Decision Time
With everything coming towards us at breakneck speed, we had to get our ducks in row quickly. Listing day for the house was coming too fast and the move to our mountain base camp was just around the corner. Our lives were on a trajectory to change from top to bottom and side to side, ready or not, and we were struggling to stay on that ‘ready’ side of things. There was still one major decision we had yet to make that would determine 90% of the next steps. Just how were we going to get ourselves around the country to see and do all of the things?
RV decision time had come. Did we know what we were looking for? Kind of. I had been watching YouTube pros and cons videos about various rigs from various creators and taking lots of notes and my opinions had run the gamut from “well that would be super cool”, all the way down to, “I think those people have lost their minds”.
Please know it’s not hyperbole when I say the choices out there are endless. Big, small, pullable, driveable, packable, basic, loaded, etc. There really IS something for everyone. If you haven’t found one that makes you want to grab your camp chair and hit the road, either this lifestyle just isn’t your tank of gas, you haven’t yet exhausted your available options.
Now, how would we go about this and where would we start? Even more importantly, how would we keep them all straight in our minds? What was going to keep them all from just running together into one big “Which One was that Again?” stew? I’ll save you some thought here. There isn’t a way. It will happen and my best advice is to take good notes and photos.
Over many months we looked at and walked through countless styles, brands, floorplans and so on and they did indeed start to run together. Then, we looked at even more. The only ace in our pocket was having a better idea of what we didn’t want than what we did. At least I had some strong ideas here.
When I was little, my family dry camped a few times each summer up at Lake Oahe in South Dakota. It’s a beautiful place in its own way offered tons of fun water activities. We had a tiny trailer, you know the itty bitty oval shaped one from the 60s and 70s with no frills, even less comfort, and most importantly, at least in my book, zero AC and plumbing. That’s not fun. That’s a chore.
I’m sure there is and was a name for those pullable roly poly rocks, but I never have known the official name beyond the one I personally slapped on ours – The Mobile Misery Machine. (Yep, I grew up in the Scooby era.)
I mean, it really wasn’t always that bad, and plenty of fun was had, but I was never a big fan of the overall “camping” vibe. The MMM was old when it joined our family, and older when it left. It was complete with a bright orange and brown worn upholstered dining area with a wobbly table, aka my bed, a dinky centrally located sink, and a sofa that ran the entire width of the back of the camper that pulled out into my parents’ bed. Having an air conditioner would have been a major plus as it was always hot. (Yes, SD gets super hot.) And windy. And hot. I don’t like to be hot. Like, at all.
The MMM smelled old and musty no matter how much you aired it out and cleaned it. It rattled and shook with every step anyone took. My mom, however, loved it, to put it mildly, and spent hours getting it cleaned out and packed to the gills each season for every trip to the lake – hot dogs, eggs, kabob makings, bacon, hamburgers, chips, Oreos, Dr. Pepper and my mom’s favorite to this day, Cheetos.
Now, don’t misunderstand me. I loved going to the lake, swimming in the chilly water, boating, and ‘drying out’ huddled with friends in damp towels on lawn chairs with plastic tubing. What I didn’t understand was why we needed to sleep there like we didn’t have a nice cozy house with all the comforts of home.
Was it really necessary to hike uphill to a fatally stinky port-a-potty? They were delightful. Really. Not only did you have to drag open the worlds’ heaviest steel door and duck under the plentiful flies and bugs to get through the door, but you always had to knock first because nearly all the locks were broken (probably since the dawn of time) and no locking doors meant you had to pee like the wind and make a mad dash to reassemble and pull up your My Little Pony suit, being careful to get your arms and head back through the correct straps and holes before someone else’s bladder reached the point of desperation. AND, if you forgot to bring an emergency fistfull of TP, well, you were just done for. Game over. But I digress, back to more current days.
Tiaras and Toilet Paper
If you’re still with me chances are you remember some of the fun too, and have likely deduced what is important to me. I value comfort, as I’m not getting younger, air conditioning, as again, not getting younger, and plumbing. It’s 2026 folks and, in my opinion, plumbing counts as the eighth Wonder of the World. Digging holes and leaf wiping is just not fun or necessary. Besides, choosing your outdoor “paper” can be a tricky and potentially dangerous endeavor. Take, for example, that I have zero ability to identify a poison ivy plant from a dandelion green so well, there’s that.
Ryan and Shelby are much less concerned with creature comforts and would happily hike around in the trees pitching their tents, digging holes and living their best lives. Perhaps I am a bit of a princess, although I hardly believe that a fondness for toilet paper and AC qualifies one for royalty, but fine. I am who I am and I’m quite sure that even princesses should be able to see and experience the great USA from their rolling AC and plumbing equipt palaces.
Now that style has been established an more or less set in stone, where should we begin our search? My list was short but mighty…
- I wanted to be able to drive it.
- I needed indoor plumbing with at least a bath and half.
- Good air conditioning was a major must.
- Storage was a definite bonus
Ok, let’s start here.
Pull Behind Trailers – These are fine and I’m sure adequate, just not really the vibe we are looking for. They do have AC and plumbing but they just don’t seem as well built or as solid as some of the other options out there. I like sturdy. They also seem to me, a bit like pulling a literal loose cannon down the road. I’ve been behind too many fishy tailed trailers to feel secure from the driver’s seat or following one. Finally, I mentioned that our son lives in Wyoming where the wind blows almost as constantly as the sun shines, causing perpetual road closures and weight regulations for these lighter weight rigs.
Pass.
Class A – I love these drivable bus type motorhomes, and would prefer a diesel pusher. I mean the storage alone! Seemingly miles of it down below. I also really like being able to get up and use the restroom and get a snack while going down the road. Yes, I know you aren’t supposed to and I’m fully aware too that you aren’t supposed to do my next point either but again, I am who I am. We are also traveling with two cats and one old Bagel, (Beagle/Bassett mix) with bad breath and I’d like for them to be able to wander a bit and not be confined to a tiny carrier while squeezing into the backseat along with Shelby. And have I mentioned the panoramic views of the ‘wide as the horizon’ windshield? And lastly on the Class A’s pros list, available air-ride. Who wouldn’t want thier tush gliding over potholes? Definitely a contender.
Ok, now let’s explore the next option.
Class B – Another motorhome option. Some of these are amazing too, but not really a viable option for us due to space and amenities. Although super cute and often very cleverly designed, these are a hard pass for us. Maybe someday.
Onward.
Class C – These were high on our list. Drivable, check, AC, check, plumbing, check and still good storage, check. Class Cs have a wide and varied collection of offerings and many are exactly what we were looking for, but not all align with our hearts desires. While great for many campers and with a practicality that can absolutely not be denied, the older looking style of even the new ‘classic’ body styled Class C motorhomes, just aren’t for us. Ryan and I have grown up on ranches with beefy pickups and semi trucks, so downsizing to the more modest smaller pick-up truck types wasn’t an exciting choice for us.
However, all was not doom and gloom in the Class C realm. We fell in love with the newer Super C type truck options and looked at bunches. These were very strong contenders for us. We love the way they looked and that they checked almost all of the boxes. They held the most appeal for us both visually and for supporting the way we wanted to travel. Ryan has a CDL and is very comfortable behind the wheel of large trucks so the size and mannerisms of the Super C’s didn’t deter us. The price tag however did. We could buy used right? Yep, we sure could!
Sold! Right? Wait, right? Nope. Enter our third and most important consideration in this lifestyle change. The girl.
5th Wheel – While all options were great and had something to offer uniquely their own, the final decision came down to logistics for Shelby and she had a point – a very good one. She is 16, and needs some space, and trust me when I say, we do too. Did I mention she’s a teen? And even if she didn’t need her fair share of personal space she does need space for her things – clothes, personal items, and just a bit of room to make this adventure feel a bit more like her. We want buy in, remember? Unfortunately, in almost all the options we considered and RVs we walked through, and regardless of how many people the RVs slept, secondary substantial closet spaces were just not there and she was not interested in “bunking” it.
So, after a bit of gnashing of teeth on my part, (goodbye drivable, so sorry cats) we bought a bag of breath mints for the dog and went with the larger floorplan of the 2 bed, 2 bath Alliance 395DS 5th wheel.
Is this the right choice? We have no idea, but it’s a place to start in the vast parking lot of available RVs. When it comes down to it, the truth is, you just aren’t going to get everything on your want list and that’s ok. If we like this lifestyle, this won’t be the only RV we ever buy and we can try something new next time.
What is important is that we are all on this new journey together and that means we all need to give a little to get a little to ensure we all feel heard and involved. We all need to have a feeling of ownership and like we have a bit of skin in the game.
We will find out what works and we like, along with what just doesn’t and what we need to change. But for right now, all three of us are sitting at the family poker table and all three of us need to be able to shove all our chips to the center and feel good about our odds. Win, lose, or draw.