View Single Post
Old 04-23-2009, 05:36 PM   #14
PopBeavers
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default

My brother has a 32 foot fifth wheel trailer. Very nice.

He can not go where we can go. We do not like to go where he can go.

He is retired. Some of his trips are for several weeks. He goes to RV parks with a club. They watch television in the evening.

We go to forest service campgrounds. A year ago we bought some ATVs and motorcycles to ride on forest roads to explore the forest. We now prefer to camp where we can ride the ATVs in and out of camp to the trails, instead of towing them in a trailer to the trail head.

If I can hear voices from the adjacent campsite, then the campsites are too small and we will not go back there again. If I wanted to be in a crowd I would have stayed home. Real solitude requires backpacking, which my wife can no longer do with her bad knees.

The TM is a more comfortable place to sleep than a tent and it has a bathroom for the middle of the night. Our son (26) and daughter (28) still go camping with us, but they sleep in their backpacking tents. Allegedly I snore. However, we leave the door unlocked. I have no doubt that if the weather turned bad overnight they would move indoors with us. Our 2720 can sleep 6 in a pinch.

Half the time we cook outside, but if it is cold or damp then we can cook indoors. The interior size of the TM is not an issue for us, because there is rarely more than two people inside. We sit at the picnic table or around the campfire, except during the day when we are away sightseeing.

Two years ago the two of us explore the north coast of California. We stayed two nights at each campground. This gave a one day of travel and then one full day to our. I grew tired of setting up and tearing down, even though we traveled light. Next time I wiall stay a minimum of three nights at any one location.

We wanted the largest hard sided folding trailer that was not longer than 19 feet, so I could park it in the garage. Anything that will not fit in my garage will cost more than $100 per month, 10+ miles from the house. We did not want fabric walls, like a tent trailer.

For us, the TM is perfect.

I like to camp with hookups once a years, in the fall. This is when I flush out the sanitation system really well for winter storage. Otherwise, we are self sufficient. This year I purchased 4-7 gallon water containers, to supplement the 40 gallons I carry in the TM. This will allow 5 adults to camp for three days with no access to water and still take shores at the end of he day after riding ATVs on dusty fire roads all day.

Do not confuse RVing wih camping. My brother is an RVer. We are campers.

RVers use the RV as a portable home on wheels. The stay in RV parks wih all of the comforts of home.

Camper use it as an upgrade from a tent or tent trailer, so we can be reasonably comfortable in the middle of nowhere.

I have nothing against RVing. That is just not something we have any interest in doing.

The first time we camped in the TM the guy camped across from us came over to see what we had. I loved his comment "Wow, you can take that to Highlands Lakes".

Highlands lakes is about maybe 10 miles down a dirt road, with a few sections that are steep enough that it would be helpful to have 4wd so you don't get stuck. Due to low clearance with the tree limbs, low profile is also helpful. This lake has a reputation for decent fishing. Since i do not fish I would not know. But this guy in is regular stand up trailer apparently does fish. His wife will not go camping without the trailer. so when he goes fishing at Highland Lakes, his wife stays home. If he had a TM, she would go. It sould like he bought the wrong trailer, mainly because he did not know that such a trailer existed. He did not do enough shopping.

First, decide where you want to go:

RV parks
National Parks
State Parks
Forest campgrounds
dispersed forest camping (aka boondocking)

Then decide on the size of RV that can go to those places. Many California state parks are limited to 30 feet, so my brother can not go to our state parks.

Then consider amenities and how you will get it to the destination. How long will you use it:
weekends
two week summer vacation
extended tour of the US for several months
live in it full time for several years.

Everything is a trade off.
  Reply With Quote