As I’ve said before, we have been camping in a travel trailer for a handful of years now. Overall, no complaints from those units. We were very lucky to have the ability to do the research ahead of time and pick units that met our needs at the time. Now that we have the fifth wheel here, we have had a parade of family and friends walking through it and marveling over features they didn’t know where possible in a camper. “It’s so big!” “I would be so afraid to pull this thing” “Am I going to be spoiled now if I walk into another camper?” All of these things have gone through our own minds over the years. There is always a bigger unit, a fancier trim, or a different layout that is ‘brand new this year’. That’s just the way businesses have to progress and stay alive/profitable. Once we started telling people what we were doing, I was constantly surprised by just how many responses were “How cool! I’ve always wanted to do that!” or “I’ve been wanted to getting a camper for awhile now, what’s the difference between them?”.

Our sample size is obviously small and Andrew has done so much more research on this topic than I could never dream to do, but from the perspective of someone who has been along for the ride until now and knows the very basics, I know just enough to be dangerous. Andrew can tell you all about gross vehicle weight, axles, what types of slide tracks you want, and other specific details you want to drill down into. BUT. If you’re not looking for that kind technical information and just want a starting point to dip your toe in, I’m your gal!

Budget: Budget is a huge piece of all of this. Everything has a cost from style, age, tow ability, features, etc. Do you already drive a truck? Do you have the means to upgrade your vehicle? Before you even look into what your lifestyle is, it is important to understand what your basic capabilities are. For example, you may be driving a Jeep. A Jeep obviously isn’t able to pull a fifth wheel, so you are limited to travel trailers and smaller. Travel trailers come in all sizes too. The more real estate, the more weight. If you want a bunk room for the kids, the Jeep isn’t going to pull it safely. There are a ton of options at any weight, but knowing what your limitations are from the start are majorly important. From the first trailer we had, we have gone up in truck size from an F150 to a 250, and now to a 450 dually. I am not comfortable driving the 450 at all (and let’s be honest, I hated driving the 250) so if it were just me, we would have stopped at the F150 and stuck with lighter trailers.

Lifestyle: Lifestyle is another incredibly important thing to consider. What is your comfort level? I didn’t grow up as a scout. I don’t sleep in tents on the ground if I don’t have to. I ABSOLUTELY do not pee outside. From the start, this meant I was only agreeing to a more involved trailer that came with a bathroom. Yes, I know that’s fairly high maintenance but it’s also a personal choice. Some people love to be outdoors and are perfectly happy in a tent. If that’s the case for you, there are so many options! You can look into pop ups, A-frames or tear drop units that have a place to sleep on a mattress of sorts, store your stuff, and even cook without having to build a campfire every time. For us, we were a family of 4 with young kids and a picky wife. Minimalist wasn’t going to work for us, so we knew we had to look at travel trailers. Another part of lifestyle is time. How often are you thinking of going? How much do you want to pay to park your unit? (budget sneaks back in here. Per night costs depends on location and amenities that you want from a place to park). If you’re a ‘weekend warrior’, then you may be able to have much less space than you think, because the idea is that you’re not actually inside it all that often unless the weather is bad. You don’t need that giant living room, you have the whole outside. You don’t need a huge dresser space, you only need 2 changes of clothes. These sorts of considerations play into size of unit too. Don’t take our word for it. You will never understand until you’re actually standing in a unit. I would say never buy one until you’ve been inside a few. Go to rv shows or walk around lots and browse. You’ll know as soon as you step inside a layout whether you could live with it or not. Trust me, you’ll be surprised. (Pro tip thrown in for free: go rent a camper. Yes, you can do that. See if you even like it before you invest time and money)

What these meant for us: Since we will be living in it full time with 5 pets (God help us, I know) and 2 kids, we knew we had to have all the comforts of what we expect from a home which meant space to move around. Space for school and work, and frankly to get away from each other just a bit. This meant we needed as much real estate as we could get. I didn’t want to tow a vehicle or have to pack up everytime we needed to go to Walmart. Drew didn’t want the extra needs an engine in a motorhome would need, so a fifth wheel was the natural selection for us. The bunkhouse travel trailer we had was very large in terms of campers, but it only had a loveseat in the living room and a loveseat in the bunkroom. There are 4 of us. For all of us to sit down and spend time together, we had to either be at the table or split up in different rooms, or outside. To split the kids up at night, we could have used the couch as a bed. This wasn’t going to work for an everyday long term option for us and our lifestyle. The kids needed their own space, but we also wanted a family space.

So we settled on looking at fifth wheels. They do not come cheap. We have been fortunate enough to buy brand-new for the last two units. This was not going to be an option straight out of the gate if we were going bigger. Having been doing this a few years, we had learned that new didn’t mean better all the time. Everything is going to break at some point. New. Used. Doesn’t matter. You’re going to have the same problems no matter what, and with the ability to remodel these days, preowned was a no-brainer. That’s where watching rvtrader.com like a hawk came into play. We were also going to have to upgrade in truck size to the dually to pull it off. This was yet another cost at the same time that would be significant.

Letting go of the house has been my biggest fear of this whole process. We recognize how extraordinarily blessed we are that we have options. We also recognized that the way we were living was also not doing us any favors. Working all the time, all the ‘stuff’ that just gathers around us, meticulous financial jenga to keep up with it all. Enough was enough. With the entire world in a state of spinning upset on a daily basis, we wanted the chance to just hit the reset button. A few less bills we have to worry about. That sounds amazing right? Remember how I’m a type A planner? It’s terrifying to not have that back up plan I’m used to. We’re not just throwing some dropcloths over furniture and locking the door. To accomplish the reset we really want and doing it with enough financial stability and mental health capability, we knew we had to make huge sacrifices. We could keep the house and go smaller in the unit. Weighing pros and cons, it just didn’t make sense for us. The stresses would only compound and that defeats the purpose.

All of this to say: it takes time. Do your research. Make your choices. It isn’t easy. You’re going to make decisions you regret or turn out a bit differently than you imagined. (Man I HATED the shower in our travel trailer. It wasn’t worth it for me long term). It’s okay to grieve a bit over the changes, but change is hard. Change is scary. You just have to keep reminding yourself, for every ‘thing’ that goes in that dumpster or into the car of someone else, you get to replace it with a priceless memory. It’s just stuff. It’s just stuff. It’s just stuff. If I say it enough, I’ll make it through this. I know I will. You will too. We’re all in this thing called life together. Find your community. For this phase of our life it’s FullTime Families. Maybe we do this a year, maybe we do it five? I can always buy a couch in 5 years. I can go to 10 more booksales. I can always go to Target if I just can’t do without that thing after all. I can’t redo the years of my kids life before they realize just how uncool their parents are.