Yet another noob

[Allentc2]

So with 20 years total service rapidly approaching, and not TOO far from 20 active service (5 years or so), I'm pondering what to do when I retire. After a trip to Terlingua to see if I'd want to buy land there, then a drive up to Astoria, Oregon, one thing I know is there is a ton of stuff to see in this country. And that's not even counting Canada and points south. I know I don't want to just settle down to one place. 

Which of course leads me to RVing.

Lots of other variables to think about. Smaller Class A or a truck camper, mainly, but I imagine that'll sort itself out eventually. I have some time to learn and plan. 

Looking forward to perusing the forums. 

[jjwicklund]

Welcome to the fourm.  Good to start planning early and learning what you can.  I spent 10 years planning my retirement and have been enjoying it fulltime RVing for the last 7 years.

 

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums! I salute you for your service and encourage you to learn more about the RV lifestyle. Even if you should choose to keep some sort of fixed home to travel from, RV traveling is a very good way to see our great country and to make many good friends. You may want to visit some of the websites and blogs to be found via active links in the signature lines of many who post here, and I invite you to try mine first!  You may also find it helpful to read a book or two on the subject of RV's and RV living and those can be found either on Amazon or in your public library. 

[JimK]

Looking ahead to retirement and to the choices of RV travel can be enjoyable.  If you are not already doing so, I suggest you also consider what else you will want to do in retirement.  Depending on your age, you might spend 30 or more years retired.   As you approach retirement, it will be helpful to consider your goals, interests, and what you want to accomplish in your new phase of life.  That sort of consideration might also affect your RV choices.

[Allentc2]

When I was young, my family would load up in a camper (TC, I believe is the acronym you all use for a slide-in truck camper) and go all over the US. Before I'd graduated high-school, I'd traveled to all 48 contiguous states. Now as I near 50, I find that I don't remember much of it. Since my divorce 10 years ago, I've been trying to make up for lost time. First on motorcycles, now car camping, and hopefully when I retire, by RV. I enjoy hiking, camping, photography, and I thought I might take up fishing (for fun and supplimenting store-bought food LOL). That's one reason I've been leaning towards TCs as opposed to a smaller (<30') RV....I can get off the asphalt more. 

 

Mr. Wood, consider yourself followed. LOL

[Barbaraok]

Remember that your body is going to let you know that you are not a spring chicken and what you think you can still do will surprise you in 5 yrs, 10 yrs, etc.  full timing is different from vacations.  You want to be comfortable

[sandsys]

Welcome. I don't know what you've been living in during your years of service but part of deciding on an RV is deciding what gear you want to be able to take with you. Truck campers tend to have limited storage and you will need to bring at least one box of legal papers. That said, here's a link to the blog of a single guy living full time in his truck camper: https://strollingamok.wordpress.com/category/the-intrepid/. That should give you a decent idea of what can be done.

Linda Sand

[JimK]

Allen, I am one of the few people on this forum who has a truck camper.  Most of the people here own big rigs and quite a few participate because they went to the escapees big rig school.

You already have experience with truck campers.  I can tell you they have gotten much better.  My wife and I and the two cats had no issues being full time truck camper travelers for a couple of years.  If  you want to get off the main roads, consider a light weight TC.  Take a look at popup units.  I would recommend Northstar but there are a couple of other similar choices.  Let me know if you have any specific questions or concerns.

[Allentc2]

Yeah, I really can't see myself in something "big". I sat in the driver's seat of a 34' Tiffin Allegro Somethingortheother....intimidating to say the least. Plus I recall seeing somewhere that some national parks limit the size of RVs. When it comes to the Class As, I was looking at like the Newmar Baystar Sport.

Thanks for the link, Linda. He's followed too. 

The big 5-0 is coming up in literally a few days. LOL I feel pretty good, except for the knees. God willing, I'll have another 50 to gradually fall apart. LOL I'd like to think I still have a few decades of driving and walking in me (though admittedly, the sleeping mat does not make the ground as soft as it used to).

[Barbaraok]

Don't limit yourself because of length as a problem for National Parks.  We did that - went with a "36" footer (actually 38.5 with the drop down hitch) instead of the 40'.  We would have been fine with the 40' as we don't really do National Parks because they are all booked up by the 2nd of January for the whole summer Thurs-Sundays,   and we never knew where we were going be 3 weeks in advance much less 6+ months.   We found COE parks more to our liking, and always had some sites that would work for large rigs.  Same with state parks.   Always some sites available, though they are as expensive as private parks and are also all booked up for Thurs-Sundays by the end of the first week in January from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  

[Pat & Pete]

5 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

Don't limit yourself because of length as a problem for National Parks.  We did that - went with a "36" footer (actually 38.5 with the drop down hitch) instead of the 40'.  We would have been fine with the 40' as we don't really do National Parks because they are all booked up by the 2nd of January for the whole summer Thurs-Sundays,   and we never knew where we were going be 3 weeks in advance much less 6+ months.   We found COE parks more to our liking, and always had some sites that would work for large rigs.  Same with state parks.   Always some sites available, though they are as expensive as private parks and are also all booked up for Thurs-Sundays by the end of the first week in January from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  

True ^ .

[Allentc2]

COE? Corp of Engineers?

I just hate wasted space. I live in an 1,800 sq. ft. home. Me and three cats. LOL My son sometimes is here but even then, it's just soooo much empty. Plus, I kinda figure I am going to spend the bulk of my non-driving time outside. And when I'm inside, it'll be watching a movie or something. LOL Lastly, I want to boondock. A lot. Not sure that's really RV territory. 

Still, I have some time before I make up my mind. Part of my retirement variables is how my boy is doing. If he really gets his feet planted and off to a good start, I may wander OUTSIDE the US. But it never hurts to have other plans. 
 

 

[sandsys]

7 hours ago, Allentc2 said:

COE? Corp of Engineers?

I want to boondock. A lot. Not sure that's really RV territory. 

Yes COE, or CoE, is Corps of Engineers. Some very nice parks, mostly on waterways, often with good separation of sites. Being federal parks, entrance fees are covered by the National Parks Passes. Details on COE parks here: https://www.recreation.gov/campgroundDirectoryListByAgencyID.do?contractCode=NRSO&agencyID=70902

National and state forests are often also good places to get away from the madding crowds without truly going off road.

All our RVs had solar power for off grid camping but none of them were true off-road vehicles so we went to lots of COE parks and various forests. And, of course, desert camping in the winter.

Linda Sand

[Allentc2]

One thing I'm gathering from reading that one guy's blog is that slapping a TC in the back of a 4x4 pickup does not necessarily make it "off-roadable".

[Kirk W]

3 hours ago, Allentc2 said:

slapping a TC in the back of a 4x4 pickup does not necessarily make it "off-roadable".

I suppose you need to define your term "off roadable." Over the years I have owned several different 4WD vehicles of different types and each had different capabilities. I towed a very small, light weight popup behind our Jeep Commando back in the 60's and we took it into some pretty rough places in WY for camping & fishing. Later we owned a 16' Starcraft popup that we towed behind a Dodge Ramcharger and went well off the beaten path with those also, but not as rough country as the prior rig. When we were on the road full-time we towed an all wheel drive, Honda, CRV that took us where we wished to go but it wasn't intended to go the places that our Jeep would. 

Having had friends who owned a truck with camper on a 4WD truck, I can tell you that to go into really serious 4WD roads they always unloaded the camper as the thing gets rather top-heavy when you have one on. In  addition, the length of the vehicle can be very limiting in difficult terrain or on challenging trails. Truck do fine for mud or snow situations but the maneuvering abilities of a truck are quite limiting when leaving roads behind and if you have a camper on the truck........................   No thanks1

[sandsys]

8 hours ago, Allentc2 said:

One thing I'm gathering from reading that one guy's blog is that slapping a TC in the back of a 4x4 pickup does not necessarily make it "off-roadable".

A good thing to learn before you buy, right? The true off-road campers are driving Unimogs.  

Linda Sand

[Allentc2]

Indeed. LOL Still, as I read more about trucks, campers, and 'off roads', it sounds doable. I wasn't planning on doing boulder crawls or anything like that. But I wouldn't want to take a Newmar Baystar Sport out into Terlingua's 'Solitario' either.

[Al F]

1 hour ago, Allentc2 said:

Indeed. LOL Still, as I read more about trucks, campers, and 'off roads', it sounds doable. I wasn't planning on doing boulder crawls or anything like that. But I wouldn't want to take a Newmar Baystar Sport out into Terlingua's 'Solitario' either.

While you won't actually reach the "Solitario" in Big Bend Ranch State Park, there is nothing which would keep you from driving the Baystar Sport into BBR SP and dry camping in one of the campsites.  Wonderful peace and quiet and with the dark nights the star viewing is fantastic. 

[Allentc2]

I wish I could recall the names of all the roads I was on out there. North County Road and Salt Grass Road are two I distinctly recall. It was gorgeous out there. Nightly cloud cover kept my star viewing to a minimum, but I did get some good pics in Monument Valley. 

[Allentc2]

AI F......so what would you call the limit as far as road surfaces with a Baystar? I'm going to look at some Friday (along with some campers LOL). I would have to think the longer a Class A is, the less you want it off asphalt. Are the smaller ones fairly nimble for a non-4WD?

[The Quiet Assassin]

There is a LOT to be said for a small class A [ circa 26 ft ] especially when you get somewhere and it is windy, rainy and muddy and you can go back and make a hot drink without going outside. 

I took my 26 ft class A into Monument Valley and made it round. NB I would not do it again. Went off road on dirt roads a fair bit and did not get stuck but was cautious about prospecting for soft stuff. 

[Allentc2]

That road....the one that drops down from the lodge area and circles the buttes? Yeah, it was like a washboard on steroids! I felt bad for the folks in cars on that one. The Forester didn't mind it too much, though I did take it fairly sedately.

Looks like I have some sussing to do. LOL

[Kirk W]

We traveled a route that included 60+ miles of rough, gravel roads in our class A once and by traveling slowly we really had no serious problems. The only bad part was that I think it took about a week for our dishes to stop rattling! 

[Jeff & Suzanne]

Following up on the previous post, take a look at the used section of this link and other sites to see what might fit your budget.  http://www.phoenixusarv.com/inventory.html  Then peruse what a B+ might have to offer.  You can be confident in anything bought from Phoenix as far as honesty in the description and limited service after the sale.  A good resource for good/bad comments is reading an RV owners forum.  http://www.phoenixusarv.com/community/   Good luck.

[Al F]

On 8/15/2017 at 2:38 PM, Allentc2 said:

AI F......so what would you call the limit as far as road surfaces with a Baystar? I'm going to look at some Friday (along with some campers LOL). I would have to think the longer a Class A is, the less you want it off asphalt. Are the smaller ones fairly nimble for a non-4WD?

As far as you are willing to go without damaging the motorhome or getting stuck.  I'm not trying to be a smarty pants.  I do mean that. 

I drive our 29' Winnebago Sightseer into many places that are a little rough and tight.  Since we have a toad, I part the MH and we drive in the toad, a 2009 Chevy Colorado, to check for places we want to stay at.  I assess the roads and we make a determination if this is where we are willing to drive to.  When we had a 40 diesel pusher, we went into some pretty tight NF campgrounds.  Sometimes we came within 12" of scraping trees going around some bends in the CG roads. It took some careful driving not to hit the trees. 

Where a person can drive to depends on their willingness, prior experience with driving in rough conditions, how slow and careful you will be, and probably most importantly, the willingness to stop and retreat when conditions are worse than you first thought.

Currently we are boondocking in the NF north of John Day, OR waiting for our family to come up for the weekend and the eclipse on Monday.  We wanted a place where we would be somewhat assured we will not have 20 other people camped next to us and yet be comfortable for the RV and son, DIL & grandson's in their tents. This general area is predicted to be quite crowded for the eclipse weekend. 

The pictures below show the short 26 degree incline we went up to enter our camping area.  We did drag one side of the rear skid bars for about 12 inches on the way up.  Also did some rocking and rolling on the National Forest dirt road on the way here.  About 9 miles of gravel road.  Almost no washboard though. 

There is not simple answer as to where you can drive a motorhome to.  You have to determine where to go based on the motorhomes.  One of the biggest limitations is the overhang behind the rear axle.  The other is the length which limits maneuverability.