To RV or not to RV, That Is The Question

jplante4 wrote:
I can't believe the number of naysayers on this topic on an RV forum. If I never did the things that people told me I couldn't do, I would have never done anything.

Buy a used trailer that can be towed by a vehicle you own. Bring a tent for the kids. Set out on your trip. See the country instead of the inside of a hotel room. Breathe fresh air instead of worrying about germs on the TV remote. Everyone here started exactly where you are now. Unless they were born in an RV that is.

While I'd acknowledge it's quite easy to get in way over ones head with something you know absolutely nothing about, in this case RVing, I'd tend to agree with the above. We ourselves knew absolutely nothing about this back in the late 90s but we did know that the kind of long distance traveling, staying in motels, eating out all the time that we had been doing as a couple, was going to be a LOT more costly once our 2 boys came along. Somehow I clued into the idea of a tent trailer and over time began to look around, finding an almost new Jayco 10' popup nearby that we ultimately purchased privately for 2/3rds the cost of a new model and which we could safely tow with our then existing Caravan. I knew nothing but we used that camper extensively that first summer, towing it all the way from here in S Ontario to Myrtle Beach, countless places in between, and here to quite a few of our Ontario provincial parks. We had a blast, our boys had a blast, so much so that we sold that camper in the fall for what we had paid for it and purchased a more fully equipped Fleetwood Santa Fe, a camper that we ultimately owned for 6 years, camped in well over 200 nights, and towed at least 30,000 miles, as far out as Yellowstone on a 4 week trip. With a little common sense no disasters occurred and we enjoyed countless experiences we otherwise would not have. Would I do it again with such limited experience with a travel trailer? - probably not, a popup is about as simple as it can get but is a quantum leap up from sleeping on the ground in a tent, certainly the easiest form of trailer to tow, can be equipped with an A/C for comfort, and also certainly could be re-sold later with minimal loss in investment, certainly far less than any travel trailer. For a family of four a popup in my experience just can't be beat for the type of adventure he has in mind. I'd forget the tent, that's just another unnecessary frill the OP doesn't need. It all starts with the tow vehicle though so decide what you can realistically tow and go from there. :B