When we began talking about full-time living in a motorhome, we started visualizing what that would look like and what type of RV people we were. We both agreed that we consider ourselves travelers and not campers or retirees. The title of our website comes from a joke we made about our method of sightseeing. Our plan is to be able to drive around and see the country. We want to do this in a simple and efficient manner. With this in mind, we ruled out considering travel trailers, fifth-wheels and large Class A diesel pushers. What we kept in our considerations was smaller and more nimble. Here's the criteria that made sense for us:
Just One Vehicle - Simplicity. We want to keep the stuff to a minimum. This means no pets and no second vehicle. We hope to minimize what's inside and outside our vehicle. We don't want to tow a second vehicle - either using a truck to tow a travel-trailer or fifth wheel, or towing a smaller drive-around vehicle behind our main rig. Having two vehicles adds to your setup, teardown and most importantly it adds to your costs. There is a whole new level of preparation and management of hitching and towing and driving.
The downside is that we have to take our rig with us everywhere we go - and maybe later down the road, this may prove to be an issue
- but for now we're going to try it.
With just one vehicle, our RV is also our get-around-town car. If this RV is small and nimble enough, we should be able to negotiate most of what we need to accomplish. We won't be able to use drive-thru's a the In-n-Out Burger, but we will be able to get around most cities in rush hour and find parking spaces without too much concern. Whereas it just isn't feasible for a 41' diesel pusher with a 'toad' to pull in to the 7-11 parking lot, it is doable in a Road Trek Class B or a decent sized Class C.
How will we get around?
Since we decided against towing a second vehichle, our rig will become both our drive-around car and our living quarters. When we need to run into a town or grocery shop, it will be done in this RV or we can also get around in a couple of other ways:
Electric Folding Bikes - We like the idea of having two folding bikes that can store underneath (not on bike racks that can be tampered with). The RAD MINI looks like a great choice. This can be used for nearby sight-seeing opportunities, quick trips to the village or store or to nearby towns.
Car Rental - If we're staying near a city for while, we can rent a subcompact for side trips, a pickup from a local Home Depot or even a van from U-Haul. This gives us the ability to get around while keeping the rig at the campsite. When we're done, we just return the car. There are also car-share programs like Lime Car.
Drive around in the rig - It seems that most RV'ers are against this idea. The thought of plowing through towns and traffic in a 40' rig would get old real quick. Our plan is to keep the RV to a minimum size. If we choose a Class A, it will be under 29'. If we go Class C or Class B+, we can get the size down to 24' to 26'.
Smaller Size(or what type is best for us) -
Here's a link to a thread about various RV types and our journey from small-to-larger-to-larger-and-back-to-small. Getting to where we are now in our decision has been a fun discovery. Nights are spent pouring over RVTrader.com, RVUSA.com and RVT.com showing each other the latest, newest, bestest one for us. We then jump over to Youtube and watch the RV Whisperer in Elkhart and the entire sales team at Guaranty in Junction City to view their walkthrough of our lastest find.
Of the various driveable RV classess, we have ruled out two choices: Class B's and Class C's. We temporarily put the Class A's on hold, then made the decision to leap into the CLASS B+ realm.
The Class B+'s have MB Sprinter engines and chassis. The euro-look uni-body with a sleek (or non-existent) over-cab bulb really gives us a profile, look and size that will work for us.... Though the Class A's are still on our list.
Tags: RV, Class A, Class B, Class B+, Class C, Tiffin, Winnebago, Coachmen, Thor, Motorhome, Full-time, lifestyle Created: 15 September 2019 Updated: 19 Oct 2019