YCGL - A New Adventure - June 19-25, 2022

 YCGL - A New Adventure - June 19-July 5, 2022

Hello Dear Friends, Welcome to the craziness!

I've said several times that the motorhome, as great as it is, is just too big.  So I've been searching for an alternative.  Here are some criteria I want to have in the next RV.  

1.  I want it smaller.  The motorhome is 31 feet long and the Chevy Sonic with the hitch is nearly 20 feet, so I'm right about 50 feet total.  (I know, my brother's Class A and his trailer, on which he hauls a rock-climbing Jeep and a Smart Car, is right at 65 feet, so mine seems tiny to him.)  I'm looking for a trailer about 17-20 feet long.

2.  I want it to be Four Seasons.  (Luxury like the Hotel chain would be nice, but probably not necessary.)  Not just the summer and late spring and early fall.  I want to be able to take it most anywhere and most any time.  Go to Portland in November?  Sure.  Phoenix in February?  You bet.  Montgomery, Texas in July....well, let's not go overboard with this...but good insulation means moderating cold and hot, so, why not? The undercarriage should be sealed and insulated. 

3.  A full-sized queen bed in an island (Cozumel would be nice, but in RV beds, it just means it's free-standing and not stuck up against a corner.)  Our first motorhome's bed was in a corner with two half walls on the other sides.  Not only was it a pain to get in and out of in the middle of the night and climbing over Sally, but the previous owners had purchased a new mattress cut to the exact size of the opening, so you couldn't put sheets on it.  Plus it was always cold on my side.  This really controls the size of the trailer, because you need to have almost 8 feet for just the bed.  

4.  High clearance for getting into some more remote locations.  (Like the one Sally and I found when we went boondocking in the motorhome.)  Along with this, a solid frame and good suspension.  

5.  Large insulated tanks for fresh, black and grey water. 

6,  Space on the roof for multiple solar panels.

7.  Lithium Iron Phosphate battery installed or capable.  

8. Reasonable closet space is always nice.  We were spoiled in that our motorhome had a full wall of closet space.  It also had almost 15 feet of upper cabinets.  It had a lot of storage.  

9.  Either a fridge/freezer that was good to 0F or a 12V condenser Fridge.  I'd prefer a 12V, but you need a good amount of solar panels to keep them going when you are off grid.  Most ammonia based refrigerators start to freeze at 30 degrees F.

Sooo, There are only about four manufacturers in the US that make these types of trailers, Lance, Nash, Arctic Fox (owned by Nash) and Outdoor RV.  Liz and I actually looked at an Outdoor RV when I was in Portland in the fall.  A brand new company, Ember has one in their lineup that matches this, but by the time you get it all assembled, we were looking at $60,000 plus, with no used market, so they don't count.  These trailers don't come up for sale often.  They are pricey, so the people that buy them know what they are looking for and keep them for the long haul.  

Anyway, I was on line on June 19 scanning what was there within a 1000 miles of Laramie.  Lo and Behold, a 2020 Outdoor RV 21RBS popped up in Denver at Windish RV.  The next day, I called and talked to a salesman who was familiar with it, and I set up an appointment for the following Saturday, June 25th, when I was going to be in Denver to fly down to Texas and visit my brothers and wives and offspring.  By the way, there were only five or six of them, new and used, between Nebraska and the west coast.  There just aren't that many for sale.  This was a real find.

That left me with one little problem.  I didn't have anything to tow it with.  Our 2008 RAV4 didn't even have a hitch on it and certainly not the power.  So, between that Monday and Friday, I had to find a pick-um-up truck that could pull it.  

Reviewing a lot of sources, and really my long time preference, I decided on a RAM pickup (RAM became independent from Dodge in 2009).  My initial goal was a small pickup, like a Toyota Tacoma but nothing in that class of trucks had the towing capacity.  After doing a search for used RAM in a 100 mile radius, I decided that my local dealer had as good a selection as anyone, plus I like to buy local if possible.  As I went through their inventory, I selected a model and went to look at it.  It didn't have a hitch.  Who buys a pickup without a hitch, especially in farm/ranch country?  Rentatl agencies...  The next one was really cute, but didn't have the towing capacity.  Wednesday's truck didn't have a hitch again.  (One of the things I'm looking carefully is the mileage.  Most of the trucks I've looked at have over 120,000 miles.  It's trade-in time for a reason.)   

The next model up was an Eco-Diesel.  I didn't want a diesel truck ever.  Diesel pumps are harder to find (but the Gas-Buddy app helps that).  They are loud, they smell like diesel.  But they have a lot of low end torque which is what you need when you are starting from zero mph.  I took it for a test drive.  It was quiet in the cab.  It was not a dog to drive.  The air conditioner worked a lot better than the Sonic's.  And its got 76,000 miles on it, just past broken in for diesel engine.  And since it was the "Laramie" trim model, I decided to get it.

I haven't driven a pickup much over the years, on rare occasion for research projects.  This is not like the pickup of old.  It's two high steps to get it, and looking out ahead, I feel like I'm driving a semi cab.  It just feels huge!  I know I'll get used to it.  Thank goodness it's a short bed.  

So, I saw the trailer on June 19th, purchased the truck on June 24th and the trailer on June 25th.  Believe me, not much else happened that week.  

Did I mention it's an Eco-Diesel.  Driving down to Denver, back home on July 3rd, and back to Denver on Wednesday, July 5th, I averaged 24 miles to a gallon of diesel.  Pulling the trailer back home dropped it to 19 mpg.  This is compared to the motorhome, which averaged 7.4 mpg on the Arizona and Minnesota trips.  I got it home and my next door neighbor saw me trying to back it into the driveway.  I made it about the 3rd try.  I was feeling pretty good about things by this point.  

How well did it check the boxes?

1. Smaller - Yes.  The cabin is 21 feet and the trailer including the hitch is 24 feet.  The overall length including the pickup is 46 feet, four feet shorter than the motorhome.  And since it is articulated in the center, it tracks better.  Much improved!

2.  Four seasons - Yes

3. Full sized queen island bed - Yes

4. High Clearance - Yes

5.  Large tanks - Yes.  The fresh water tank is 78 gallons, and the black and grey tanks are 40 gallons.  They are the biggest I know of.  And they are located inside the trailer and heated directly with the heater.  

6.  Solar ready - Yes, in fact, there is a 170 watt solar panel on the roof and space for two more.  There is also a connection for two panels like the ones I have on the ground.  

7.  Lithium batteries - No.  I'm going to have to do some work to make it compatible.  But there is plenty of room for the batteries and the 2000 watt inverter inside the cabin under the bed.  

8.  Closet space - Yes and No.  I've lost a lot of clothes closet, but I knew I would.  It was one of the best points of the motorhome.  OTOH, it has more useful closet and storage space than I anticipated, so I'm 50/50 on that count.  

9.  Refrigerator - Yes.  It has an zero degree ammonia refridge.  

It made the decision to buy instead of building rather easy.  Something that close you should buy  and use.  I'm going to.  

What's crazy is that I had Chinese food on Monday, 21st.  I got two fortune cookies.  The second one I opened said:

So much fun that I got two of them, the truck and the trailer both have four wheels!