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Old 05-13-2017, 04:38 AM   #10 (permalink)
slowmover
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 2,442

2004 CTD - '04 DODGE RAM 2500 SLT
Team Cummins
90 day: 19.36 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1,422
Thanked 737 Times in 557 Posts
Lots of discussions on RV boards about budget. Some blogs out there, too. About half the cost of road trips is overnight accommodations with fuel the other half (this is quite rough).

Lack of potable water -- and hot water -- is Reason No. 1 for an RV. Being "self-contained". Allows one to stop nearly anywhere and still cook and bathe. The second most important RV system is propane. Without which, travel trailers and all wouldn't exist.

Reason No. 2 is all weather shelter. Tents are okay, and then suddenly they aren't. Illness and injury can be dealt with in hard shelter. Same for bad weather.

Reason No. 3 is food. A real sink, refrigerator/freezer and stove/oven completely outmatch a Coleman stove and an ice chest. Not to mention storage of canned goods, etc.

Reason No. 4 is privacy. The choice thereof. Don't discount it.

I am recommending a wider view, and from a fixed budget. Limited trips are satisfying. And then they aren't. The artificiality of "Nature" wears thin as a religious precept. (And it is). "Going on a trip" is too narrow. Too much is missed by this approach. ("I have to go home", is the problem).

I'm third generation with Airstream type trailers. Ditch the house, and get an older one that no longer depreciates. Ten years is break-in, and twenty-five needs a go through. Buy, renovate, and use then sell for what you have in it (again, rough).

Plenty of folks in mid 20s mpg wise. It's all about motivation.

It's also a subject with depth. Far more than I'll try to relay. But while a few years younger than you I saw those National Parks forty to fifty years ago. Traveling as above. What I'd like to do with time off isn't that different, but I've already known "how".

First principle is total cost, not mpg. My truck and trailer cost me just under $30k. I'll have half again that much into the trailer, but it's my full time accommodation. Fuel burn was a priority, but indefinite lifespan was higher. See where that goes? (User wider lens). You've a ten year window. Plan from that basis. Annual nights aboard is the cost divisor.

Escapees in Livingston, TX is a good place to start. An overview of life on the road from those doing it. Read deeply. You may say you don't want to be full time. At this point, you don't know what that means. (It isn't an either/or question).

For the nostalgic or whimsical side, see Tin Can Tourists.

On Airstream, www.airforums.com (AIR).

There isnt just one way to do something. The Internet makes easy to see how others have tried. Use it. Your desire is about a century old. The idea of "vacation" is for factory workers. Spare cash. Train travel. And millions of others also have it.

First step is to understand it. (So recognize that I backed into the subject by offering "solution" first. You've a need to understand the philosophical implications. "What is satisfaction?" Otherwise we wouldn't be in this thread).

A cheap to run car and tiny trailer is okay until one realizes there were other options. And for an equal or lesser amount of money, one could do (or have done) the same with a great deal more comfort, flexibility and options. Fewer limitations. And then to do more.

. The tool defines the use. Not otherwise

Best of luck in your researches.

In this vein you are not stuck with a pickup and a box trailer. That's for the ignorant. As are "retirement activities", "financial planning" and other attributes of debt servitude. Cut off the dog leash.

No one but the undertaker is impressed by a neat & tidy graveside service.

.

Last edited by slowmover; 05-13-2017 at 05:59 AM..
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