Pardon the contradictory blog title here, give us a second to explain. For the last several years we've been fulltiming in a 28' fifth wheel. Mind you, it's an older rig, built before slide outs were the rage. Of late, two of us plus a fairly large (and self-centered) cat have been trying to live and operate a business out of that 28' feet of space. It hasn't been easy, and we've done more than just a little "kicking around" of maybe getting a rig with slide outs.
So a few months ago, we picked up a "project rig." A much abused truck camper with what we hoped was "potential." We've worked on it, and it's certainly worked on us, but hey, now we're ready for the first big trip, roughly 3,500 miles starting with a convention in Glendale, Arizona and thence to the Pacific NW. As is our habit, we try to "move in" to an RV a few days before we leave on a major trip--well, that's what we "use to do," when we had a land-based home. So now we're moving out of the fifth wheel and into the truck camper.
Still, as small as those 28 feet seem, we have been missing the "old days" when we traveled about the west with a much smaller rig--a truck camper. We went places where angels put on their hiking boots and saw some spectacular sights. It was never a problem, "flipping a U turn" if we saw something that we wanted to go back and look at again. We did hundreds of travel stories and it was just too easy. Once we got into the fiver though, those quick U turns were a thing of the past. We missed a lot of opportunities to research and write about things we saw on the road.
So a few months ago, we picked up a "project rig." A much abused truck camper with what we hoped was "potential." We've worked on it, and it's certainly worked on us, but hey, now we're ready for the first big trip, roughly 3,500 miles starting with a convention in Glendale, Arizona and thence to the Pacific NW. As is our habit, we try to "move in" to an RV a few days before we leave on a major trip--well, that's what we "use to do," when we had a land-based home. So now we're moving out of the fifth wheel and into the truck camper.Can you say: Anxiety? Stress? Raised voices? Looking back onto those "tough days" in 28 feet seem pretty laughable right now. Where on earth do you put a 5 gallon pail of cat litter in an 11' truck camper? How many pairs of socks will I need between laundry days? Should we toss out a lot of those plastic water bottles we've been refilling? And who has to share the dinette seat (living room seat, visitor's seat--all rolled into one) with Ithmah, the 17 pound pussycat?
I dunno, I guess you really don't miss your water.
1 comment:
We've been thinking the same as you. We now have a 28ft. class A. No slides. We have two dogs. We're always stepping over them. Don't know if we could survive in something as small as a cab-over camper. We want to down-size for the same reasons you did. Keep us posted on how you cope.
Charles, Carolyn + 2 dogs. A Lab and Pekinese.
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