Though I have not written in this Blog for more than a year it does not mean I have stopped thinking about and investigating our plans for our Full-Timing Odyssey. The fact of the matter is I have become rather obsessed with it and there is not a day that goes by I don’t think about it. Full-time think and talk is part of every day for Natasha and I. Even our four year old is into it, able to identify a heavy-duty truck on the spot (more on heavy duties later). She surprised her Uncle one day by blurting out “you have a heavy-duty”, which he did.

In the last year Natasha and I have been to two RV shows. One in Cleveland at the I-X Center last spring and the other was the big show in Hershey, PA. Though the Hershey Show was filled with any number of RVs and manufacturers it was the Cleveland Show that may have been the most helpful as novices.

But I am getting ahead of myself, lets back-up a little and start with the following basic decision one must make about an RV and that is, what type works best for them, a motor home or a towable trailer (not to be confused with a mobile home please). There is a ton of information about this topic on the Internet and I could go on and on about the pros and cons of each but for space considerations (and to keep you awake) I will attempt to keep it simple.

A motor home is what Eddie had in Christmas Vacation (haven’t seen the movie then rent it soon). Obviously this is an RV you can drive down the road. Motor homes come in various classes (Class A, B and C) from truck and van-based to full bus, engines in the front and engines in the rear, gas engines and diesel engines (gas engines are much cheaper than diesels but diesels give the torque necessary to pull heavy loads). The really expensive ones are basically based on a bus chassis with diesel engines in the back (pushers). I started off doing a ton of research on motor homes and settled on a particular model actually, a Winnebago Journey. However, though I was all about a motor home when Natasha and I started our research into RVs there are basic problems with all motor homes.

To begin, motor homes do not have floor plans useful for a family on the road full time. What I am talking about is adequate living space, kitchen space, a second bedroom, a desk area, etc. In addition, motor homes all have space wasted in the driver and passenger area, and it is just difficult to get a homey feeling with a view of a steering wheel, dashboard and windshield in your living space. And finally, a tow vehicle would be a necessity with any large motor home. Once you get to where you are going, get set-up in the motor home you simply can’t be pulling up stakes each time you head to the grocery store, or take a site seeing adventure, it is not practical. You need a tow vehicle to do the running around. And as a result you must maintain two motorized vehicles and pay insurance and taxes on both as well. However, here are a few advantages to a motor home. On the road a motor home offers you all it has, basically your home going down the road. So if you want something to eat the kitchen is available, need a nap, head back to the bedroom (though it is not advisable to be walking around inside a moving motor home and may be flat out against the law in many states). And if you do stop for a break or for the night and find yourself somewhere you don’t want to be you can simply leave without any preparation, unlike in a towable.

Now on to towable trailers, of which there are three kinds, travel trailers, fifth-wheel trailers, and pop-up camper trailers. For us only the travel trailer and fifth-wheel offer the space we will need, of these two the fifth-wheel is much more to our liking because of added space and ease of towing. Before I go on about fifth-wheel trailers I have to say that Natasha said this was what we should be looking at from day one, but I had to get that motor home thing out of the way first, there is just something about those big motor homes. Anyway, she was right, the fifth-wheel trailer offers the best overall package for our needs. And just to clarify, fifth-wheel trailers are a favorite with full timers because of their large living area and many available floor plans, kitchens in the middle, kitchens in the back, bed rooms in the front or back or both, office space, one or two bathrooms, and even space for hauling your “toys”, things like four wheelers, motorcycles or whatever. One other advantage of fifth-wheel trailers: they are pulled by trucks (usually a heavy duty pick-up truck) and much of their weight is supported by the truck’s rear suspension and carried forward on the truck (piggy-back like). As a result they handle much easier and safer than a travel trailer.

Finally, I am back to the part about visiting the RV shows. When we visited the Cleveland RV Show we were mainly interested in looking at fifth-wheel trailers (though we also could not resist stepping into several fancy motor homes). We looked at many from numerous manufactures. What we were the most surprised about was how cheap they all seemed. Many looked nice and fancy from the outside but once we walked around inside we could easily see that these fifth-wheel trailers would not hold up well to full-time living. And not only did they seem cheap most were just literally downright smelly, the kind of smell you may have experienced in a brand new car but magnified many times, in this case the smell of plastics, adhesives, lighting, cheap linoleum, carpet, etc. How could, or would, anyone want to live in such a hazardous environment was beyond us, and all of it was rather disheartening. But then we walked into a fifth wheel by the manufacturer Carriage, a Cameo, we were instantly amazed at the difference, you could actually feel it. The Cameo showed quality wherever you looked, nice carpet, linoleum, cabinetry, furniture, fixtures and lighting. And no obnoxious smell!

As we explained to the Carriage sales person our experience with other models at the show he told us something that we never thought of. He said that Carriage was the only manufacturer to warrant their fifth-wheel trailer for full-time living! As we learned later his statement was not accurate, there are other manufactures that warrant their trailers for full-time living but in fact most do not. And why should this have been such a revelation to us? I mean with all products there is high quality and low quality. And it was obvious to us that the cheap fifth-wheel trailers we had seen could in no way hold up to the riggers of full-time living and they were obviously designed only for occasional use. There is an upside to this though; our search for a full-time fifth wheel trailer had just gotten a lot easier because as we now know there are few manufacturers that make fifth-wheel trailers designed for full-time living.

Stay tuned for my next entry on specific manufactures and models that fit our needs.