Belated introduction :)

[702Rubi]

Better late than never! I've already posted a few times indicating that I'm interested in getting an RV to live out of full-time. I think it might be helpful if I give a little background on my experience already and explain my vision for my lifestyle in an RV.

I'm retired but still only fifty or so and also a very active person. For a year or so after I retired I was basically "dirtbagging" out of a 4WD SUV. And I had spent many weekends and vacations prior to that traveling in that same mode. Usually venturing out to the desert or the mountains (depending on the season) for hiking and exploring and bicycling, kayaking, etc.

Recently I was living in Las Vegas, but spent July through October last year again "dirtbagging" out of the SUV.  This year I moved out of  my Las Vegas rental, put  most everything in a storage unit, and I'm again  down to just the SUV and what I have in it...

There's actually a lot to be said for this very simple lifestyle! However, living out of an SUV you don't have space for the gear required for multiple Sports and activities So doing this full-time means I'm pretty much limited to hiking.  Not to mention the rather distinct lack of Creature Comforts...

So with that in mind--plus considering the fact I'm just not the type of person who wants a house with a lot of Maintenance and a bunch of stuff in it--I think upgrading to an RV full time would be great choice.  Obviously then I would have enough space to have a bicycle and an Oru folding kayak and some gear for other activities.  Also this would take care of my perpetual problem of trying to find a place to do the laundry or get a shower!

My vision would be to basically move around with the seasons and put the RV in a given RV park for two weeks or two months or whatever.  Then I could go hiking or bicycling or whatever in that general area.

I'm thinking the best setup would be a trailer pulled by a 4 wheel drive pickup. I could then have a basic topper on the pickup truck bed.  That would give me the freedom to leave the trailer at the RV park and go off into the boonies for a day or two and camp out of the truck. Or put my bicycle in the back then drive to someplace else where I wanted to ride it.  Etc.

My current vehicle is actually a 4-door Wrangler with a hardtop. Which of course has extremely limited towing capability so it would have to be replaced by a different tow vehicle. And quite frankly I'm not sure I really want to keep this vehicle thus I'm not looking at buying a motorhome and towing the jeep behind it.  Unless of course you all can persuade me otherwise. 

At the moment I'm just doing lots of research and due diligence and don't expect to be buying anything anytime soon. I can easily imagine it being 2018 before I'm ready to buy. On the other hand if I get to the point where I feel confident I know what I'm doing it could happen sooner than that!

 

[jackiemac]

Hi and welcome to the forum officially  Sounds like you've already had some exciting adventures with more to come.

We went to Johnnie Walker in Vegas, who were lovely to deal with. We got a good deal on our truck too from Dennis Dillon in Idaho, depending on what you are looking for of course.

http://www.johnniewalkerrv.com

Happy hunting, that's part of the fun!

Looking forward to hearing how you get on 

 

[702Rubi]

Johnnie Walker is the dealer that has the attached RV park where you can shake down your new RV, is that correct?

Yes I'm still kind of centered on Las Vegas since my dentist and Doctor are there and my storage unit. But not much else really tying me down there at this point LOL

 

[jackiemac]

it's not attached, although there is an RV park right behind their lot. It's just a few spaces in the back set up with full hook up facilities. We made good use of that and got a few issues resolved whilst there. I would recommend them, family run business and most folks there have worked there for years. May not be the cheapest but decent folks. Steve Vanhoose was our sales guy, no pressure at all.

 

[702Rubi]

Jackiemac...  thanks for the info about Johnny Walker!  Does seem like a good idea to set up close by for a few days just in case there are any bugs. Especially with a new RV which should certainly all be under warranty.

 

[jackiemac]

No problem. They are a good bunch and were really good with us. We had a few phone calls back and forth before we flew in and they were really good about our payment as we hadn't sorted out money into our new us bank account. I'm sure there are other great dealers out there too.

 

[Stephen S.]

It sounds like you would be most comfortable in a toy hauler.

 

[702Rubi]

It sounds like you would be most comfortable in a toy hauler.

I have thought about that! The idea of having the garage for toys and gear storage is appealing. But I think I can squeeze my stuff into the various storage areas of a "regular" RV. I'm sure I can secure the bicycle somewhere  inside . It's one of those  expensive type so I don't want to hang it on the ladder outside or something LOL. I'm not planning to get a quadrunner,  etc.  So I don't need the big loading ramp.