Looking for some advice...
But first, a little background information.
My wife and I have been married 10 years, are in our early 30's, and just had our first baby in August. We have 3 medium sized dogs, are all relatively active, and we have SOME experience living on boats/MH's/small spaces for short periods of time (usually two weeks or less) at a time.
We currently live in Texas, where I work a 7 day on/7 day off schedule as a pilot. My wife has always worked full time as well, but has taken her full maternity leave with the baby, and it's got us thinking...
We have some equity in our house, or could reasonably expect to rent it at or above our current cost (mortgage/insurance) and have started bouncing around the idea of living on the road for a while until our boy is old enough for school.
We're thinking, with my income, and maybe some supplemental income if she works part time during the days I'm on shift, we could utilize the week on/week off schedule to travel during my off weeks and live in a MH full time (maybe for a year at first, then see how things are going after that).
We fell in love with the Forest River Forester (25 ft on the Mercedes Sprinter chasis) at a recent show, but have been looking at other class C MH's (and a few sub 35 ft class A's) due to the fact that we have 3 dogs and a baby.
The real question, I guess, is are we completely crazy for considering living full time in a sub 35ft MH with 3 dogs and a baby (assuming we didn't actually set off until he's closer to a year old).
I estimate we'd be looking at covering 30,000 miles or so in a year, given that we'd have to start and end each week long trip in Texas for my work schedule, and working with a budget around $3,500 a month.
I figure we could finance (or pay cash if we sell the house rather than rent) a reasonable MH for $500 - $600 a month, and our living expenses are relatively minimal (food, personal, etc). But to get anywhere we'd want to go (Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas) without blowing our budget on fuel alone, we'd need something with decent fuel efficiency, and while we'd like to stay self sufficient a large part of the time, I realize we'd probably want the amenities of some nicer parks along the way as well.
Long question, I know, and I'm sorry, but I want to know if the reality of our dreaming is unrealistic, or if we could reasonably expect to afford, and more importantly enjoy, a year of life in a 35ft (or less) MH (minnie winnie/via) with 3 dogs and a baby on a $3500 a month budget?
Remember, we'd be in Texas every other week for my work, which would mean we'd basically be going on week long outings every other week, usually to places 300-800 miles away. There is potential for more income beyond $3500, but I'm using that budget to allow for some extra $ left over for unexpected expenses, etc.
Appreciate any advice or input you can throw our way, and don't hold back from the hard truths and realities.
Thanks in advance,
Crazy(?)