The Upside of Trailer Travel and Camping - Fiberglass RV
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Old 06-08-2015, 01:29 PM   #1
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Name: Norm and Ginny
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The Upside of Trailer Travel and Camping

There is a thread under General Chat, ‘The Downside of Trailer Travel and Camping’. Most members had difficulty posting ‘downsides’. As a result I thought I’d start a thread of The Upside of Trailer Travel and Camping.

As upsides I consider the following possibilities: improved mental and physical health, cleaner travel, more relaxed lifestyle, exposure to new places, ways and people, low cost travel, less need for ‘stuff’.....

Of course there are two primary forms of travel on the site, those who travel long distances for extended periods, say a month or more and those that travel for shorter periods, weekend and vacation campers.

There are also two general types of travelers, those still working and the retired.

None of what I suggested is Moses like, cast in stone. Personal experiences of the Upside of travel may be of benefit to beginners, beginners just starting their travels and long time users stepping off to retired, extended travel.

All thoughts are welcome..if the Title doesn't have legs it will slide into post oblivion.
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Old 06-08-2015, 01:48 PM   #2
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See the USA, in your....

With apologies to Dinah Shore

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Old 06-08-2015, 02:24 PM   #3
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Mostly, for us, it is sleeping in our own bed, and saving a bit of money. We cook some, but mostly eat in restaurants when traveling. We take two major trips per year. Spring trip south to rush the end of winter. That trip is with the truck and Scamp. Then we take a sight seeing trip in the fall. In our Mazda Sports Car. I did an assessment to determine how much I save per day. The major differences are 16 mpg with the truck, 34 mpg with the Mazda. $36 to $40 per night at KOA or equal. $100 to $110 per night in a Holliday Inn or equal. Driving 300 miles per day, I estimate that it saves me about $300 per week to travel with the Scamp.
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Old 06-08-2015, 02:46 PM   #4
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Name: JD
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Florida
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis mn View Post
Mostly, for us, it is sleeping in our own bed, and saving a bit of money. We cook some, but mostly eat in restaurants when traveling. We take two major trips per year. Spring trip south to rush the end of winter. That trip is with the truck and Scamp. Then we take a sight seeing trip in the fall. In our Mazda Sports Car. I did an assessment to determine how much I save per day. The major differences are 16 mpg with the truck, 34 mpg with the Mazda. $36 to $40 per night at KOA or equal. $100 to $110 per night in a Holliday Inn or equal. Driving 300 miles per day, I estimate that it saves me about $300 per week to travel with the Scamp.
Ditto:

I am working to make our Scamp 16' a traveling motel room. Easy travel, quick setup / breakdown. Like shoot and scoot!
We also are usually on one of Connie's diets and we need to be flexible on meals. So we have a larger refrigerator and convection microwave.
Twin beds etc. I hope it works like I plan it to!
Hoping to end up with a traveling mini motel room at 25 mpg.
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:05 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by redbarron55 View Post
Ditto:

I am working to make our Scamp 16' a traveling motel room. Easy travel, quick setup / breakdown. Like shoot and scoot!
We also are usually on one of Connie's diets and we need to be flexible on meals. So we have a larger refrigerator and convection microwave.
Twin beds etc. I hope it works like I plan it to!
Hoping to end up with a traveling mini motel room at 25 mpg.
Pulling the fifth wheel with a truck, 25 mpg is something only in my dreams. Before buying the Nissan, I considered a Ram with the new Italian diesel. It is rated at 29 hi way. I think it might have done 25 with the Scamp; but I would have had to raise the Scamp another 4" to give me proper clearance over the bed rails.

Your plan for travelling should work well. When we stop overnight, I do not disconnect. I just drop the landing gear and stabilizers. We usually break camp and are on the road at the same time as if we stay in the motel.
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:13 PM   #6
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UpSide
Not catching Bed Bugs in a Hotel/Motel.
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:20 PM   #7
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After 7 or 8 years of camping trips in our Starcraft Hybrid we tried a 2 week trip traveling and staying at hotels and a chalet rental before committing to the Escape. Found we much prefer the travel trailer over hotels and such.

Have all our own stuff. No suitcases to mess with.

Trailer is as clean as we can keep it, no worries about bed bugs or filthy bathrooms.

Healthy, we eat better, little if any junk food, very limited night time snacking. After years of long work related travel trips, I don't care to eat at restaurants any more. Walk and hike more.

People are more friendly.

We'd much rather spend the night in a national or state park then cooped up in a hotel room.

Don't watch any TV.

Save a few bucks.
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:21 PM   #8
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Upside of Travel Travel...

Lots of upside.
Relaxing travel, with no hurry, no reservations to worry about. With my 13' Scamp I can always find a place to sleep.
Cost of camping -- less than $10.00 per night with the Golden Age Passport (now the interagency senior pass) no cost for entrance into National Parks and 50% for camping.
Meeting some great people.
Seeing some the finest scenery the world has offer.

I find that our whole life slows down and we take time to watch the cactus grow in the winter and evergreen trees in the summer.

When we were both working a 2 or 3 week trip really meant getting the heart rate down, lowering blood pressure. Improved state of mind. When driving letting the speed demons go by simply getting out of their way. And we've never had to worry about getting someplace "on time". Time slows down and we don't care if it takes an extra day to get to some destination. We've had some great two week trips and some great 3 month trips. Even an occasional week-end trip, now a 4 or 5 day work week trip. (Let the families have the summer week-ends)
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:23 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis mn View Post
Pulling the fifth wheel with a truck, 25 mpg is something only in my dreams. Before buying the Nissan, I considered a Ram with the new Italian diesel. It is rated at 29 hi way. I think it might have done 25 with the Scamp; but I would have had to raise the Scamp another 4" to give me proper clearance over the bed rails.

Your plan for travelling should work well. When we stop overnight, I do not disconnect. I just drop the landing gear and stabilizers. We usually break camp and are on the road at the same time as if we stay in the motel.
A couple just purchased an Escape 5.0TA and a brand new F150 with the little Ecoboost engine. Didn't see final numbers but he was up in 25 mpg range towing.
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Old 06-08-2015, 03:57 PM   #10
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I'd say ...
you can stay in off the beaten path places
healthy eating
no time schedules
no packing/unpacking
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Old 06-08-2015, 04:18 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by padlin00 View Post
A couple just purchased an Escape 5.0TA and a brand new F150 with the little Ecoboost engine. Didn't see final numbers but he was up in 25 mpg range towing.
I didn't want to spend the money for both a new truck and a new trailer. The Scamp would have to be lifted at least 6" to pull it with a new Ford. The Nissan and Toyota Mid sized trucks are both 10 year old technology, so fuel economy is not up to the levels of the newer full sized trucks. I just didn't want to raise the Center of Gravity of the Scamp!
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Old 06-08-2015, 04:29 PM   #12
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Name: Norm and Ginny
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Improved Mental Health

So much of discovery is common sense.

Today the Mayo Clinic said they’ve cracked the code to being happy. Learn to command your thoughts, shifting perspective away from the negative, and embrace the positive.

If you’ve had a difficult day, when you get back home, forget about it, park it, and meet your family as if they’re long lost friends,” Happiness is a decision and happier people are healthier people.

One aspect of travel that contributes to mental health is the relaxed pace that you can choose to live. As well, many of the annoyances of life are literally left behind.
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Old 06-08-2015, 06:36 PM   #13
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Living in the city, I have little incentive to go outside during summer. It is in the 90s or above during most of June, July, and August. But when I can tow the trailer to a cooler place with plenty of forest trails, I get way more exercise!
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Old 06-08-2015, 07:00 PM   #14
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Mike,

Since we're retired we're certainly more active. Both of us worked in offices now that restriction is gone, plus we eat better, no office food, less pressure eating, less business eating....

As well we chase reasonable climates, meaning we can be outside 12 months of the year for extended periods.. It all adds up to contributing to a better life.
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Old 06-08-2015, 07:04 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by padlin00 View Post
A couple just purchased an Escape 5.0TA and a brand new F150 with the little Ecoboost engine. Didn't see final numbers but he was up in 25 mpg range towing.
We have the new F150 with the 2.7L Ecoboost, but we have an Escape 19, not the 5er. 25 mpg towing the 5er with this truck is not going to happen. More like 17 or 18. Still not bad.

We love to camp because of the freedom to explore new places, and stay wherever we like. We've also found that campers are generally good people. Its just FUN.
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Old 06-08-2015, 07:09 PM   #16
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More Upsides -- FGRV

Not being bored with the everyday routine. We usually are doing something new when we are trailer camping.

Being able to go nearly anywhere. Almost all of these FGRV rigs are easy to handle, pull in and pull out. Most can go on small roads easily. Many fit into a single pull-thru parking spot in the restaurant or supermarket or flea market parking lot. Even getting in and out of gas stations is so much easier than with the bigger RV's. You really can get to many places that would be hard to with a large rig, and of course in to many places that are not available unless you are camping.

Camping near the beach without spending lots of $$ on an expensive hotel.

Just getting outside in general.

Meeting all sorts of folks while camping. It's really nice.

Mark
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Old 06-08-2015, 07:38 PM   #17
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Name: Norm and Ginny
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Capital Cost

It can be a low cost adventure. We bought a 20 year old Scamp 16, in adequate condition to camp on day 1, for $5,000. We used our every day vehicle as a tow vehicle, actually using it for 7 years.

If the Scamp is worth $0 today, the cost for our 4 years of ownership is $100 a month, less than one night at a motel. Personally I believe it's worth more than we paid.

The most fun for the least bucks.
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Old 06-08-2015, 09:18 PM   #18
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Jill and I feel much closer while Scamping without the daily distractions and stresses of home/work life. This is the best part, but we agree with all of the above.
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Old 06-08-2015, 09:55 PM   #19
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SPEND YOUR CHILDREN'S INHERITANCE,
You'll enjoy it more than
THEY WILL

true story
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Old 06-08-2015, 10:05 PM   #20
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My husband retired 10 years before me. It was so heartwarming to know he waited for us to spend more time together! In our younger years, prior to children, we loved to backpack in the Sierras. Later we loved tent camping. Our work and school schedules (our son was in school and I worked in a school) limited our ability to do much camping at all. I have to admit that we got very tired of the effort it took to set up and take down tent camping and carrying a heavy pack does not add to my camping enjoyment (especially in the rain).

Upon my retirement (I dislike that word and use "renewal" instead) we purchased our 13' Scamp. As you can see in my signature, our byline is "Here We Go Again on Another Amazing Adventure".

By far the most enjoyable part of trailer camping is the hiking in beautiful spots. While we've travelled abroad extensively our camper allows us great flexibility in touring this beautiful country of ours! Amazingly, we meet people from around the world right here in the USA! We typically will be hiking all day carrying only a daypack, seeing great sights taking photographs and sketching and enjoy returning to our comfy "home away from home". A simple meal, a pause at our campfire and an hour reading in our bed before turning out the lights makes for a perfect day.

I've had a great time "glamping", that is choosing and making decorating themes for our trailer. Now I have several themes to choose from including The Desert, The Tropics/Beach, Fall Foliage and The Southwest. Themes in progress, or just in the dream stage, are The 1950's (complete with Elvis pillow), The Sound of Music/Austrian Alps, and Black Bear Diner (my favorite for on the road meals) Good Ol' Fashioned Family Food, Black Bear Diner. Glamping details may include curtain panels, pillows, stuffed animals, wall art, door decor, rugs, dishware, tablecloth, spare tire cover, etc. Usually the effect is total fun and not too "over the top". If my husband can live with it, then I have succeeded!
See a FGRV thread I started on the topic here http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ate-65396.html If you search my name, Gilda, you will find many other postings on my glamping efforts.

I also enjoy figuring ways to make the camping experience simple and enjoyable. Living in a small space has its challenges and we've put our heads together to make it work. For instance, we dress one at a time. One cooks and the other sits down. Storing things has taken some trial and error. I sewed pockets in the curtains and made hanging pockets for the walls. What works best is to "have a place for everything and everything in its place".
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