BUYING AN RV: THE "OPTIONS"

We bought Scoopy used, one year old with 12,000 miles on our Cummins engine. We knew next to nothing, but had a “must have” checklist:

Diesel engine, no fewer than 350 HP: this can move our 31,000 pound GVWR motorhome and 5,000 pound Jeep over the highest mountains in Colorado without weeping in frustration.

Two slides: one in the living room, one in the bedroom, and each has windows on both ends.

An interior look and feel we both found appealing: fairly simple, no etched glass, no mirrored ceiling, nothing “country”. This varies for everyone, but be certain you are going to enjoy the time spent inside your rig.

50 amp electrical service: we often have only 30 amps, but like the option of 50 amps if we are staying for awhile in a hot climate.

Two air conditioners.

A full-sized shower.

Two comfortable rooms that can be easily separated from each other: we both like “alone“ time.

Propane oven: these are becoming rare in RV’s. I like to use mine in winter, or in the morning on a cold day. In summer, I use the convection oven or microwave (they are combined in an RV).

That was it for the must-haves.

Here are the things we didn’t think to look for that turned out to be important to us (all of which we have):

Dual pane windows: improved temperature and noise control.

Built-in 7.5 KW Onan generator which can be turned on and off from inside Scoopy: very convenient, and imperative for boondocking.

Inverter and 3-stage battery charger: also imperative for boondocking.

4-door propane/electric refrigerator/freezer with ice maker: no boondocking without a propane-cooled refrigerator.

Stacking clothes washer and dryer: we never would have included these on a wish list as new buyers; now we wouldn’t be without them.

These options came with Scoopy. We're glad to have 'em, but not sure we would pay to replace them if they became non-functional:

Automatic, in motion satellite dish: we definitely would not bother with the “in-motion” aspect of our automatic satellite, but probably would opt for the automatic rooftop satellite dish again. It means you have much less flexibility in campsites in wooded areas, but avoids a LOT of hassle and frustration, especially in wet weather.

A large, chest-style refrigerator/freezer in the basement: it can be used as either a refrigerator or a freezer, depending on where you set the temperature. We keep it full of white wine and other beverages, and vegetables when we have stocked up for travels in remote locations or visited a farmer‘s market. It’s a real convenience, but would we pay to replace it? I’m not sure.

Electric power reel for the big, heavy, 50 amp electric cord: we appreciate the ease of a power reel, especially if the cord has been laying on muddy or sandy ground. We probably would pay to replace it if it broke (unlike the power hose reel, which broke twice - and we didn’t bother to replace it again).

Over the past six years, we have added several options:

Custom-made, snap on, exterior solar/privacy screens for the windshield, the front side windows, and the one side window that does not have a window awning. Motorhomes should not be without them! This is our number one most cost-effective purchase. Buy them early in your travels.

Electric awning: we just added this 4 months ago. It is a costly purchase, but we already have used it more times than we used the manual awning in the prior six years - primarily because it can be easily deployed or retracted by one person.

Pressure Pro tire pressure monitors: another rather expensive purchase that we pondered for many, many months. It is not difficult to monitor your tire pressures manually, but we had the money available and wanted to eliminate both the hassle of frequent tire pressure checking and the concern of a tire problem while underway. If we were on a tight budget, we would have nixed this purchase; I consider them a luxury (and both useful and fun).

Leather sofa: after wearing out the fabric cover on our old sofa TWICE, we bought a leather sofa from friends who had an extra. We no longer have any fabric covered furniture. Two real advantages to leather in the fulltiming life: MUCH easier to keep clean (fabric holds a LOT of dust), and it holds up much better under constant, constant wear.

Satellite radio: Love it, love it, love it. Satellite radio makes all the difference in the world in those very remote spots that have no over-the-air radio reception other than religious programming or Spanish-language stations, both of which seem to broadcast to every little quarter acre of the U.S. Even works in Mexico!

Catalytic propane heater: totally silent, and it uses no electrical power. We bought it primarily for boondocking, but use it often when we want a little more warmth without the noise of the furnace.

4 AGM "house" batteries: expensive and worth it. Without adding solar panels, we went from running the generator once a day when boondocking to once every other day (in summer).

Here are the few things we wish we had, but we don’t:

Lanyards on the air tanks: air tanks on a diesel motorhome should be purged of water every so often (frequency depends on whether you travel in humid or dry climates). Lanyards make this task much easier.

Flatter dashboard, smaller windshield: Scoopy has an incredibly oversized windshield, the better to catch all the rocks thrown up by passing cars. Large windshields also tend to “shift” more easily than smaller ones. I vividly remember our panic the first time we noticed that the upper corner of the windshield had pulled away from the frame! I also would prefer a flat dash instead of our very sloped dashboard. I know we would soon have it junked up with maps, books, cat hair, etc - but we might be able to use our dining table again.

Regular passenger seat instead of the “buddy“ seat: The original owners of Scoopy had 4 small children, and had a “buddy” seat installed in the passenger position. A buddy seat is sort of a seat-and-a-half, good for a parent (or grandparent) and child, or a person and their pet. I’d rather have the standard, narrower seat for ease of ingress and egress through the front door.

More hard surface flooring, less carpet: just about every RV’er I know has this same wish! A hard surface would be easier to clean and probably longer lasting, and throw rugs could be changed easily when you get tired of the old look.

Easily accessible battery compartment: the horribly inaccessible battery compartment was one of the main reasons we switched from lead-acid batteries to AGM batteries - we couldn’t see into the lead-acid batteries to see whether they needed water.

One last piece of advice: Buy used!

That’s it for the “Buying an RV” mini-series. Safe travels, all. :)

Photos, from the top: Oregon coast at Sunset Bay State Park; taking the train from Durango to Silverton, Colorado; Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite National Park, California; Bumpass Hell, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California; White House Ruin, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona; the pool at Balmorhea State Park, Balmorhea, Texas; Ridgway State Park, Colorado.

A NOTE ABOUT GCWR: GROSS COMBINED WEIGHT RATING

Donna's comment on my prior post about weights brought up a couple more weight ratings that I didn't mention, trying to keep it simple - which it isn't! When you are SHOPPING for a rig, the CCC that I described is very important to know. Once you have made your purchase, you also will want to know:

GCWR is the Gross Combined Weight Rating, the total allowable weight of the motorhome plus tow car (and dolly or trailer, if you choose to use one). It is based on the manufacturer's specifications, and we found ours on the Spartan Chassis website.

Scoopy is built on a Spartan Mountain Master Chassis and has a 350 HP engine. While our GVWR is 31,000, our GCWR is 10,000 pounds more than that - which means we can tow up to 10,000 pounds of car, trailer, boat, whatever. Once you determine what you CAN tow, you need to match your tow hitch to the weight of your towed vehicle - in other words, make sure the hitch is rated to tow the desired vehicle.

Besides the GVWR, there are limits for each axle. On Scoopy, the front axle weight limit is 12,000 pounds; the back axle weight limit is 19,000 pounds (two tires per side, there). A label specifying these weights, along with the size and air pressure requirements for the tires, is posted in Scoopy just back of the driver's seat.

Donna also wondered how we avoid the surprise of an insubstantial bridge on some little back road.

When we are in unfamiliar territory, we often stay on designated truck routes, where a sign like this one is much more common than the "5 Ton Weight Limit" sign I included in my prior post. Trucks deliver goods everywhere, and most towns have designated routes that bypass problem areas, including small bridges, narrow lanes, residential areas, low overpasses, overhanging trees, etc.

Which brings up another consideration: Once you find and buy your rig, be sure you know its height! Write it down on a piece of tape and post it where it can be clearly seen by the driver. Overpasses under 15 feet or so (maybe 16?) have to be posted with the exact height. The first time you encounter an overpass that says 13', you are really going to wish you remembered exactly how much space you need to safely pass under!

Scoopy needs 13 feet, 1 inch to escape a low overpass unscathed. Even when the height is clearly posted at 13'6", we find ourselves scrunched down in our seats, eyes squeezed almost shut. It is particularly scary when you notice the scrapes and gouges on the leading edge of an overpass, made by those unlucky vehicles that either didn't know their height or didn't realize it mattered.

We have never had to turn around due to a bridge weight rating or a low overpass BECAUSE WE KEEP AN EYE OUT for warning signs. We HAVE taken a different route when a sign warned of an upcoming 12'6" overpass. Be sure you know your height!

BUYING AN RV: GVWR AND ITS COUSINS... GRRRRRR!

GVWR, UVW, SCWR, CCC… UGH and GRRR. Taking our self-imposed cram course in Buying an RV in 2002, these acronyms made my head spin.

Don’t overlook them. These numbers are important, both for your safety and for your maintenance and repair budget. Ignore them at your peril - no kidding!

Every motorhome, new or used, will have a sticker similar to this one somewhere in the rig. Ours is on the inside of a cabinet door in the bedroom. If you can’t find it, make the salesperson show it to you (or ask the current owner if you are buying from a private party). Don't take the salesperson's word for it, and don't trust what is printed in a glossy brochure. Find and study this sticker.
The two most important numbers here are the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and the Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC).

Start with the GVWR. You know the signs posted on bridges showing the bridge weight limit? The signs you blithely ignore cruising in your car? You can’t ignore them in your RV! You will be in a vehicle that might weigh 10 TONS, or MORE.

The GVWR is the maximum allowable weight of the fully loaded rig. This means EVERYTHING! Fuel (diesel or gas, and propane). A full tank of fresh water and anything in the gray and black water tanks. You. All your food, and personal belonging, and clothes. Books. Tools. The weight of the hitch on the back. Your pets. EVERYTHING!

You CAN go over this weight - you will have the space, and no one will stop you. If you do, every part of your rig will be stressed: axles, wheels, tires. Brakes. Suspension. The engine. This will cost you, perhaps in repair and maintenance, perhaps in safety - likely, both. You really don’t want to go there, so know the GVWR and pay attention.

The next number you want to understand is the CCC, the Cargo Carrying Capacity. This is how much “stuff” you will be able to haul around with you.

To figure out the CCC, subtract these things from the GVWR:

The UVW (Unloaded Vehicle Weight) - the weight of the unit as built at the factory, with full fuel tanks, engine oil and coolants. This is the weight of a “stock” rig - no options have been added by the dealer, and it includes only the fluids required to power/move the rig.

The weight rating sticker will show the size of your fresh water tank in gallons. (In the photo, you can see that I wrote 100 in black marker - our rig was modified to hold 100 gallons of fresh water rather than 85, so we adjust accordingly.) That number, multiplied by 8.3 pounds (the weight of a gallon of water), is subtracted from the GVWR.

The sticker also shows the size of your propane tank, and the weight of a full tank. Again, subtracted from the GVWR

The SCWR (Sleeping Capacity Weight Rating) is the manufacturer–designated number of sleeping positions (in our case, 2) multiplied by 154 lbs. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!! Do you weight 154 pounds or less? I don't, and neither does Odel. Two individuals weighing 154 pounds or less… hmmm. That could be my 5' 2" mother and my skinny teenaged nephew. We’ve seen travelers with DOGS that weight more than 154 pounds.

So, the GVWR minus the weight of the “stock” rig, the fresh water, the propane, the small/slender/fit individuals that will be sleeping in the rig…

That leaves the official CCC (Cargo Carrying Capacity). The weight of everything you add to or carry in the rig needs to be stay within this number.

Have a chest-style refrigerator/freezer in your basement? That’s about 90 pounds. How about a stacking washer and dryer? Pushing 250 pounds. Does your rig have sliding trays in the bay? Add the weight of those.

Your books. Lawn chairs and outdoor tables. BBQ grill. Golf clubs. Computer and printer. Your pots and pans, crockery, all the canned goods you have in the pantry, and the beer in the refrigerator. Your clothes and shoes. Your files, and magazines. Maybe you're planning on solar power... what will your solar panels weigh? What are your hobbies, and how much does all that stuff weigh? Do you have a heavy, multi-drawer tool chest? And… do you weigh more than 154 pounds?

This is how Scoopy stacks up:
GVWR: 31,000 lbs.
Less UVW: 25,000 lbs.
Less 100 Gallons Fresh Water x 8.3 lbs/gallon: 830 lbs.
Less 18.8 Gallons Propane x 4.5 lbs/gallon: 85 lbs.
Less SCWR (2 x 154 lbs.): 308.Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC) - 4,777 lbs.

That seems like a lot, doesn’t it? And it is. A large CCC was high on our priority list.

We have weighed our rig three times, twice on truck scales and once to weigh the actual weight on each wheel/axle position. We weigh in around 1000 pounds under our GVWR when we are fully loaded - and by that, I mean we are on our way to a boondocking rally and have just fueled up. We'll have the full fuel tank and all our usual “stuff”, plus 100 gallons of fresh water in the tank (we normally travel with it about 1/3 full) and 4 or 5 gallons in bottles, two refrigerators (yes, we have a large chest refrigerator in the basement) packed with food and beverages, the freezer crammed with goodies. Extra wine is stashed under the bed, along with canned goods and grains. Our gray and black water tanks are empty (which could add another 800 pounds if they were full).

We have the chest refrigerator, the stacking washer and dryer and the sliding trays in the basement that I mentioned. Those are all options, not included in the UVW. They add up to around 500 pounds. That means that all our stuff, all Luna’s stuff (and 13 pounds of cat), and our excess “personal” weight adds over 3,000 pounds - and we don’t have any hobbies that require heavy equipment.

The take-away message here: Before you fall in love with a rig, take a peek at the Motorhome Weight Information sticker. It can be a shocking eye-opener.

BUYING AN RV: SIZE MATTERS

Disclaimer: What follows is MY opinion - with Odel’s suggestions taken into consideration. :) Everyone’s needs and desires are highly individual; my comments are intended to give you something to think about as you consider your own needs and desires. Please feel free to comment with your thoughts and opinions; I'm sure other readers will enjoy your outlook.

The “perfect” rig doesn’t exist. Your purchase will be a compromise between the ideal traveling rig (small and nimble, with a great turning radius, fabulous visibility, and excellent fuel efficiency) and the ideal “home” (spacious, commodious, and built with solid, long-lasting components).

Everyone will draw that line in a different spot, depending on their budget and their capacity to enjoy close quarters. We have met fulltimers in truck campers or tiny travel trailers on one end of the spectrum, and in 45 foot, quad-slide diesel pushers or 40 foot, 5-slide 5th wheels towed by semi-tracters at the other end of the spectrum.

Scoopy is a 38’, double-slide diesel pusher with a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of 31,000 pounds, powered by a 350 horsepower Cummins engine, and she is the right compromise for us. When we are parking in a narrow, wooded back-in site in a Forest Service or state park campground, she is TOO BIG! Sitting in an urban RV park for a month, or on any rainy day, she is TOO SMALL! But for our current travel habits, she is the right compromise.

A 38’ foot, double slide motorhome is the smallest unit we can live in comfortably together. If we COULD be comfortable in something smaller, I would want it - because the smaller your rig, the wider your selection of campsites and the easier your travels. We have sufficient storage for what we need/want to carry, but have to dance with each other a bit as we move around the rig.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t want anything larger. Add two more feet in length and you give up some excellent, slightly shorter campsites; add another slide or two and you give up excellent, narrower sites. The top photo was taken in a Louisiana state park, where we snagged one of the last few sites - in a larger rig, we would have been back out on the road. In this photo, we were out on the road; fortunately, no one else drove through this remote campground.

On the subject of slides:
-- Two slides on the same side are better than two slides on opposite sides. Why? Because slides on the same side don’t add additional width.

-- Each extended slide makes accessing your basement storage more difficult. Add another slide or two and you will be on your knees crawling around on the ground more frequently to get into your storage bays - and dodging trees and bushes more frequently simply walking around your wider rig (photo below).

-- On some rigs, the storage bays are attached to the slides and extend out with them. Much easier access to your stored items, but you give up a lot of storage space. If you have long items (a ladder, for instance, or golf clubs) or heavy items (an auxiliary chest type refrigerator/freezer) to carry, check the dimensions of the available storage space carefully.

-- Each additional slide adds weight to your rig, diminishing the Net Carrying Capacity (the amount of “stuff” you can carry) or adding to the GVWR (the total weight you are moving from one place to another).

-- Each additional slide increases the likelihood of mechanical problems.

-- Slides definitely add space to the interior of a rig - but it isn’t storage space, and not usually work space (though some multi-slide units include a nice kitchen island), it’s floor space. Great if you have a big dog (or several dogs) or kids, or like to host parties.

-- Almost as important as the additional space are the additional windows with the light and views they provide. Although we didn’t realize it at the time we made our purchase (super-newbies that we were), our bedroom slide is perfect in that respect: the windows are on either side of the head of the bed (rather than behind the bed). We can open the windows to catch a nighttime breeze, or lift the curtain for a peek outside if we hear an unusual sound or want to catch the sunrise. Very nice.

We‘ve been inside several rigs with 3 or 4 slides, and they are wonderfully roomy… but for our current lifestyle, the additional weight, the additional width, the inconvenience of accessing the “basement” storage, and the potential for additional mechanical problems are not worth the added interior space. Check back in a couple years. :)

Next in this series: TOO IMPORTANT TO OVERLOOK

BUYING AN RV: MOTORHOME OR FIFTH WHEEL?

In 1980, I bought a decade-old VW van that had been converted into a camper with a small sink, a bed, a tiny closet and teeny refrigerator. I drove it to Alaska (a 4 month trip) and Baja, and out to Colorado from California - my first experience with an RV. Ten years later, I was living on a houseboat - with both AC and DC power and propane - when Odel and I met. Odel had NO experience with RV’s, so the old VW van and the houseboat provided the sum total of our combined knowledge about RV’s.

Six months before Odel retired in 2003, we made the implusive decision to sell our house, most of our belongings (whatever didn‘t fit into our new “rig“) and our cars to become fulltime RV‘ers. With no knowledge of RV’s, how did we decide what we wanted?

The first decision: buy a truck and trailer/5th wheel (aka 5’er) or a motorhome and a towable vehicle? We didn’t know anything about either. We decided on a motorhome for four reasons:

1. Matching trailer size (weight) to truck size (towing/stopping capacity) seemed way too complex to us. We didn't want to figure it out.
2. We didn’t want to have a truck as our “around town” vehicle after we set up camp.
3. Neither of us had experience backing a trailer.
4. My fantasy of our new life included an expansive view of the adventure ahead, enjoyed from a big, comfortable captain's chair with a footrest!

It was the right decision for us. We are totally motorhome-biased so if you want advice about 5’ers and trucks, you’ll need to search elsewhere. There are some advantages to 5’ers, though; here is what we’ve observed in our travels:

5’er wins: A 5th wheel in “camp” has more living space than a motorhome of the same size - in the motorhome, you lose space to the “cockpit” area, and slides in 5th wheels are usually wider than those in motorhomes. If you intend to stay put for longer periods of time, you will have more usable space in a 5th wheel of the same size.

5’er wins: 5th wheels have a better door position than most motorhomes: you often enter into the kitchen, which I consider very handy. Few diesel motorhomes have mid-entry doors, so you are always walking through the living room to go in and out. On the other hand, once you get indoors, 5th wheels have additional steps to access the bedroom, a potential problem if you have mobility issues.

5’er wins: A motorhome towing a car means two engines that need maintenance - which means more money and time spent on maintenance. If your motorhome needs engine repairs, your home goes to the shop.

5’er wins: If you unexpectedly encounter a tight situation, a truck and 5’er can backup to maneuver - a motorhome, towing a car four wheels down, can’t. We have had to unhook the Jeep 4 times in 6 years when we ended up in a spot that didn’t allow turning without backing up. On the other hand, we’ve seen inexperienced drivers back their trailers into positions from which they were unable to extricate themselves without damage.

MH wins: Parking, setting up and packing up a motorhome is significantly faster and easier than doing the same with a truck/trailer combo. We can back into our space, level, and be fully deployed in about half an hour - longer if it was a really buggy drive, since Odel cleans the front of the motorhome each day that we travel. When we’re ready to leave, hooking up the car for towing is a 5 minute job. If you intend to move frequently, a motorhome is the easiest choice.

MH wins: Motorhomes are far easier to back into a space and to drive in general. The towed vehicle tracks inside the motorhome’s path so, if the motorhome makes a turn, the toad is going to make it, too.

MH wins: If you pull into a rest area for lunch on a rainy day, no need to get out and get wet on a dash to the bathroom or kitchen - you’re already home. On a too-hot day, fire up the generator and run the rooftop air conditioning as you cruise down the road - your home is cool and comfortable when you stop for lunch or arrive at your destination (and your generator is exercised).

MH wins: Though we all know it isn’t safe to wander around the motorhome while underway, it is great to have access to the bathroom and refrigerator without the need to pull over. Need to formulate a quick Plan B? All our campground directories are right at hand, along with anything else we might need - not back at “home” behind us.

MH wins: We love having our Jeep as an “around town” vehicle when the motorhome is parked. It’s comfortable, can go anywhere, gets significantly better mileage than a truck capable of towing a large 5’er, and carries plenty of “stuff”.

MH wins: Luna is much happier in the motorhome than she would be in a truck. She has easy access to her condo, her food, water and catbox. A happy cat makes a happy family.

MH wins: The passenger seat is basically a lounge chair. The foot rest comes up, the cushy back reclines to a comfortable angle, the view out of that big front windshield unfolds like a movie. We can see over the tops of all the sedans, SUV's and pickup trucks ahead of us, anticipating slowdowns.

MH wins: Fortunately, we have never had to leave a site quickly in an emergency, but it would be far faster to get both the motorhome and Jeep out of harm’s way if necessary. Two drivers, two motors, no need to take the time to hook up.

MH wins: Our coach carries 100 gallons of diesel fuel. It can be a shock to fill the tank (!), but we can drive 600 miles before we even think about looking for a fueling station. For us, that is usually 3 or more days of travel.

MH wins: Most motorhomes come equipped with large on-board generators, located in a spot that could not otherwise be used for storage. Most 5’ers give up storage space to carry a generator. Not an issue for everyone, but we do like having the push-button convenience an onboard generator adds to the fulltiming life.

I’m sure there are other considerations - I’ve heard folks say that 5’ers have more storage space… true? I don’t know… but I do know that we don’t need more storage space than we have, so I don’t care. We know at least five couples who have moved from a truck/5’er combination to a motorhome/toad combination, but I can’t think of anyone who has gone the other way.

We LOVVVVVVE Scoopy!

Today's photos, from top:

Birch bark canoe at Grand Portage National Monument, Minnesota; "hot spots" in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming; sunlight plays on the mountains near Wapati, Wyoming, west of Cody; scene from the re-enactment of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer's Last Stand), Hardin, Wyoming; Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana; boats on Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, Montana.

BUYING AN RV: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

A few weeks ago, we got an email that said:

“…We're coming to the decision that when we retire, hopefully within the next 3 years, we will sell our house, keep the cottage and buy some kind of RV vehicle…We've gone back and forth between 5th wheels and coaches and we're leaning toward the coaches.

“Any suggestions as to what to look for, some aspect that on hindsight you wish you had, or didn't need, which brands have more problems than others, etc; warranties that are a must, things to look for when purchasing from a private seller or a dealer--anything that now you know but when you were first buying had no clue to look for! Basically, any thoughts on "what to look for when purchasing" would be greatly appreciated!!!”

Now that we are settled in Sacramento for the next month, I thought I’d try to answer some of those questions.

I could have written that email six and a half years ago. Odel and I knew exactly ZERO about RV’s when we decided that fulltiming was in our (near) future. We went from zero to purchase in about three months, guided by the internet, the Escapees online forums, various used RV sales sites - online and “real” - and any bit of advice we could drag from anyone we met.

It was both exhilarating and exhausting. We were often up well after midnight, searching the internet for information and “rigs”. Weekends were spent on RV lots, innocents to the slaughter. Before we exited the car, we swore to each other that we would NOT sign anything - no doubt saving us from owning the used 275 HP diesel Bounder with a carrying capacity of under 1000 pounds that the salesman was convinced was the perfect rig for us (read: for him to sell to us).

So, over the new few weeks, I’ll write about what we learned, why we made the decisions we did, and how we made our purchase. My first recommendation, though, for anyone who knows nothing or next to it… visit the RV Consumer Group website. They offer a lot of free, eye-opening information for beginners, some of it scary, all of it useful, and a good antidote to what you’ll hear from salespeople.

Since we aren't traveling for the next month, I'm not taking many photos. For this little mini-series on how and why we made the decision to buy a used class A diesel pusher - and what we have learned since - I'll post some of my favorite photos from our travels, the best way to answer the question most frequently asked of the fulltimer: "What's your favorite place?"

All of today's photos are from our first summer on the road. Top to bottom: Badlands National Park, South Dakota, June 2003; Devil's Tower National Monument, Wyoming, June 2003; me, relaxing on the glass bottom boat used for the shipwreck tour on Lake Superior, August 2003; Niagara Falls from the Maid of the Mist (boat), New York, September 2003.