Trying to decide on whether or not to purchase-DECISION

[Crowe]

Looks like the RV bug has bitten us again. Found a 5th wheel we love and are ALMOST ready to pull the trigger. Issues keeping us from doing so:

1. Lack of site availability. From posts on here and doing my own research it appears sites are hard to come by. Don't want to purchase a unit then not be able to use it.

2. Possible resolution to #1-seasonal site if we can find one. Have contacted a campground we have loved in the past to check on their availability. As long as we can remove the trailer "at will" to go elsewhere we are leaning toward this. Which leads me to #3...

3. The dog. We aren't the kind to just sit at a campsite. We like to go exploring, hike, canoe, kayak, etc. Haven't found a cg yet that allows you to leave your dog at the site unattended, even if in the unit. I don't have any real issue with that because nobody wants to hear a dog bark all day but it does cause us some logistical issues. So, now onto #4.

4. The dog part deux: We have a wonderful boarding facility that's part of our vet's office. Our concern is not wanting to use the unit because we don't want to board the dog that much. Don't misunderstand me-we will take him weather and activity permitting but it's weighing heavy on our minds because during hot summer months he most likely won't come. Also we do plan on getting a puppy in July (assuming the breeding took).

My gut feel is that within the next year or two some of the availability issues will alleviate themselves when things (hopefully) get back to more normal and people are involved in regular activities once again.

Just kind of rambling but definitely open to any thoughts, other than "if your dog is quiet no one will know if he's there". Rules are there for a reason whether or not we like them. Thanks.

[PA12DRVR]

Crowe wrote:
After analyzing our situation for a week we opted not to buy the fifth wheel. Loved it, love the lifestyle but there were too many negatives that outweighed the positives for us, mostly the "work" that goes with it. Loading, unloading, hitch install & removal, storage of unit off-site, etc. There's still a "bucket list" of air travel we want to do and we just can't justify buying something to sit in storage while we fly places. We don't abide by the theory "if I can't drive to it I don't need to see it". There's too much in the world to see. I'm pretty certain this is it-we won't ever go back to it-but I've also learned to never say never.

Now entering my 7th decade...and having a fair amount of toys...I find that the wife and I gravitate to using the toys / doing the things that take the least amount of prep and takedown. Having the ol PA-12 set up for short flights around Los Anchorage, I'll decide to forego the longer flight to McKinley which adds at least an hour or two to the planning, gear selection, etc. Aside from it not being the ideal activity for Alaska, one of the reason we gave up on RV'ng was what felt to us like the disproportionate level of "pre- post- storage" type effort compared to time using it.

The challenge of course, which it seems like you're addressing well, is to continue to pursue interests rather than letting inertia become the dominant factor. Looks like you made the right decision for you.

[Bluhorn]

I think you made a wise choice not to get the RV. Its not the right time especially if you may get another Dog. You wont be happy leaving your pet in a Kennel I'm sure. When the time is right you will know it. Things will fall into place. Best Wishes!

[winnietrey]

Crowe wrote:
After analyzing our situation for a week we opted not to buy the fifth wheel. Loved it, love the lifestyle but there were too many negatives that outweighed the positives for us, mostly the "work" that goes with it. Loading, unloading, hitch install & removal, storage of unit off-site, etc. There's still a "bucket list" of air travel we want to do and we just can't justify buying something to sit in storage while we fly places. We don't abide by the theory "if I can't drive to it I don't need to see it". There's too much in the world to see. I'm pretty certain this is it-we won't ever go back to it-but I've also learned to never say never.

As the saying goes, for everything there is a season. With my late wife we Motorhomed for 15 years, and tent camped for many years before that. Wonderful memories.

But, the new GF is not real fond of that life style. and to be honest, I have kind of have had, my fill. I will not miss the upkeep and the work.

Going forward we will be doing fly and drives, renting cabins for a couple of weeks, that sort of thing

I look forward to these new adventures. In some ways I miss the MH, but in many ways I do not.

Enjoy the change and your new adventures

[philh]

Crowe wrote:
After analyzing our situation for a week we opted not to buy the fifth wheel. Loved it, love the lifestyle but there were too many negatives that outweighed the positives for us, mostly the "work" that goes with it. Loading, unloading, hitch install & removal, storage of unit off-site, etc. There's still a "bucket list" of air travel we want to do and we just can't justify buying something to sit in storage while we fly places. We don't abide by the theory "if I can't drive to it I don't need to see it". There's too much in the world to see. I'm pretty certain this is it-we won't ever go back to it-but I've also learned to never say never.

It's literally a lifestyle choice. I spent way too much time on commercial airlines in the 90's and currently inactive private pilot. I HATE commercial flying, and will avoid it all costs.

We had a travel trailer and found a park not too far from our house that we bought a park model at. Two years ago we bought a TT and then a new park model. TT was used for week or longer trips. We just ordered a new 5th wheel and sold the TT.

I have zero desire to travel the world, there is a lot to see in this beautiful country.

If you're having this much consternation and don't want to give up international or far flung domestic destinations, then RV lifestyle may not be for you.

[Crowe]

After analyzing our situation for a week we opted not to buy the fifth wheel. Loved it, love the lifestyle but there were too many negatives that outweighed the positives for us, mostly the "work" that goes with it. Loading, unloading, hitch install & removal, storage of unit off-site, etc. There's still a "bucket list" of air travel we want to do and we just can't justify buying something to sit in storage while we fly places. We don't abide by the theory "if I can't drive to it I don't need to see it". There's too much in the world to see. I'm pretty certain this is it-we won't ever go back to it-but I've also learned to never say never.

[Crowe]

Still going back and forth. Dealer answered questions favorably. 25% off MSRP. Just can't decide if we'll use it enough. Analysis paralysis!

[blaczero]

Just spent the first 3 weeks of March in FL. 36' travel trailer. No issues finding a campground, but each was pretty packed.

Thousand Trails and Encore properties.

[Crowe]

Not sure what you are asking. The campgrounds you want to visit don't allow dogs left unattended, you aren't open to the possibility of leaving a quiet dog in the camper. Sounds like you have answered your own question.

There wasn't a question, just a ramble. If the rules state "no unattended dogs even in unit" I won't do it. It's the people who do so that can change a dog-friendly park to no pets allowed. If it doesn't specifically state if it includes inside the unit I'll ask. We've worked out that dog(s) will come some of the time and sometimes they won't. Jake is aging rapidly and we don't even know how long he'll be around.

You can get pretty creative finding places to camp, do some Internet searches of the areas of interest for campgrounds and see what pops up..

Yup, started doing that last night. Time to get out of the comfort zone. Did find more availability than I expected but my concern is if I don't act fast we'll wind up shut out. Have found storage, which is half the battle. Just waiting on the salesman to answer a few more questions. We decided so quickly the unit we saw was what we wanted we didn't pay attention to stupid things, like if it has A/C and if the fridge runs on propane. I think it kind of shocked us to decide so fast.

[Gdetrailer]

Crowe wrote:

PA12DRVR wrote:
Don't have a dog in this hunt 🙂 but one thought I'd offer is to do stuff when the urge strikes you....not that I'm old at all nor barred from doing "stuff" but for quite a few years during my Tejas exile, I told myself "I'll do more of *** whatever *** when I get back to AK". Only to find that the passage of time meant that either the state or I or both had changed to the point that doing whatever was no longer feasible or it was not as enjoyable as presumed.

If the relevant timeline is either now or in the fall, probably not a factor, but as time goes on, negative inertia has an increasingly strong effect, often to one's detriment.

Opinion only.......

Agree. 100%. Only 60 but my mom was 55 when she died and husband's father was 52 when he died. Life is short.

We are 1 step closer to buying now. Looked at the dealer website and the unit we looked at was now labeled "Blowout, RV Show Price" so I called. Price dropped by 25% so we are now VERY much interested rather than wait as the price will only go up. Checked a few more campgrounds and there is sporadic availability-will just have to not be as fussy as in the past. One hurdle left before we pull the trigger-storage. Can't store in yard-original covenants say no but even though they aren't enforceable now we don't want to be "the ones". Also don't want it taking up so much of the driveway/yard. Will keep y'all posted!

If it something you wish to do and it is affordable and you are comfortable having something that you don't use every weekend and you can find a place to store it when not in use, then why not?

RVs = Recreational Vehicle

It is for your "recreational time", time to leave the everyday hassles of a job behind for a few days or weeks and reset your mind.

Not "everyone" that owns a RV has the ability to use it every weekend and that is fine.

We use ours a total of 2 weeks every summer and that is in one lump sum, not spread out over a bunch of weekends. Scheduling conflicts, distance to and from where we like to go makes it impossible for my family to camp weekends.. A 14hr one way trip then add in setup/teardown eats up 2 days out of our trip so we are plenty happy to camp once a season and our RV sits doing nothing 50 weeks out of the yr.

I realize you also have your "favorite" haunts you would like to camp at but for this season you may be a bit late to the plate at those. So you may need to consider thinking outside of the box and locate less busy places a bit further away from your normal places and if it means you only get to camp once or twice a season, roll with it!..

For us, the main place we like to go to gets extremely busy during summer. At one time before our DD was born we used to go there just before summer rates started, it was less busy and lower prices.. Once DD got in school, we have not been able to do that.. We have to book our site about 6 months ahead.. Some popular places you may need to book a yr or so ahead..

You can get pretty creative finding places to camp, do some Internet searches of the areas of interest for campgrounds and see what pops up..

[spoon059]

Crowe wrote:
Just kind of rambling but definitely open to any thoughts, other than "if your dog is quiet no one will know if he's there". Rules are there for a reason whether or not we like them. Thanks.

Not sure what you are asking. The campgrounds you want to visit don't allow dogs left unattended, you aren't open to the possibility of leaving a quiet dog in the camper. Sounds like you have answered your own question.

We, on the other hand, have a small IP camera in our camper. We put our dogs in a cage while we are gone, give them comfy beds and blankets and turn the radio on for ambient noise. We have the IP camera that will give us sound alerts if the dogs bark loud enough to trigger the camera. We can then decide to speak to the dogs through the camera or return to the camper.

We bought a camper to allow us to travel with our dogs. I can't take them to the beach with us, can't take them on a friends boat with us, can't take them to the grocery store, etc etc. There are times when dogs need to be left alone. We don't leave them all day, and we certainly don't leave them unattended outside.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Crowe wrote:

Not trying to start an argument, but if you aren't there how do you know for certain that they aren't barking? If the rules state no dogs left unattended then I will not leave my dog unattended. It's that simple because then the next step the cg may take is no dogs at all.

Maybe things are changing, but in my experience, many of the rules say you can't leave your dog *outdoors* unattended?

We've always found KOAs to be dog-friendly; plus State Parks. If those are booked full - look for county-run or municipal parks; or even Federal land if you can live without power for a bit?

[Crowe]

PA12DRVR wrote:
Don't have a dog in this hunt 🙂 but one thought I'd offer is to do stuff when the urge strikes you....not that I'm old at all nor barred from doing "stuff" but for quite a few years during my Tejas exile, I told myself "I'll do more of *** whatever *** when I get back to AK". Only to find that the passage of time meant that either the state or I or both had changed to the point that doing whatever was no longer feasible or it was not as enjoyable as presumed.

If the relevant timeline is either now or in the fall, probably not a factor, but as time goes on, negative inertia has an increasingly strong effect, often to one's detriment.

Opinion only.......

Agree. 100%. Only 60 but my mom was 55 when she died and husband's father was 52 when he died. Life is short.

We are 1 step closer to buying now. Looked at the dealer website and the unit we looked at was now labeled "Blowout, RV Show Price" so I called. Price dropped by 25% so we are now VERY much interested rather than wait as the price will only go up. Checked a few more campgrounds and there is sporadic availability-will just have to not be as fussy as in the past. One hurdle left before we pull the trigger-storage. Can't store in yard-original covenants say no but even though they aren't enforceable now we don't want to be "the ones". Also don't want it taking up so much of the driveway/yard. Will keep y'all posted!

[PA12DRVR]

Don't have a dog in this hunt 🙂 but one thought I'd offer is to do stuff when the urge strikes you....not that I'm old at all nor barred from doing "stuff" but for quite a few years during my Tejas exile, I told myself "I'll do more of *** whatever *** when I get back to AK". Only to find that the passage of time meant that either the state or I or both had changed to the point that doing whatever was no longer feasible or it was not as enjoyable as presumed.

If the relevant timeline is either now or in the fall, probably not a factor, but as time goes on, negative inertia has an increasingly strong effect, often to one's detriment.

Opinion only.......

[Gdetrailer]

Crowe wrote:

Campinfan wrote:
Not trying to say that our dog is quiet but what I found that works for all the dogs we ever had was to turn the AC fan to High (med and low work too) and even if the temp does not kick the AC on, the fan provides white noise for the dog and it has stopped all of them from barking. My wife likes to leave the radio or the TV on for them too.

Not trying to start an argument, but if you aren't there how do you know for certain that they aren't barking? If the rules state no dogs left unattended then I will not leave my dog unattended. It's that simple because then the next step the cg may take is no dogs at all.

I am gonna have to agree with Crowe, no way for you to know if the dogs are behaving or not when you leave unless you add some sort of IP camera to monitor them via your cell.

I can in fact attest to the fact that running a A/C does not always work to keep the dogs quiet..

I camp in the deep South in the summer where daytime temps often hit 95+ and that is on a cool day.. Running A/C 24/7 is pretty much a mandatory item when leaving dogs behind in a RV.. Without it those dogs wouldn't stand a chance after a couple of hrs locked up in a RV.

I am not trying to be mean and I am not against dogs but even the most well trained dog can easily get upset or anxious and not behave as trained at the slightest noise above what they are used to or when their master is not present..

Don't get me started on the radio/TV either, have endured a few campers that used that ploy and would leave the TV on at high volume plus the A/C running or the ones that leave the radio run but neglect to turn off the outdoor speakers for an entire day for their dogs..

RVs are not sound proof by any means, loud sounds from inside easily pass to the outside just as well as outside noise passing into a RV.