Looking to purchase a travel trailer

[sparkylola]

Hello, my name is Rose and I am retiring in one year, I have been looking at the Winnebago Minnie Winnie and Lance both seem to be all weather terrain durable, I just bought my Silverado 1500 LT to pull it so now I'm hoping to buy my first travel trailer at the end of the year, I am a single women traveling alone and know nothing about travel trailers but I am eager to learn and looking forward to traveling in my retirement years, meeting new people and seeing the sites of our planet!!! Does anyone have advise first of all on which of the 2 travel trailers are best. Thanks so much for any input you all may have.........:@

[PaulJ2]

We have a Lance 1685. As has been said, there is 100% access to the bathroom with the slide in. You are left with a 15 inch aisle with access to the sink, stove, frig, etc. Has large pass through storage under the front bed.

[SkiMore]

This is a blog about a single retired woman traveling with a small Trailer
http://rvsueandcrew.net/

[sparkylola]

I appreciate everyone's feed back, great advise...I will update everyone on my purchase and experience...

[depdrgrcr]

We just purchased a Lance 1985, absolutely love it. quality construction and a great floor plan. GVWR is 5700lbs. I shopped all other brands in this size and kept going back to Lance, it cost a little more but in my opinion its well worth it. We downsized from a 32 foot 5th wheel.

[4Kellys]

Sparkylola, we are almost neighbors. There are plenty of choices in our area. Pan Pacific is off El Camino in Sacramento, they carry the Creekside trailers made by Outdoors RV. Also Bill Eads RV in Rocklin carries the Nash trailers by Northwoods. Both are top of the line manufacturers, I would choose them over anyone imho. You can PM me if you need any help. I'm biased as we owned a Nash trailer prior to our new Outdoors Wind River. If your truck is stock without a lot of installed options then the yellow sticker on the door ' passengers and cargo should not exceed 'is a good idea of what your payload can be. That includes the Trailer tongue weight, hitch itself weight and cargo etc. in the truck. I would use a weight distributing hitch no matter the size of your trailer.

[fpmtngal]

I have Good Sam partly because I get discounts at the Flying J for fuel and propane (there's a Flying J close to the house). I've also used it at campgrounds and have been happy with the ones I've stayed at.

I also have a KOA card and more than made up for the cost this summer. Some of the places I stayed at were nicer than others, and one KOA which was very clean and well maintained, was older and had sort-of weird hook-ups. They all were fine for short stays, and the one I stayed at in West Glacier (in a deluxe pull through site) was one of the nicest places I stayed at while traveling through the western US and Canada. And I agree about the on-line reservation system - it works very well and is so easy to use.

I also have Passport America and recouped the cost of it this summer, though I only used it twice (once was off-season for 5 nights in Moab, a big savings). It has far more restrictions and I found it harder to use places, while Good Sam and KOA were easier.

I'm not particularly interested in membership campgrounds like TT, Coast to Coast, etc, though I realize that they are a good fit for some people. I stayed at one Coast to Coast campground in Kelowna, B.C. that was really lovely, sites had lots of room, all paved, 3 swimming pools, a small beach on a lake, along with their own dock, club house, baseball diamond, adult senior center, etc. But I don't need all that stuff, really - just a clean, safe place to stay with working utilities.

All of the clubs/memberships can be useful but only if you use them. I joined Good Sam even before I picked up the trailer - I'll probably recoup much of the annual cost just in gas savings at the Flying J because it's so convenient. So that one I'll continue to keep.

Until I stayed in Moab at the end of August, I thought that Passport America wasn't worth it for me, and I'm still not sure I'll get it again. I'm hoping to take another long trip this year, so will most likely renew my KOA card.

I didn't find getting used to the extra width of the trailer that big of a deal (I was very aware of it/scared about it before I actually towed my trailer). I have to use mirror extenders with my tow vehicle and that keeps me "honest" as far as width. My only other towing experience was with a horse trailer 30 years ago and only vaguely remembered, so I approached towing as a newbie. The big thing I remember from that experience is that you can't use your indoor back-up mirror, frightening for me the first time I tried to use it and all I could see was trailer! It's no problem using your wing mirrors.

I have an Anderson hitch and love it - I can carry the hitch head and stow it in the trailer's front storage compartment when I'm not using it, plus there's no bars to keep track of. It's simple to set up and works well for me, I don't have any experience with other WDHs.

[deltabravo]

I highly recommend a 7' wide trailer instead of an 8' wide, for someone that is new to towing, and for ease of maneuverability.

[sparkylola]

Thank you

[noonenosthis1]

Hi there, I see you are from Elk Grove. There is going to be an RV show at Alameda County Fairgrounds starting Jan. 7. There are lots of dealers there. There is always a show at Cal Expo too. We just recently bought our Cougar at Pan Pacific in Lathrop. I"m sure you have seen them just off of 5. That was a very nice experience. You can rent a trailer from several rv dealers just to see if this is what you really want. There is a nice KOA outside of Lodi, in the delta, and a nice RV Park just off of 5 in Lodi. We like to camp at Lake Camanche. Lake Camanche has an RV campgound, (Monument) and a long term RV campground but it also has places to dry camp (no hook ups). Good luck! I'll see ya down the road! 🙂

[hvac]

My suggestion is either all fiberglass or aluminium. Stay away from wood anywhere if possible. Top to bottom. Ask question s. Demand to know what's behind all the pretty stuff.

[Paleo_Ron]

I too am a solo traveler , although male. You might want to look at some of the fiberglass trailers such as Cassita, Scamp, Escape (what I have), etc. A 17 ft is very manageable for a single person and you won't have to worry about equalizer hitches, distribution bars etc. I pull mine with a Honda Ridgeline and just love my setup. There is a web site just for fiberglass trailer owners that you can Google. Have met several female owners, all happy campers.

[Clockman]

Sparklola, I have a Lance 1685, and its Great for 4 People , If I was you , I would look into the Lance 1475 or the 1575, Perfect for your 1/2 ton truck and you wont need any extention mirrors and mabee even no special hitches,,..Also, Lance made in Lancaster,ca so if you do have any issues, factory not too far away from you, that was the selling point for me, plus the Quality..

[rbpru]

We have Good Sams and and KOA. We save about 10 % or about 4.00 per night on a $40.00 full hook up campground.

Often this is when traveling to our destination and do not want to worry about what the park has to offer.

Our distination is usually a State or Federal Park where the nightly fee is much less, so the savings are not as important.

If you have kids and use the KOA amenities you will find it an even better option.

We stayed in a KOA in Las Vegas for several days and quickly recouped the cost.

If you only travel a few days a years or camp at inexpensive facilities it may not be worth it.

If you are just starting out and are not sure where or how you are going to camp, I would wait and see how often you would have used it after the first season.

[GrandpaKip]

gmw photos wrote:
I often use KOA for one night stops while traveling from one destination to another. Every KOA I have stayed in, met my expectations. Every one was clean and well run.

One thing I like about them is their online reservation system works correctly. By choosing where I am going to land for that night, I can lock in a reservation before departing in the morning. One advantage of this is usually I can lock in on the lowest price site in the campground. Sometimes if you just roll in late in the day with no res, the less expensive sites may already be taken.
I prefer sites that are back-in, away from crowded area, and usually all I need is electricity.
Having the KOA member card gets me a few dollars off each night.

Agree whole heartedly.