New to Forum....(I think)

[dragonflycamper]

Hi!  I am new to this Forum as far as I know.  (Although there is a chance that I was on it many years ago, and just forgot all my login and registration information.)  But I am going to assume I am new.  I am originally from Wyoming, but have been in Wisconsin for 23 years.  My DH and I love camping, and my DS (18) joins us when fishing is involved.  Not so much interest from the DDs (15 and 21) though.  Our Beagle Scooby loves to come along for all the smells if no one is at home to take care of her.  (yes, I realize Scooby is a boys name.  She had it when we got her).  We started out tent camping when we were first married.  We upgraded to a 2000 Coleman Popup about 16 years ago.  We are feeling that the dear pop-up is ready to be replaced, so we are just starting on the journey of "what next?"  I am looking forward to hearing all about what everyone else uses and likes. 

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Welcome Aboard!

Well, of course, you should go to a Class A.  Just kidding.

We went through four trailers before we bought a class A. We didn't buy the class A until we retired as it was too much money to spend until we could really use it and travel a lot. 

 

[dragonflycamper]

Well we are actually looking at everything, including Class A's.  The problem is finding the features I want that all fit inside the length that DH is willing to drive or pull.  That, and obviously the price.  Our original plan was that we would replace our pop-up with our "retirement" class A or class C after all the kids are out of college.  So the earliest is 8-10 years.  We talk about maybe pulling a boat with it. After camping this summer in our pop-up without the kids (translation -we had to do all the set-up ourselves) I am pretty sure I want to replace it sooner than 8-10 years.  Like next spring would work for me.  So financially the Class A or Class C are probably out of the question right now, unless we go quite old.  And the more I read, I don't think pulling a boat, especially launching it, would be as easy as we think with a motor home.  So one thought is something like a hybrid that would give DH the length he prefers to tow, but the pop-out beds would allow me the features I want and still give us sleeping room for when the kids join us.  Plus, I love the open feeling of all the canvas windows opened up.  I'm not sure if there is a specific thread for hybrids here, or if it's under travel trailers or pop-ups.  Another consideration is a toy hauler that we could put a canoe in.  But they don't seem to be made with a 16 foot canoe in mind.  So we are just looking at any ideas we can see out there.

 

[darsben]

Having started out with a tent and then going to a trailer, then a fifth wheel and finally a motor home. I can tell  you driving a Class A is easier than a travel trailer and/or a fifth wheel.

 

[shorts]

If you have 8-10 years to go until retirement, you may change your mind several times on what you might want at that time in your life. If you buy used you could very well afford to get what would suit you now and then reconsider what might be best when you are ready to retire.

We started out tent camping when our kids were young and dollars were scarce. Then moved to an old, cheap pop-up which led to a better pop-up. Then a decent used trailer. After that we moved up to an old Class A for just a few years. No slides and did I say OLD (lol). That led to a new Class C that we kept for 12 years until it came time for retirement. Even though we liked our Winnebago Minnie we wanted to go fulltime and knew it would not work for us. So we moved to a fifth wheel.

The point is we have camped in just about every type of unit and they were all right for us at that point in time. Do a lot of looking online at floor plans and different types and see what appeals to you. It seems like you are heading in that direction already. But maybe take the retirement thinking out of it and just worry about now. Check out RVTrader. Good luck in your search.

Vicki

 

[dragonflycamper]

Thanks for the thoughts!  I have been obsessively looking online to see different floor plans I like, and have some idea.  I would really like to go find a camper show and actually walk in one and see what they are like for real.  Some of them look rather cramped, but I was in one a few weeks ago that looks cramped on the floor plan but was actually quite spacious in real life.  DH still feels that 23 feet is too big to pull (we have a 2006 Yukon SXL) so we have quite a bit of looking and compromising to do yet. 

 

[RVMommaTo6]

Welcome to the forum! An RV show would be a perfect place to start, being in them and seeing them online are two totally different things. Have fun!!!