Confused and Frustrated

If you are going to mostly set up in one spot for months at a time, a trailer is good. But if you are going to be highly mobile, seeing the country, if you are going to be traveling a lot like you say, I would consider a truck camper. 1, 2, or 3 slide.

Advantages:
Almost no set up/tear down when you stop for the night, or when you leave.
You can park just about anywhere a car parks;
Easy to pull off the road suddenly when you see something of interest, or make a quick turn around and go back to it;
Capable of off roading for great boondocking opportunities.
You don't need to tow a car because you have the truck;
Only 1 vehicle, 1 engine, 1 set of tires to maintain.
In many states, the truck camper has no licence, registration, or annual tax.
Most of the time, you just leave the camper on the truck, and take your food, your clothes, your bed, and your bathroom with you when you go sightseeing, shopping or on day trips.
You can easily take the camper off if you want to leave it at a campground and go somewhere without it.
When the truck needs service, take the camper off in the parking lot of the service garage and stay in it while they service the truck.
Truck campers with slides often have more usable space than a class C.
The bigger truck campers have larger holding tanks than a typical class C, for boondocking//dry camping.

It is very worthwhile to check out some truck camper dealers like Lance, Eagle cap, Arctic Fox, and Host for some very full-time worthy campers.

Here is my camper in a single parking space at Coco Beach:



At the Griffith Observatory. No Class C or trailers were allowed, but pickup is:



Boondocking off road on public land in Wyoming:

Fancy Free

I just started full time life 2 months ago in a small class A Winnebago. I call it an A minor. I was considering a class C, but this model is the same price or less than a class C of comparable size (when you consider the class C driver's space as "dead space").

That said, my plan was to be traveling on the road to see more of the country and maybe pick an area where I want to retire. Dallas is a nice place to work, but I wouldn't want to live there. I'm in NW Arkansas right now and you can rent nice 1-bedroom apartments here for about half the cost of Dallas.

I also considered a truck + trailer for years, but decided that if I was going to be moving from park to park a lot this would be easier, and it is. A truck + trailer is cheaper than a motorhome + toad. I'd say about 20% cheaper. That is if you spend $100K on a motorhome + toad you would get about the same space and comfort for $80K in a truck + trailer.

The down side to all of this is the expense. I am wearing out from the constant drip, drip, drip of money here at the beginning. I'm hoping it will get better and I will be glad I rode it out. To paraphrase the long gone Senator Dirksen, "A thousand here and a thousand there and pretty soon you're talking real money."

The only thing I would add, no matter which way you go, is do as others say and go the rental route first, and don't just go to an RV show, go to several of them, and no matter what, DON'T be in a hurry.

Big Katuna wrote:
Class C and toad vs TT and toad vehicle. I’ve had them all.
A toad is way easier to hook up than a TT to a truck. You drive your toad up to the RV. No precise backing, sliding arms. Easy by yourself.

My main complaint with a truck and TT is that when you unhook, you are stuck with a big ole gas guzzling truck that’s not much fun to park. Two drive trains? Tow a Honda. No pain. Now your driving around a nimble gas sipping small SUV.

Of course it depends on where you go and your lifestyle and how much you drive around. We drive around almost daily.
We like visiting museums, restaurants, church festivals etc.

I've done it every way possible, pop-up, travel trailer, class C, class A gas and diesel. I agree with your take on this question. I have a class A pulling a Honda at the moment, and can't see going back to a trailer of any kind. We are constantly on the go, once the motorhome is parked and set up. Nothing for us to travel a hundred miles, or more every day, while out exploring. The economy, nimbleness, and hassle free experience of zipping around in a compact SUV is IMHO, a whole lot better than trying to navigate a 20' long, one ton, or worse yet, dually pickup. When it comes to some places we hang out in,like Charleston, Savannah and New Orleans, the last thing you want to be stuck in is a giant truck, on the many streets where a land whale like that barely fits. Funny how often we end up camping with our many fifth wheel owning friends, and they all up with the same comment when it's time to do something fun, "do you mind if we ride along with you?"

Full time means your motor or transmission or something related to the driving part will have to go into the shop at some point. Even mechanics cannot do many things "on the road" due to not having the tools or shop as if they were at their home garage...

A trailer can be parked and then the tow vehicle, usually a truck, but suv also, can be driven like a regular person drives, or towed to the shop.

A truck can be towed by any tow truck, and a trailer can be towed by any tow truck, and sometime the driver can use a flatbed for truck and tow the trailer behind the same tow truck (ask me how I know).
A class C, even a small one, CAN be towed, but most large tow companies refuse it or have to bring in a very big truck, usually a big flatbed, and drag the motorhome up onto a 4 foot high platform and drive it to the shop.
So, harder to get a tow truck for a motorhome than truck and trailer. I had to sit in a parking lot for two days trying to get a tow truck to pick me up once (I had a truck camper, which is a motorhome as far as towing is concerned).

As others mentioned, being able to drop the trailer and go drive around, especially in some national parks, is a huge plus. Full timers will end up parking/staying in one spot for longer periods than vacationers, so likely you plan to have safe spots to be able to just leave the trailer and go shopping or driving without your home behind you.

Vehicles, even motorhomes, lose value with age and lose value with every additional mile you rack up. Trailers hold value based on their condition, and age is a smaller factor. Another vote from me for a separate trailer.

Towing a car behind a motor home means now you have two vehicles to keep up, two vehicles to insure, two vehicles to pay taxes on, and a car is heavy, even a small one so will ultimately put the motorhome into the shop sooner than later from the stress of towing it.... If you are towing the car on its own wheels then that car will rack up the miles even though it is not running, and those miles count the same to a buyer if it was driven or towed. Possible to put 100.000 miles on a car that has never been driven this way. Maybe some cars do not count miles if the vehicle is off, I do not know for sure... If towing the drive wheels on a tow dolly then you avoid this, but you cannot back up a tow dolly with a car on it more than a few feet. Total pain in the neck, and you do not want this full time. Another vote for truck and trailer, one vehicle.

With a motorhome you can panic and drive away, but a trailer you have to get out to get in truck. If you want to live in RV, you can't be this sissy. Reality check, escape is not something to consider, it is just not something very high on the list of reality. If someone is after you then that glass drivers side window is not going to protect you either in he time it takes to start up and put it in gear. You can't always escape an attacker.
Better to come up with self defense protection you can have from your bed.

When the vehicle wears out and the trailer is still in great shape.... trade in truck for new truck and drive away with your old trailer....

Also, get the smallest trailer you can live with. Big giant 5th wheels is great for going to an rv park for a vacation, but the reality of driving with a trailer all the time is that a smaller one is easier to drive, fits in parking places easier, turns around easier, is easier to maintain on the outside, is lighter so less wear on truck, fits in places better (you will not always be in a campground, maybe a friends driveway and they will appreciate a small rig), is lighter so less wear on the trailer tires (less trailer tire expense), can be towed by said tow truck driver, and will give you better gas mileage so you feel more free to roam.
Narrow is better than wide. 7 foot wide is better than 8 foot wide. mpg will benefit. Narrow is easier to see behind with mirrors too.
Same goes for trailer height.

I suggest a tow vehicle with a lot of storage. You can store stuff here, and store stuff that you can take with you if you do drop the trailer off and go drive without it for any reason.

I have had, and traveled in a lot all of: one Class C, two truck campers, and 3 trailers. I vote for trailer.

Class C and toad vs TT and toad vehicle. I’ve had them all.
A toad is way easier to hook up than a TT to a truck. You drive your toad up to the RV. No precise backing, sliding arms. Easy by yourself.

My main complaint with a truck and TT is that when you unhook, you are stuck with a big ole gas guzzling truck that’s not much fun to park. Two drive trains? Tow a Honda. No pain. Now your driving around a nimble gas sipping small SUV.

Of course it depends on where you go and your lifestyle and how much you drive around. We drive around almost daily.
We like visiting museums, restaurants, church festivals etc.

Towable one vehicle to maintain. You have more room to full time in a towable. Buddy with a Class A is always in my 5W as there's more room, both are 35ft.

No advise other than, we went looking. Went into several rv's and for some reason the class A just felt like us. It kind of grabbed us, so we knew that was what we should buy. Go tour some trailers, fifth wheels, class c, class a . Maybe you will be drawn to something in particular over and over - that will tell you. Doesn't have to be new ones either. Buy the best used, but quality one you can afford.

"Different strokes for different folks". That's why there are so many different varieties of RVs out there for sale. As for us, my wife and I have been RVing for 34 year and have always owned motorhomes and towed a car.

As has been suggested, we initially rented motorhomes (3) before we decided to buy. Always good advice. Also when the RV shows start happening again, go and check out different rigs for size and livability. Again, some folks are happy with 25' of space and others need 40'. Only you can decide what would work best for you.