From the wording of your original post, I understood that having a "huge" living space was not your primary goal. We lived for 13 months in a 21' Class C, traveling for my husband's job and homeschooling a 13 yr. old. Now we have a 31' 5er and a big truck to pull it, purchased in anticipation of retiring a little early and workkamping, hosting, etc. Instead, we have our 15 yr. old granddaughter living with us and plans are on hold. I would love to have our Class C back! A few considerations I haven't seen mentioned:
If you are able to plan ahead, you will have better luck finding a site in a big rig, but pulling into a public lands camping area in a 40' really limits your choices, and may not be possible without a reservation. Many times you aren't allowed to reserve if it is within 10 days or so of your arrival. So, if you like to be "spur of the moment", you may find it harder in a big rig. Also, obviously it is more costly to pull a huge trailer, but also, many sites that you will fit in, will be full hook-up. Even if you don't need it you will be charged for the full price. Fees for ferries, tunnels, toll roads, all will be greater, some substantially so. We did a trip on the Alaska ferry system in our small rig, but it would cost us almost twice as much now. I really loved just pulling out somewhere and being able to camp, so I lean toward "smaller is better" but we each have our own idea of what meets our needs and what we are willing to trade off. We have been many places in our tent camping days, that we could not go now, and even were limited in our 21' vehicle.
