Totally agree that the costs will probably not be a savings... in all honesty, it's a nice to idea to "trade dollars for dollars" to help finance seeing the grand canyon, Portland, Washington, Utah, you follow?
Let's say for sake of argument, that hitting all shows each year costs me an average of 1200 per month (mind you, we pull in income at the shows for sure)...
So let's now say that by driving, my expense is crazy, 2000 per month on average. That's 800 per month MORE, ouch.. $9600 more.
but what if I told you, Hey buddy, for 9600 dollars, You can go to the grand canyon, san fran, arizona, portland, washington, chicago, atlanta, six flags, epcot center, and a bunch of other places too, oh and some camping, and some fishing, how about nashville? That 9600 all of sudden seems cheap for that kind of vacation... You might easily pay half that for one inclusive vacation or cruise ya know.
I also agree that with either route (MH vs 5th) that you will end up with at least SOME equity, vs plane travel where your cash is h.i.s.t.o.r.y
I'm really warming up to the 5th wheel. Having a lap top mount for the passenger, and verizon service or something in the truck and trailer would be very helpful.
My other concern with the 5th wheel is what if we do have to park the 5th a ways away, and drive our goods in with an open bed, and it's raining or something. I betcha I could fit it all under a cover.... with inventory in the double cab.
At each show, our inventory fits nicely into two to three large plastic tubs, and I could fit them into the back seat of a crew cab, eveyrthing else in the pickup bed.
I know in my range rover, I can fit everything (close to barely!) in the back with the seats folded up. What I hate about my RR is when it breaks, it's expensive to work on! We've rolled up about 110k miles on it, when the air suspension went out, that hurt.
And I'm also very worried about towing it... if that transmission takes a dump, or an air bag goes out, you're in for a very expensive fix - where as a van, or a chevy truck, or heck even a towed jeep patriot, is far easier to fix.
If your range rover takes a dump in a rural area, you're even worse off. Even here in Houston, there's only 3 places that work on them.
