Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Staying Put



Well, I guess I will stay put for the remainder of the month. Then who knows. I still have to work out my problems with the 12 volt plugs, and airing up my tires.
I have been a full time RVr for five years this month. Time flys when you are having fun! I sold my house and leased this lot, so I would have a home base. It has worked good for me,until now. I just want to move around and I still plan to do that. I will just have to be patient a little longer. We have had 18 straight days of 100 or over degrees. That is really hot, today we had a nice little shower, of course that will make it more humid.
Actually I have been camping for over 40 years! My husband and I started out just sleeping outdoors on army cots,the two oldest girls slept outside too. The youngest daughter and my son slept in the station wagon. Then we really got high class, we borrowed a tent! That was our first big trip, to Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado. One of the best trips ever! Two weeks, and four kids in a tent. Can you ask for anything more? Next we got a "tent trailer". It really was a tent trailer. You had to first put the rails up, then throw the tent part over the rails. I bought foam for the beds, and we had an extension cord for electric. Seems I have been pulling some sort of trailer for 40 years! First was a U-haul, then the tent trailer, then we had two travel trailers, one we took to Alaska. Then came the big fifth wheels, one 37 ft, and one 38 ft. I pulled all of them. Never thought anything about it. In the later years my husbands health was not too great and he would get us on the road, and then I would do the driving. After he passed away I traded the 38 ft trailer for a 31 ft class c motorhome. I did not like it, very uncomfortable, but I did make a lot of trips in it. I had it five years. Class C is a great little motorhome, but, the wind does catch under that overhang and they can be hard to handle in high winds. When I decided to go full time I wanted something I would be comfortable living in if I couldn't travel. And that is how I arrived at the Big Sky Montana. I think of all the rigs I have towed or driven the little tent trailer was the most dangerous. The wind really whips those little trailers around. Got to be really careful. Next dangerous is the travel trailer. Same problem, and the big 18 wheelers will suck you right into them if you are not careful. And you MUST have a equalizer hitch. I think the easiest and safest to pull is the fifth wheel.

2 comments:

  1. Your post is very interesting to me because of all the recent looking at ALL kinds of RVs. I have seen some small vintage Airstreams that I could go for, but everyone tells me they are difficult to drive. I guess they would be difficult to back up also.

    The thing I dislike most about the 5th wheel is the hitching & unhitching. I have to stand on a small ladder to reach the hitch in the truck, I have trouble pulling the bar out (I'm losing strength), and also the backing up. I can do a minimum of backing up to get myself properly aligned in a gas station for example, but can't back up into a campsite.

    The size of the rig also makes it nearly impossible to find campsites at some of the national & state parks, and I would much prefer something like that as opposed to some of the commercial campgrounds. I guess there are pros and cons about everything.

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  2. You have really got the experience under your belt. We love our fiver and if we ever decide to trade it in, it will be for a smaller one. We too would love to be able to get into National Forests and State Parks. Todays blog is great.

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