Mike from Arkansas

[Mike Goad]

I'm Mike from near Dover, Arkansas.  I'm hoping to early retire in the next couple of years. 

We've started looking at travel trailers recently.  We do not plan to RV full time, but we do plan on quite a bit of traveling.  We've camped for years, starting out with a rented tent from Navy special services in the summer of 1972.  We've backpacked a few times. 

We bought a small, used Playmor travel trailer after having rented one and made a few long road trips with it, including one from Arkansas up into Alberta and British Columbia and then home by way of Idaho and the four corners area in a three week trip our kids fondly remember as the "trip from h___." After a series of misadventures, the trailer was rear-ended in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by a driver with no insurance, and we only carried the minimum on our trailer.  (After sitting in our backyard for a couple of years, a guy installing a satellite dish offered $200 for it to use in his dear camp.)

Our desire is a new travel trailer of no more than about 7400 lbs total weight , loaded, as that is the weight limit of our tow vehicle, which we are planning to keep for now.

Well, that's probably a lot for a "newbie."  I'm here to learn, hopefully a lot.

 

[Jim Dick]

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the forum. Just start asking any questions you might have and people here will respond. There are several trailer experts here.

 

[Mike Goad]

Jim,

Thanks.  I'm going to spend some time looking around.  I figure I can learn quite a bit by what's already been posted by others.

Mike

 

[Ron]

Welcome to the RV Forum Mike.  Please join in on any of the ongoing discussions, ask questions or start new discussions relating to the RV lifestyle.  Glad you found us.

 

[Carl L]

Our desire is a new travel trailer of no more than about 7400 lbs total weight , loaded, as that is the weight limit of our tow vehicle, which we are planning to keep for now.

If your tow vehicle tow weight limit is 7400 lbs, you will want to keep your trailer well under that.  Use the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of the tralier and add 10% head room -- 15% if you want to tow in the mountain west or Pacific coast (long grades and high altitudes).

 

[Jim Dick]

Jim,

Thanks.  I'm going to spend some time looking around.  I figure I can learn quite a bit by what's already been posted by others.

Mike

Mike,

There's a lot here to learn. Try browsing the library. There are quite a few files there that should answer a lot of questions. If you don't find the answer, just ask.

 

[Mike Goad]

Thanks for the welcomes.  I've started browsing through some of the different threads. 

While I'm here primarily to learn, I've also picked up a couple of things that I've added to my web-site.  One of them is the Protect-a-Tow (http://protectatow.tripod.com/) and the other was an RV manufacturer that I didn't have listed on my website.

I've spent something like seven or eight hours looking through things and I'm still just browsing though the discussion on the general discussion message board.

I've added a link to this forum on my web-site at  http://www.pddoc.com/camp/recreational_vehicles.htm.

I've also posted a note about the forum on my "Out n' About" blog.  http://www.pddoc.com/out/ (February 8, 2006)

8)  Again, thanks for the welcomes... I have a lot to learn.