New Baby, New Trailer, New Home

The last couple of months have brought a lot of changes to our lives. We had a baby, and moved out of our apartment into a fifth wheel trailer. Needless to say, life has changed drastically!

New Baby

Introducing Jacob Jr. (JJ for short). Bumping things up to three kids has definitely been an exhausting change. It’s hard to get two toddlers ready and out of the house. It’s harder when you have to schedule in feeding times for Junior.

We went with a bit of an old fashioned tradition for his name. There just aren’t that many juniors around anymore. But Jake has always found strength and guidance in looking to the men he was named after, and he wanted to pass on that legacy.

New Trailer

We’ve been talking for a couple of years about living in a trailer while Jake travels around for his audition rotations, and we finally took the plunge! Just six weeks after JJ was born we drove out to Idaho to pick up our beautiful Voltage 3900 5th wheel toy hauler. This was our dream model and we got a great deal on it. Getting it down to our price range took 6 months of negotiating. I’m just glad my husband started contacting sellers when I thought it was ridiculously early.

New Home

After our quick weekend trip to pick up the trailer and babysit our niece and nephews while my sister-in-law had her fourth baby (no big deal), we came home to move out of our apartment. I had three days to finish packing, cleaning, and selling all our furniture, while Jake made a 45 minute commute to his Pediatric rotation every day. Needless to say, I was a bit stressed. Fortunately, we had some amazing family, friends, and even acquaintances willing to jump in and help. Now we are all moved into our new home and loving it!

Our efficient kitchen

Our spacious living room

JJ’s cozy little nook…

…next to our cozy little bathroom

The boys’ room/laundry room/dining room…

…/patio

This family of 5 is ready to hit the road!

What Type of RV is Best for You?

When we first started thinking about living in a trailer we immediately hit the web to see what our options were. We quickly realized the hard part would not be a lack of options, but the overabundance. There are so many choices it can be overwhelming. On this blog I’ll be sharing what we’ve learned (and are still learning) from our research.

Choose what type of RV you need.

This is the first step. You need to look at the basic types of RV’s and decide which one will work best for you.

Motorhomes

Motorhomes are what people generally think of when they hear RV. With this setup the vehicle and living space are combined, as opposed to a trailer that is pulled by a truck. Surprisingly, there are different kinds of motorhomes, and it’s good to understand which is which when you start looking at the market.

By Rennett Stowe from USA (Fleetwood Motorhome Uploaded by russavia) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Class A

This is your typical bus-like RV. The driving space has very little separation from the living space. My grandparents lived in this type of RV’s for years, and I always loved strapping myself to a couch in the living room while my Grandpa told stories from the driver’s seat.

There are a lot of pro’s to this setup. They tend to be big and roomy with lots of storage space. When traveling you can go straight from the driving area to your living space without leaving the vehicle. You don’t need a big truck to tow, but you can tow a small car behind, which is helpful when you reach your destination and want to drive around town.

There are some cons too. For one, they are much more expensive. They’re also less little kid friendly. The driving area is accessible from your living space. It’s hard to find a two bedroom setup, so either you or the kids are sleeping in a loft, or a hide-a-bed.

By Motorhomes (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Class B and C

These are your basic camper vans. They look like a truck and a travel trailer smooshed together. We knew from the start this was not what we wanted, so we haven’t done much research on them, but it’s good to know what they are when you’re searching the market.

Trailers

If you decide you want something towable there are basically three options.

Travel Trailer by Little Island is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Travel Trailers

These trailers are hauled behind a truck, but do not come over the bed of the truck. We ruled these out pretty quickly too, because the tend to be smaller with less living space, and with two kids we need all the space we can get. This would be a good option if you need to keep the bed of your truck free to haul other things.

5th Wheel Trailers

Our Home by Larry & Teddy Page is licensed under CC BY 2.0

With 5th wheels the trailer itself comes up over the bed of the truck, giving you a lot of extra living space. Typically that space is used as a full bedroom, leaving room for a second bedroom in the back. They range in length from less than 20′ to over 40′, and often have 3 or 4 slideouts. They’re also much cheaper than a class A motorhome.

The big con here is that you have to have a very big truck for hauling. Since we don’t want to drive two vehicles across the country, we would have to use the truck for driving around town as well.

Toyhaulers

A toyhauler is a type of trailer with a small garage at the back of the RV, where the back wall pulls down to a ramp. Right now a 5th wheel toyhauler is our number one choice. The garage typically has built in bunk beds that can be raised to the ceiling when not in use, and sometimes comes with washer/dryer hookups. We’ve seen toyhaulers in motorhomes as well, but that’s rare.

We like the toyhauler option because a) it will be easier to resell than a two bedroom 5th wheel, and b) it gives us the option of bringing a motorcycle. I’m still torn on this one. I don’t like motorcycles for the obvious safety reasons, but having Jake drive a motorcycle to his rotations every day would save a lot of money on gas and leave me a vehicle to get out with the kids.

We’ll go more in to depth on some of the many things to consider when buying an RV in the future,  but, for now, deciding which basic setup you want is a good start.

Let me know what you think! What would your “dream RV” be?