Ann ... are you going to be traveling/camping alone or will there be two of you?
The length you get should not be determined only by what's allowed in the campsites you may want to use. It should also - and probably more importantly for safety and emergencies - be determined by the type of roads you need to use to get to the campsites.
Myself and my wife have RV'd for 17 years in a 24 ft. Class C with no slides, and have been completely satisfied with it. We take it carefully on dirt/gravel roads to explore and camp as needed.
If it's just a small Class C for yourself, here's what I would recommend:
- Choose a slideless model to maximize overall coach reliability.
- Choose a model with high stock ground clearance ... this probably means being built on the Ford or Chevy full size van cutaway chassis instead of the various smaller van chassis such as the Ford Transit, RAM ProMaster, Mercedes Sprinter, etc.. These smaller chassis can be "lifted" of course, but their ground clearance is not very good when left in stock form.
- For a good feeling of "room/comfort" in a small Class C, get a model with BOTH ... either a separate lounge chair from the dinette and/or cab chairs that can be retrofitted to swivel arond to face the coach, PLUS coming stock with a standard dinette seating/table area.
- After purchase have the dinette seating area retrofitted with two full sized tilt-back/foot rest lounge chairs with a small table between them.
- Finally, if it's only yourself living in this small Class C ... sleep in the rear bed and use the overhead cab bed for a whole bunch of storage space.
When combineed with a built-in generator fueled by the main chassis fuel tank, a large-as-possible solar panel array on the roof combined with lithium coach batteries, a good heating system, a large enough air conditioning system, and a satellite based Internet access system ... you have a small enough Class C to access most campsites in the U.S. while at the same time having all the comforts of home out in the middle of nowhere.
P.S. For improved access to even more small/intimate/remote camping areas in a larger variety of weather conditions ... after purchase you can have a four wheel drive system added to it.
