Roadtrip Images

We’ve been offline for awhile taking care of some things. Today’s post marks a restart of sorts…

We’ve been thinking it through for quite a while and finally decided that we needed a change. A change in our rig. Since January of 2017 we’ve been living and travelling in a Class A Diesel Pusher motor home. I intro’d that rig here. It was nice but ended up being a bit too big. There were a few too many places we couldn’t go because we were too big. There were also some places down some dirt roads that we didn’t go because a rig like that really needs to stay on the pavement. Not to mention the operating costs and the annual maintenance on a big rig like that. It ended up just not fitting the lifestyle we wanted. So it was time for a change.

We had looked at some fifth wheel RV’s in the past at some RV shows and really liked their floor plans. The kitchens were huge compared to the motor home with so much more counter space. Many even had an island in their design. The ceilings were quite a bit higher as well and that gave them a much more open feel. It all added up to a package that seemed to be more livable for what we wanted. The conventional wisdom was that the longer you full time in an RV, the more you gravitate to a Class A motor home. Well for us it was the opposite. With that decision made, we started shopping for a 5th wheel brand and model. We also needed a truck which meant selling the Jeep.

Since it was well into Spring by the time we made the firm decision to switch rigs, we decided to do it at our former home base in Northwest Michigan. We still had a storage unit there that needed to be dealt with. So we cleaned up the Motorhome, took pics of the outside and inside and placed it up for sale online. RV Trader was the platform I chose as it seemed to have the most listings and traffic.

We had a buyer after about three-four weeks so it put the pressure on to get the transactions done on the RV and truck.

There are so many brands of RV’s out there it will make your head spin. One of the initial filters we used to narrow the field was it needed to be warrantied for full time living. This eliminated a significant portion. RV’s are not known for their superior construction so getting one that was built sturdy enough for full timers was key. We then looked at a few of the most popular brands like Montana, Big Sky and Grand Design’s Solitude. All were in the “luxury” category of fifth wheels and all where certified for full time living. We also looked at a relatively new entrant from the Tiffen family, the Vanleigh Vilano. All of these had similar construction so it came down to floor plans and interior aesthetics. We also wanted to stay under 40′ so the 35′-40′ models were where we focused our attention.

Another resource we took advantage of was our proximity to the RV manufacturing facilities in Elkhart, IN. Most of the companies are based there and we were able to take factory tours to see how they were constructed. This was very informative. I also spent a lot of time online in the RV forums and Facebook owners groups to see what people were talking about for the various brands. Distilling all this down to a final selection took a lot of time and discussion between Karen and I. In the end we kept coming back to a specific floorplan of the Grand Design Solitude. It was the 37′ model 344GK. We really liked the kitchen layout and a unique feature that none of the other brands had. It included a desk along the back wall. That alone was almost a deciding factor since I need a place to edit my images with a full size desktop computer and monitor. We first saw this model in Arizona and then again in Texas as we made our way across the States over the late winter/early spring. We ended up working with Tyson Heath at General RV in Wayland, MI. He spent as much time with us as we needed to work out a great deal. Great people to work with at General RV. If you’re shopping for an RV and are anywhere near Grand Rapids, MI, contact Tyson. He knows his stuff.

Next step was to get a truck to pull this thing with.

Pickup truck brands have some really loyal customers. Some are sold on the Ford Super Duty while others insist the Dodge Ram with the Cummins diesel is the only worthy truck to buy. You can’t sway these folks from one brand to another. Facts don’t matter. Brand loyalty is very strong. I’ve owned lots of trucks. I started out with Fords and drove those for many years. I ended up switching to Chevy somewhere along the way because they had a better four wheel drive system at the time. I’ve been with them ever since. My last two trucks were 3/4 ton’s with the Duramax turbo diesel. They were amazingly reliable. I also liked the interiors of the Chevy better than the other two but that’s a very personal choice.

One key deciding factor was their towing capabilities. There is a famous competition online called the Ike Gauntlet that is very telling. It’s a tough heavy duty towing test of all three brands up and back down a steep section of I-70 that culminates at the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado at 11,000 feet. They measure the time it takes to get up the mountain as well as how well the engine brake works coming back down. To cut to the chase, Chevy wins the challenge and Ford comes in last. That was enough for me. I already liked the Chevy and the fact that it came out on top was confirmation enough.

The last decision point was single rear wheel (SRW) or dual rear wheel (DRW) or dually as they’re called. I already knew it was going to be a 3500 one ton truck with the Duramax diesel but the SRW vs DRW is a hotly contested debate. Many people tow some really heavy fifth wheels with SRW trucks. Some even do it with 3/4 ton trucks. They all say “it pulls it just fine. No problems at all”. And that may be true, until something breaks. The big issue for most is driving the dually around town or to local attractions within the National Parks. The perception is that it’s just too cumbersome to get around in these things so they want to stay with a SRW truck. I did too until I started looking at the towing specs.

There are a couple of key numbers to look at in deciding single rear wheel or dual. Payload capacity of the truck (or what the truck can safely carry) and loaded pin weight of the fifth wheel (or the weight the trailer places on the truck when it’s attached). For our rig, I learned that the loaded pin weight was likely to be 3100-3200 pounds. Looking at the SRW trucks they all had payload capacities in the 3500 pound range. Anything beyond a full tank of fuel counts against that 3500 pounds, including passengers. So adding 3200 pounds of pin weight and around 300 pounds of people brings me right up to the 3500 pound limit. No room for tools, extra fuel (for Alaska) or other things. Could I do it, probably, but I decided that since we full time we needed more spare capacity than the SRW would allow. Dually it is.

We also decided that we wanted a color other than black or white. There are a lot of black and white 1 ton trucks out there. We happened to see a brown metallic Chevy dually and we both said, “that would go real well with the fifth wheel color scheme”. Color choice made. Now to find one. Internet to the rescue. The closest one with the features and options we wanted was in Ohio. Some emails back and forth to Brian Newhouse in the internet sales department at Coughlin Chevrolet in Pataskala and we had a “deal”. They gave us a good enough price on the Jeep as a trade so we decided to do that as well. Saved a step later having to sell it ourselves. Another great group of folks to work with. Internet shopping for cars makes the process so much easier. If you’re in need of a truck and are in the Columbus, OH area get a hold of Brian. He’ll take good care of you.

So the image below is of the new rig. Taken from the U.P. of Michigan looking out over Lake Michigan. We’ll do a proper walk through in the future but for now we have a lot of configuring to do. We had to get our stuff into the fifth wheel and decide what changes/additions to make to customize it for our use. We’ll cover those in future posts. We also had to empty out the storage unit and move it out West to be closer to where we’ll be spending much of our time. But we’ve hit the road finally after working through a lot of changes.

So the image at the top serves a couple of purposes. One, it’s a reminder of how nice summer can be along the shores of Lake Michigan. Especially in Northern Michigan where we spent the last couple months working through this transition. Two, it’s the sunset on our time there for this year anyway. We’ll definitely be back, just not sure exactly when. We have Alaska on the to do list for next summer.

The transition took more effort than we thought but it feels good to have it behind us. It also feels good to be on the road again…

As always, you can see higher resolution images on our Facebook page. Please give us a like while you’re there.

Nikon D810 with Nikkor 16-35mm at 16mm. f/11 at 1/5 of a second. ISO 100.