Illinois and Tampa Florida are just two that come to mind. Get a RV magazine like “Camping Life” or “Trailer Life” and find one close to your home. You will also see advertisements about close out sales at different dealerships in your area. Remember that there are hundreds of different types of RVs out there. A dealership can have only so many. That is why a show is so good. There are many different dealerships and manufacturers. When we bought our 2002 Avion Platinum 33′ fifth wheel we had gone to the show in Rosemont Illinois near O’Hare Field. We knew what we wanted in a RV: two recliners and a bedroom which was higher than 6’2″ because that is my height. Those were our demands. We also wanted large storage space because both of us are pack rats. One of the first RVs we walked into was this Avion by Fleetwood. I never heard of it but knew of Fleetwood’s reputation for trailer construction. I had been in the trucking business for twenty years and Fleetwood made our fleet. Since then we have gone through a learning curve. We are still in love with the Avion. Others hate them because of the many problems they have occurred with them.

We spent the rest of the day looking at and sitting in RVs. Some had slanted roofs and wasted a lot of interior space. Some had short bedroom ceilings where I had to stoop over to get into bed: unacceptable. Some had space between the cabinets and the ceiling: a waste in my opinion. We must have looked at over fifty fifthwheel trailers. We settled on the Avion and got a good price because of the RV show. We would have even gotten a better one if we had driven it off the lot. We were not ready to start traveling for another four months. Today many manufacturers have adopted a flat roof and a high ceiling in the bedroom. There are more options out there. One other thing is price and budget. What can you afford? Even some fifthwheels can cost as much as six figures: not in our range.

That is our story. How about you? Each person has different tastes and needs. In choosing a RV for yourself you have to address these issues. Do I want to fix a meal while driving down the highway? Where do I want to explore? Do I want a resort with all of the amenities: pool club house activities etc.? Do I want to find a secluded beach or mountain lake? O how about all of the above?

Let us look at the different options in buying a RV. There are pros and cons for each one you consider.

First the Motor Home: Class A. The motor home is a selfcontained unit looking like a bus. They come in all sizes and with every comfort of home. Their cost will be less than 100000 to 1000000. There are some resorts that will accept only the highend motor homes as residents. Motor Homes have all of the creature comforts: captain chairs lot of interior and exterior storage space and the comfort that you can fix a meal while driving down the highway not the driver but the passenger. There is a story about someone driving down one of the lonely straight roads out West and wanted to fix lunch. He put the Motor Home on Cruise control and went back to fix lunch. Miles ahead was a turn in the road. He was still fixing lunch and ran off the road. Another plus for a Motor Home is security. I a worse case scenario where there are pirates who want to attack you all you have to do is get into the drivers seat and pull away leaving them empty handed. This does not happen too often.

The cons about a Motor home are that you have to have a tow vehicle. I have seen them as small as a Scout and as large as a full size Hummer. I have seen his and hers motorcycles. I have seen trailers with Corvettes inside or other sports car. Each person has his and her own lifestyle. You do not have to give it up to be a fulltime Rver. Remember that for each vehicle you need a license and insurance and mechanical upkeep.

Second the Travel Trailer TT. I have seen travel trailers the size of an egg less than ten feet to ones over forty feet with numerous slide outs. I have seen some that the roof collapses and travels behind the car or truck. They are becoming more popular. Airstream is a wellknown manufacturer. These are the silver bullet ones. Many people swear by them and have Airstream Travel Clubs. Travel trailers come in many sizes with a variety of slide outs and other amenities. One advantage is that you can use a car to pull some of them i.e. the lighter ones. The cons are swaying in the wind while driving down the road. Sway bars are available to diminish some of this. They are not as steady as Motor Homes or fifth wheels.

Third: Fifth wheels. These look like travel trailers but have a gooseneck extending in front over the bed of the pickup truck. They come in sizes from lt;26 feet to gt;45 feet. The longer the trailer the less option you will have of finding a suitable parking place. Our overall length is fifty feet: thirtythree for the trailer and seventeen for the dually pick up truck. We have white knuckled into a parking space many a time. Turning corners is another challenge. You need extra room to do so. Look at Semi drivers who have to make a sharp turn. These are professional drivers. Fifthwheels are wonderful to travel down the road. I forget that it is behind me. I remember when I have to brake change lands or come to a viaduct with a low clearance. Remember the height of your trailer. The cons are dropping and hooking. At our website I have a couple of checklists for exterior and interior dropping and hooking. These need to be adhered to or else you might be going down the road with the television antenna raised. It will not be like that for long. I know from experience.

Fourth: Class C Motor Homes. These are on a truck chassis and can range from lt;twenty feet to gt;thirty feet. Like Motor Homes you need a tow vehicle so you can travel while in a campground. I have seen some very nice Class C Motor Homes. They are very suitable for the single traveler male or female.

Fifth: truck bed drop ins. These are units that fit on the rear of a pick up truck. Lancer manufactures a very nice model which hangs over the rear of the truck. One advantage is that you can drop the unit and drive away in the truck. One con is the about of weight you put on the rear of the truck. Be careful about destabilizing the load.

Sixth: Class B Motor Homes. I have not seen too many of these lived in by fulltime Rvers. They look like custom vans and come in various sizes. I would feel claustrophobic in one of them.

Finally: pop up trailers. Yes there are some fulltime Rvers who live in a pop up trailer. These are hearty souls who do not mind being in the elements. I have seen one that is no more than six feet long. The occupants put up a kitchen tent where they did their cooking and relaxing. The trailer was for sleeping.

As you can see there are many options from which you can choose to live the lifestyle of adventure as a full time Rver. I recommend googling on RV trailers on the Internet to see what is available. Se what the price ranges are for each one. But before you buy. Make sure you sit in one and check out all of the amenities. You have to answer one question; Can I live in this? If you have any qualms about your answer go somewhere else. This will be your home.

Remember to visit our web site for more updates about RV living: http://www.jmpelley.org.

About the writer: John and Maggie Pelley are Geriatric Gypsies. Both of us are retired from the rat race of working. We are fulltime RVers who ran away from home. We began our travels on the East Coast and like the migrating birds seek the warmth of the seasons. No more shoveling snow in Chicago. We have discovered volunteering with the National Park System. During our travels we have found that each town has a story to tell: some are more interesting than others. Both of us enjoy good listening music as we go. John has a CD he has recorded of Native American flure music. We have learned that RVing has a learning curve. We want to pass on some advice the help others avoid this trecherous curve. Life is an adventure. We are living it to the utmost.