Comments & Rambling

I realize it's part of blogging, where the notorious 10% show up and either tell you how what you should do in your life either by commenting or by email ... those 10% seem to be pretty upset after they read my post yesterday. I've never met them, have no idea who they are but it has always mystified me why strangers get so upset because I am not doing what they want me to do.

Ed seems to be pretty consistent with his comments over the past few months ... he is mad that I have not come to a firm decision. He wants me to "fish or cut bait". I've deleted most of his comments when I catch them so he doesn't embarrass himself. I have also emailed him a couple of times suggesting for him to stop reading my blog since it seems to increase his blood pressure based on the tone of his comments. What does it matter to him what I do or don't do?

Amazing and humorous.

Don't people have anything else to do in their life besides troll the internet and leave dumb comments on blogs telling people what to do with THEIR lives?

I don't know Edward, don't care to know Edward and am not concerned what he does out in Denver. He needs to take up a hobby since he has pulled off the road and stopped blogging.

As for the anonymous commenters, I shut that option off a long time ago because it was nothing more than 99% spam.

I had an interesting email in my inbox this morning from a long time friend with a lot of years experience in traveling. They had been doing some research on fiberglass and styrene. After a lot of fiberglass trailers in their past, they were not sure they would be buying anymore fiberglass trailers.

After reading that email I thought about a trailer I had looked at in the past and is used fulltime by one of the bloggers I follow. He has told me that after 19 months of traveling fulltime he has never had a problem with his Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD. They are available locally and will be reconsidered.

I've noticed in my recent searches of fiberglass trailers, there seems to be always an abundance for sale and most of them are priced more than they are worth. Still they don't last long and sell pretty quickly. The market seems to be pretty fluid for fiberglass trailers. So I guess the prices are not too high after all.

My addiction starts in 6 days and 8 days for my local team. That is college football. That is one sport I will watch from the first kickoff in the east to the last game on the west coast. That usually keeps me up until 1:30 or so in the morning on Saturday nights. Pro football does not start their regular season for a couple of weeks later in September. I am a fan of pro football but not one that likes to watch the pre-season games that are going on now. It will be interesting to see how much my diet changes once the games start. I've been pretty good eating wise since April when I retired.

Like I said yesterday, summer has finally arrived here in the 'tropics' of southern Indiana. It was a nice summer while it lasted but we are now in day 2 of 95°+ and 90% humidity. That knocks the hounds out into a deeper sleep than normal during the day. It keeps me inside and still time to clean, read and take siestas. The forecast shows this heat wave (normal for August) should last until next Tuesday. I think I can handle that.

The topic of old dogs came up today via emails. We all seemed to agree that older dogs have different requirements such as a daily routine that is familiar with them plus the ability for fast vet care if an emergency were to arrive. Some feel that traveling is not an option with an older dog. Other bloggers say the same about their dogs but then some continue to travel without any problems. I believe due to the high quality of dog food I have fed my hounds over the years, they rarely get sick until the very end of their life. By the time the problem is caught it's usually too late to do anything.

For those readers that have asked about the results of the dog food supplement I was using in July called Dinovite, after 50+ days Heidi's condition did not improve. In fact as she sits here today her skin condition, due to some sort of lifelong allergies, has gotten worse than it was July 1. I'll be taking her in for a shot later today. I have come to the conclusion that her allergies are environmental instead of a dog food ingredient allergy.

As Al and Kelly over at the Bayfield Bunch get ready for departure to their winter home in Arizona, they are wondering what kind of damage the current Arizona monsoons might have done to their house. I would think that would be what all part-timers wonder about when they are away from their homes. I use to wonder the same thing as I traveled outside the country from 6-10 months at a time. You find yourself too far away to do anything but close enough electronically to know what is happening.

That's about all the rambling I can do today.

Since it's Friday and hotter than ever, it might be time to pull out a new bottle of Costco's Kirkland Pre-Mixed Margaritas, throw that plus some ice into the blender and see if I can't reduce some of this high temperature. Of course I'll have to do that when I get back from the vet this afternoon.

Deciding Between Two Trailers

I've spent a lot of time since my last post going through the different choices of trailers. Last time I said I had it down between two manufacturers, and I did. That didn't prevent me of going back and looking what was for sale in truck campers, Class A's and trailers. It was still hard to back away from the truck camper. I would have had to tow a small cargo trailer with a camper. I looked at older Class A's but the thought of of what it would cost to do any unexpected maintenance, which would have happened at some point in time, kept me away from older Class A's. So that meant I was back to trailers being towed my the Chevy truck I bought about a month ago.

It was still two different manufactures. One was a 4-season trailer the other was not. Two people that I follow on my blog roll use both of these trailers to full-time in as solo travelers. One has two cats and the other travels without any animals. Both have great things to say about their trailers and have traveled with them for almost a year.

I am looking at two Nash trailers, one a 2014 18L and a used 2012 18L. Both of them are 23' long. Both trailers is over 2,000 miles from my house. Both are in great shape with a great dealership to work with. One is one of the trailers I had thought of last year but I didn't know if I wanted to spend that much for a trailer since I am a "rookie". In both of those I lose the big back window I wanted, but they both have queen size bed plus a couch. Both of them will have a WD Anti Sway hitch included. The 2012 has a generator plus a 20 watt solar panel. The 2014 does not have a generator installed but does have the small 20 watt solar panel to keep the house battery charged. I plan on installed 240 watt solar panels on any trailer I buy.

So, Option 1 is 2,000 miles away, cost $4-5K more than my other brand name and a little better material used on the interior. They have much larger tanks. Both the 2012 and the 2014 are in stock.

2014 18L

The 2nd trailer I found just the other night. I almost bought a Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD last year from a dealer about 50 miles away from me. That is the trailer that Gary Ramsey uses over at Gary Ramsey Travels. This year Starcraft made a trailer called the AR-ONE Extreme and the Launch Extreme. The Launch extreme looks like the Nash, has a 15" clearance and 15" off-road tires. I was somewhat interested in the AR-ONE Extreme, liked the color combination and the off-road features. Yet, these Starcraft trailers have extremely small tanks, with the Gray 15gal and a Black 9gal.

The Launch Extreme has dealers 50-120 miles from me but nothing in stock. All 4 dealers I called gave me the last week of June to first week of July delivery date. One surprising difference from the more expensive Nash trailer was the Starcraft Launch Express is made with aluminum frames instead of wood framing. The Starcraft Launch Extreme does not have a couch but does have a back window.

2014 Starcraft Launch Extreme 17FB

Without continued rambling I'll cut this short and say those are the two trailers that I am considering. Yes, I do plan to head west as soon as I buy a trailer, therefor having the Nash 2,000 miles away from me may not be that big of deal. Of course with the Starcraft I'm saving a few thousand dollars, I can bring it home, load it and get to know the trailer before I take off on the long trip. Whereas the Nash I can spend about a week in the area of the dealer, checking all the systems out and having them fix anything that might need repair or adjustment.

Of course I have found out in this RV world that if a rig doesn't work, you can trade or sell it.

Is This All There Is? Really?

It's almost 10pm local time and I have completed 3 days off in temps of 90s and a lot...a lot of humidity. So it was a lot of computer time and college football time which started Thursday night with the local university's first game. Strange but I didn't go, and only 25 miles away. I use to never miss a home game and even traveled for some away games. That's a whole different story I will not go into here.

Still, these 3 days off just like all of my other long weekends (3 days) prove to me, if I were to retire and stay here I would be one very very bored individual.  Thus, my blog post title - "Is This All There Is? Really?"

I need more than bored, especially once retired and I wake up every morning with no schedule. Nice. So let's move on.

Official retirement day is May 2014.  But (never start a sentence with but), I have been thinking as always, my mind never slows down, even when sleeping. I did some "what if's" on the finances and assets and I believe I have found a way to leave much sooner and have enough to live on that would carry me to more income in May 2014.

So that is what I have been spending most of my weekend doing. Of course I have some new ideas, some familiar and should have something to report more definite in the coming week. A few things "in work" right now....all with the same goal.

Get out alive as soon as possible.  LOL

Just like some of the current athlete's when they are being recruited for college or the pros becoming free agents......I have reopened my decision processes on which trailer!!!  LOL

I know you will love reading that. Yet, all of my email informants tend to agree with my current plans and searches.

I'll keep you posted as soon as I hear something but I hope to have a pretty firm plan this week around my week full of meetings at work....nothing but meetings and Power Point slides....are those slides recyclable?

It's all good ... really.

Clues are everywhere.

Changes

Grab some popcorn, the movie continues!!  LOL

When I left you last, all the vehicles were for sale on Craig's List and I had an appointment on Wednesday to show the house and list it with a Realtor.

I made it to Wednesday morning, appointment was set for 3pm and my day started by my bloodhound Sadie trotting through the kitchen toward the door for her first thing in the morning trip out to the field, followed by Winston and Heidi, the basset hounds.

"Was that water I heard"????  Couldn't be. Not on the same day the appointment was set for. I flicked on the light switch only to see a small lake of clear water on the kitchen floor, all coming from the closet that holds the small water heater.  Strike 1.

Before anything, coffee must be made, so I tip tow around the edge of the "lake" toward the refrigerator to get some nice filtered water to make coffee. With the door open I catch a small glimpse of water puddled at the bottom of the fridge, NOT connect to the "lake" on the other side of the room.  Strike 2

By 9 am I had the "lake" under control, calls made for cost estimates and availability for a water heater replacement. Also all of my refrigerator contents were loaded in cold Coleman coolers and the defrost processed had started. It is a self-defrosted fridge but a few weeks ago I realized the door was left open for many hours and thinking I had the same problem from last year where those small drain tubes were full of frozen water, I would try to defrost before looking for repair.

Since the most of the morning was taken with DCC, it left me little time to "stage" the house like I had planned before the appointment at 3pm. The more I thought about it, I decided it was not the right day for the appointment, called Linda and cancelled.

Within the hour I had also changed my mind about selling my house.

The rest of the day I continued to think and as you all know "thinking" gets me in trouble.  Not bad trouble, just trouble.

By that night I had confirmed to myself once again, I really didn't need to sell my house to travel nor to buy the Starcraft trailer. The more past emails I read, some blogs I read, I had people that have been on the road for 6 years or longer telling me in more than one email over the year, to hold off selling the house until I try living on the road with 3 dogs to see if it was really what I wanted to do ... and not go by "the beautiful stories" I read about full-time rving on different blogs.

One little tidbit passed on by a full time traveler with 2 large dogs in a very small trailer. She told me something I had never thought about it. She said it's harder to camp in the winter, not because of the temperatures but the decreased time of daylight hours. Meaning the winter months I would be spending more time inside my trailer with the hounds due to shorter days. 

I also decided if I wasn't going to sell the house, I didn't need to sell my old Chevy pickup (I used it a lot this past week). I also decided I would not sell the Mini Cooper S. I had zero emails or calls about the car the weeks it was listed on Craig's List and other Mini Cooper Forums. I also was not going to "give it away" by selling for a lower price just to get rid of it.

So I sit here a week later with the house, truck and cars but with less clothing, less pots and pans, less kitchen utensils, less ice tea pitchers, less juicers .... all taken to the Goodwill.

The downsizing continues.

I admit I did feel better after those decisions and continue to do so even after 5 days since deciding.

So without selling the house the departure date has been moved back to the date I originally planned in 2011....to the spring 2014. I can keep my bank savings intact and my 401's instead of using part of them for monthly expenditures. There have always been financial reasons not to leave before the spring of 2014....unless the house sold. If I were to leave before November I would spend the winter in Arizona, eastern Southern California, possibly NM and/or Texas.  Whereas in the spring I will head west and by the hot months of the summer travel up through my old neighborhood of Washington, down through Oregon and Idaho....then maybe to Montana and Colorado.

Those were plans I had even before I thought of RVing of any kind .... then come back to the house when I got tired of the road or come back and clear out the rest of my stuff and leave an empty house to the Realtor to sell.

So I have come a full circle since October 2011....only the mode of travel has changed.

The dealership has had 3 2013 17RDs since last summer, has not sold one, so they will most likely have them next March when I am ready to leave. I didn't see any reason to buy a trailer, winterize it and store it if I wasn't going to use it until spring.

I have ruled out the Class A and most likely the C's based on how I want to travel.  The Starcraft 17RD will be the trailer I choose. Nothing has changed to make me look or think of a different trailer. It has everything I need and the size is good.

Hope your popcorn tasted good!  College and NFL football starts this Thursday!!

Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD is Back !!!!

The more blogs I read with people in small trailers, vans, tents....made me go back through reading a lot of saved information I had. Looked at a lot of pictures of all the above mentioned ways of living on the road. I then went back and re-read my blog posts on why I "almost" bought and why I didn't, I read comments to those posts.....I read emails concerning those indecision's.

Then Friday night after seeing my Cincinnati Reds lose a game on the road in the bottom of the 9th inning with their "Flame Thrower" on the mound .... I went to claz and looked at different trailers for sale. Claze is a site that combines all for sale sites on the net for whatever "term" you put in the search box. What popped up first in my search for Casita was the Casita trailer that was 30 miles from me in Bedford Indiana...from the same guy that told me he had two buyers if I did decide to change my mind. Well that trailer was still there and $600 cheaper on the asking price. He had dropped it off the site that sells nothing but fiberglass trailers to a website that sold trailers, rv's and 5'ers. When I didn't see it on the fiberglass trailer site I figured it has sold.

So I went back through my Casita notes, pictures and still could not see any way the hounds and I could survive full time in that 14' of living space.

What that did do was take me back to the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD notes I had taken, the blog posts, and the pictures I had collected, or took and saved. The inside of that trailer looked large compared to the Casita. I looked at prices for used trailers and they were higher than what I was buying a new 2013 for. So by midnight Friday night my brain cells are scrambling like mice that found a ton of free cheese!! The more I read, the more I looked, the more convinced I was on the right path before in June when I backed out at the last minute with dollars in hand at the dealership.

Before there were some conflicts in opinion on how long the interior was based on the Model name "17RD" and what the dealership was telling me. I couldn't honestly tell what size the inside of the trailer was. Plus I needed to see if my hounds were bigger than I thought inside that trailer.

I decided about 2:45am....yes, AM....on Saturday morning (still Friday night to me), that I needed to go back to that trailer with a tape measure in my hand and perform some further investigation.

The first thing I measured were my 3 dogs, just to see how long they were and tall the bloodhound was. These measurements were used when I sat in the trailer later in the day. When I sat at the kitchen table and on the opposite end on the bed.....I stretched out the measuring tape to 29" (bloodhound length) to see what I was going to be looking at, along with 2 24"er's.  Surprisingly, everything looked like it should work.

Long story short ... the interior is 17'L and 6'9" wide. So the model number is the inside measurement instead of the length from tongue to bumper like most trailers are labeled. I don't think you want to see all the numbers but I measured aisle width, front entry space, bed size, bathroom shelves (potential ballgame/movie dvd's) ... cabinets, floor to ceiling (6'1") and that nice exterior storage space that goes the complete width of the trailer. I even measure the ground clearance to the lowest hanging pipe (11"), an inch higher than my H3 Hummer.

The 3 windows in back are not as big as a Class C or even a larger trailer but they are still good size. The top of the trailer has plenty of room for the solar panels installation. The AC is 8,000 btu's...I am guessing that is enough for a 17x6'9" space.  I won't use the AC any more than I do here at home, last year I survived the 100 degree temps with windows open and fans on, just to see what the cost savings would be at the end of the year.

Sooooo the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD deal is back on. I will pick it up in a couple of weeks. I am having 2 vents changed out for 2 Fantastic fans, plus their prep which includes the anti sway bar, the brake controller installed, propane filled and the new Interstate Marine battery fully charged.

2012 Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD

The house is being listed with an AGENT!! for the first time on Monday.  The Chevy Truck and Mini Cooper that are on Craig's list will be added to eBay and/or Cars dot com on Sunday night 11pm local....so that 7 day listing will end on Sunday night 8 pm on the west coast. In my past eBay full-time selling experience that seemed to be the best time and day for me for total sales.

Anyone wanna bet if I change my mind?  lol lol

Plan is to be heading west no later than 30 October 2013!  When the vehicles sell, then I can leave at any time, with the house vacant, move in ready and with a real estate agent.

It took a while, I admit, but it feels great to finally have a firm plan of action and a totally different feeling within myself than anytime in the past.

Could Not Leave People Hanging by My Disappearance

When I shut this blog down for the 2nd time in a couple of months, I wasn't coming back ... I still may not blog on a regular basis.

I may or may not post occasionally in the future but I wanted to leave this blog active for those new readers or people that are looking for answers (I have none) about living on the road either in an RV or trailer (I have done neither) with dogs. Maybe some of the research I have done the past 21 months might help someone just starting their search for information.

I am on Facebook, have been for years, but 3 or 4 months ago, I deleted all my friends from just Facebook and only kept that account open so I could follow "pages" or "groups" that I liked.

In Blogs and Facebook, I have never really cared to share what I personally do with the outside world but they are both useful in a way ... so I keep both of them. For information mostly.

So that is where I am today in blogland. Yes, I have continued to read all the blogs I have listed on the left through Feedly. That program was my replacement for Google Reader after it stopped.

For my followers, an update ... NO, I did not buy the Starcraft Trailer I last posted about. One week before delivery, with money in hand, I went down to the dealer for a look again and planned on paying for it a week in advanced. After she unlocked the door so I could look at the trailer I was buying, my initial thought was "this is smaller than I remembered", "smaller than the pictures I had looked at after making arrangements for purchase".

So I spent an hour in 90 degree heat, sitting inside and thinking, on my hands and knees looking at ever nook inside and out of the trailer. I kept asking if that trailer was a workable solution for my 3 dogs and I. There was also some question on the length of the trailer based on the model number in the name and that of trailer manufacturer's norm.  Was it 17' inside or from tongue to bumper. After that hour I spent looking and thinking, during my 40 minute drive home I was fairly certain I was not going to make the purchase of that particular trailer. I called them the next day to cancel.

Still the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD is a possibility.

I believe the trailer I need is the Northwood Nash, 18' and I need a pickup truck to tow that instead of my H3 Hummer.

I have emailed a few people the past few weeks since I closed my blog and discussed different options, thoughts etc.

Yes, the 3 hounds are a major reason and always has been the reason a decision has not been made...not fear.

So, really all is well, I am in good health, I receive different forms of income on a regular basis, the Indiana temps have cooled to high 70's, the humidity had dropped, the bugs are gone and the land behind my house has been cut and turned into large rolls of hay.

For those that are traveling ... be safe and I enjoy reading about your travels.

David ... your pup reminds me an A LOT of my bloodhound when she was in her first 3 years.

Thanks for stopping by.

Why I Picked the AR-ONE 17RD

Since reading about Glenn in October 2011, I spent about a year gathering information about full-time living on the road. I read and still read a lot of blogs of people that travel full-time, some part-time and some ex-travelers. They used Class A's, Class C's, Vans, 5th Wheels, Trailers and even a few tents. I emailed these people on occasion and received replies 100% of the time.

So I had a lot of information to digest on making a lifestyle change, while at the time I wasn't looking to do anything. I had been restless for years, having lived on the west coast for many years I had seen a lot of these places people were writing about and taking pictures. I knew how nice some of those places were.

This lifestyle I was finding out about was giving me a way to do that travel instead of long drives and over priced motel rooms.

After year one passed I started looking at different rigs, some owned by friends and some at RV lots like Camping World in Indy and Colerain in Indy. I came close to buying a 34' Class A locally, in fact if the family had not been on spring break vacation, I probably would have bought it after the road test but that road test had to wait for them to get back and by that time I had 2nd thoughts about something that big...because I always wanted to go "as small as possible".

Then a few weeks ago, I announced on this blog that I was buying the 17' Casita that was only 30 miles away and in mint condition. I decided that was too small for me and my hounds.

I loved the Gulfstream BT Cruiser every time I looked at them and sat in them.  I liked the Class C's.

Yet, I didn't know how far off the beaten path I could get with a Class C, a Class A, a 5th wheel or a larger trailer.

So I bought the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD for the following reasons:

This trailer, can be towed by my H3 Hummer, 20' long on the inside, 2,800 lbs and no trailer could beat the price…$9,995. I would have paid $12K-$18K for any of the trailers I had talked about before and they would have been used and I would have had to trade my H3 for a pickup. I wanted to try the H3 out before I made the trade so that was a small factor.  I felt a lot of room as I moved around inside the trailer, plenty of storage and everything was new.  Plus, I follow a blogger that bought one last winter, solo traveler and has nothing but great things to say about the trailer.

- 2 yr warranty on the trailer
- 14 yr warranty on the rubber one piece roof  (I think it's 7 years)
- I can fit in the shower
- basement storage in front of the trailer that goes all the way across the trailer
- a full time queen size bed
- with side and rear windows in the dining area, great view outside while eating inside or on computer in bad weather days.
- Starcraft is manufactured in Middlebury IN.

The price of $9,995 included:

    - anti sway hitch
    - installed brake controller
    - new Marine battery
    - Propane filled - I know, not many dollars but still
    - Local RV sales for any repair, conversions or modifications
    - No pressure sales, people were extremely nice, knew their trailers and listened to what type of
      camping/traveling you were going to do.

I still need to load pictures up into Picasa or Photobucket so I can load them here.

The Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD Has Been Purchased

I know for long time readers, the words in the title are hard to believe ... lol

Due to the busy schedule of prepping trailers for delivery from the establishment I am buying from, I had to wait until next week to pick up my new trailer. Since I am now working 4 - 10 hour days, early Friday morning seemed like the perfect time to drive down and pick it up after they install the brake control, the sway control and some operational training on the trailer itself. So I'll pick it up July 19!!!

I have laid the 25' tape measure out in the backyard and have plenty of room to park the trailer parallel or perpendicular to my house. It is not possible to park it in the driveway due to the incline and no room on the sides of the drive. Plus, I don't have a lot of level ground in the backyard, so there was only one place basically to set it up.

I will then move what I would plan to full time with into the trailer, including the dogs, their water bowls, dog food, my clothes, couple of glasses and a couple of plates. Then sleeping bags for them and me to sleep on, not in due to the current temps.

By the following 3 day weekend, the 26th I plan on taking the hounds and I on a weekend camping trip...kind of a "shakedown cruise", enjoy the fire, some coffee and what it feels like to finally relax and just hangout.

By that time my resume's for workamping jobs will have been sent out.  I'd like to start that way to get to know the trailer better, the camping scene, see some nice areas and meet some new people. It will also keep be a little busy rather than just going "cold turkey" from working a fulltime job to nothing.

Once I find a workamping position, I'll look at my start day, subtract travel time, a little vacation before and after arrive and come up with a date to use as my resignation date...."they" will not be happy with that news.

If for some reason I do not come up with a workamping position, I might take off towards the southwest before winter hits Indiana and go boondocking right off the bat.  I've had a lot of good teachers with all the blogs I have been following so it should be fun to see how I and the hounds do.

I will add some pictures later.

I could come up with every excuse and justify every reason NOT to do this.....but the urge to travel just never went away, even when I attempted a couple of times to push it away.

Make That a Million and One Times

The night of my last post, the more I looked at my sleeping Bloodhound the bigger she got and the smaller the Casita room looked. Then when all three hounds were standing next to my desk chair wanting attention, I realized the Casita would not work.  My basset hounds are longer than the width of the isle in the Casita Trailer!!

No matter how much I wanted it to work ... facing facts ... it would not work.

So I called the seller, only 30 miles away, the next morning after sleeping on my thoughts and told him I had changed my mind ... that it was too small. He had 2 people in line to buy the trailer if I backed out of it.

I had positive feedback from readers and local friends on that decision. I knew it was the right decision as soon as I hung up from the call.

So now, what?

Yes, there has been a couple of outrageous emails ... enough that I shut the blog down, with no intentions of coming back to blog land. Then there were emails that were helpful and encouraging.

I came back to blog land because I caught myself writing a journal. Then I thought I already have almost 21 months of history already recorded, don't let a few bad emails make you run from blog land. I admit, I am usually not this open with private decisions and putting thoughts out online was somewhat of a question for me.

I'm back ... maybe all of my confusion will help someone, otherwise it will be a good record after I hit the road.

I found a Starcraft dealer nearby, so Saturday I drove on our "new" Interstate to check out this RV dealership loaded with new trailers and 5th wheels.  I am only looking at and have looked at trailers that I can pull with my H3 Hummer. That limits the size of the trailer but there are a couple bigger than the Casita that I think will work. Those are the Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD and the Lance 1575 w/slide.

I looked at, sat in, check out the bed, the storage and the roof for a 2013 Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD. They have given me a great price that includes a new battery, installed brake controller, ball mount, anti-sway bar and any changes I want as part of their dealer prep. 2 year warranty on the trailer and 14 year warranty on the rubber roof. Quoted sale price was $9,995.

This gets me on the road faster, under my budgeted cost, have some good feedback from people that are using it and a lot more space than I saw in the Casita.

So the plan can be the same as I last posted. Buy the trailer, park it in back and live in it, with the hounds and find out if we all will be road worthy. With my forced sequestration day off starting this Friday until the end of September, I see some camping trips on the horizon working only 4 days/week.

Thanks to an email I received from a follower, a suggested book has really helped me understand my insanity.

Saturday at Camping World In Indianapolis

I didn't go to Camping World to buy, but to look. They have the largest selection of different RV's and trailers in my area.  I was once again able to travel through their lot without a salesperson with me. I was able sit inside of the ones of interest, think while I sat there, inspect their conditions and think some more.

I am not sure what is going on but I have never seen their lot as full as it was today. Not only for the rigs for sale but the lots for storage and the lot for people staying that are getting maintenance or problems fixed....not sure which. There were a lot of rigs parked in an area that I thought was for storage instead of repair.

I was there to look at a couple of trailers I had seen online, that could be pulled by my Hummer. Since I had sat in a Casita a few weeks ago, I could sit in these Starcraft Trailers and compare them to the Casita. Gary Ramsey has a Starcraft AR-ONE 17RD that he likes a lot.

I also wanted to check out their Class C's again, thinking about towing my Mini Cooper or my Hummer.

The two trailers were the Starcraft AR-One 14RB and 15RB. I believe both of those could work and seemed to have more room than the Casita. Sure, the hounds, but I could see where they would be if we were stuck inside during bad weather or after dark. Most of the days will be spent outside, them and me. Yes, I agree those trailers would be small, but a lot of couples fulltime in Casita's and love it. I could see myself being able to use those trailers and carry most of my supplies inside and outside my Hummer.

Over the past 20 months I have visited Campy World and Colerain in Indy 5-6 times. After all those visits there is ONE rig that I always like and feel good when I sit inside thinking if that is the one, if I will have enough room for me and dogs, can I drive this on BLM land.....and the ONE consistent rig that I always like is the: ....Gulfstream BT Cruiser with a slideout and a queen size bed in back.

I don't know why, but that exact rig has always been the one I have liked, even over the Class A's.

Now could the E-450 set up tow a 4x4 .... salesperson says yes it can.

I see Wheeling It putting their 40'er in places I would like to go, so a 28' BT Cruiser would be able to do the same and I would have more room than I would in the trailers that I am looking at.

The house is back off the market.  Once again I am trying NOT to make this an all or nothing situation.  Fulltiming might turn into part-timing, at least 8-9 mos out of the year and 3-4 months at home but that could change after I am traveling.

The majority of friends and people that email me agree that is the way to go, even those that have traveled for a lot of years.

That's all for tonight.