Escape Travel Trailer

I spent some time tonight on a forum of owners that travel in the Escape Travel Trailer. These are made in Chilliwack, BC Canada. You have can have them made to your specs and even some owners had the factory install different accessories they bought from companies other than Escape. I am interested in the 19' model along with the option of having a large range of ideas they can install. Highly recommended by a friend that has years of experience in full-timing in small fiberglass trailers "off the grid".

Looking at the pictures of where these people are camping, got me motivated back into action. Just like the decision of tow vehicles, I can feel the options of different trailers narrowing down to 2-3 different ones, the list is getting shorter.

On this forum I also saw people my age that were full-timing, telling others that were on the fence trying to decide when to retire, and start the travel journey ... to do it now, don't wait.

I have heard that before from some of my readers.

It gives me something to think about while at work tomorrow. The end of my fiscal year at work is coming to a close soon, so the pace should lighten up a little to where I can do some thinking at work about how to get out of here.  Maybe even a little online research on trailers.

Maybe I could get a job as one of those part-time NFL officials.

Still Alive

I have had a few people email me asking me if everything is ok since my blogging seems to have taken a vacation. At the end of August I had huge amounts of motivation and action. Then Labor Day weekend hit with a lot of plans to get closer to putting the house for sale, downsizing and hitting the road after finding a tow vehicle and a trailer.

I hit a gigantic wall that weekend.

Did nothing on my list, watched a lot of college and pro football, mowed the yard once, did a lot of thinking, reading and looking at pictures of different setups and spent time around the house with the hounds.

I haven't done anything since.

I've been looking at google images, reading forums and talking to a few people that fulltime or have in the past with an SUV and a small trailer. As far as trailers I have narrowed it down to the Escape made in BC Canada, the Lance 1575 and the Bigfoot 17'-19'...possibly a Casita.

While I am still able to with good health, I want to travel to locations that are way off the path. It's the only experience I have in camping, but those were short stays, camping in a tent after backpacking in the Cascades in Washington. Still I want to be able to take a trailer/SUV as far back as possible and stay there. Also have the ability to stay on BLM or National Forests.

I chose to trade my Mini Cooper for a H3 Hummer, even with the low towing capacity of 4,500 pounds.  I am using the 75% of the max weight to find the trailer that will fit those limits while traveling in the west. I don't mind going slow in the truck lane, but I liked the comfort of the ride and if needed they can climb anything. It has low mileage, serviced regular at the dealership and in my price range. Currently just driving in the local area not towing anything, I am getting 19.2 mpg. The Toyota FJ Cruiser was my other option and a hard decision to make but I couldn't find one with less than a 100,000 miles within the price that I wanted to pay. Each has it's pro's and con's.

If I get out on the road and decide all of this does not work, then I'll go from there and buy something bigger. This combo gets me out on the road the fastest and without touching my savings. Also I have never wanted to take a bunch of stuff with me and fit the rv/trailer around what I was taking. I have wanted to buy the trailer/rv that I want and then decide from there what I would take. I have always said I can and have traveled light.

What about the hounds??? They are going with me just as it has always been the plan. Once I am on the camp site I will not be spending a lot of time inside the trailer. Bad weather sure, we all will be inside until it passes, it will be much bigger than a tent!! They don't take up a lot of space inside based on their sleeping habits. From the people I talk to that live full time on the road with dogs, they say a trailer 17-19' will be ok. I have done some testing here at home by using the smaller 2nd bedroom I use for my office/bicycle trainer/dog kennel and two desks, just to see how cramped that space would be with the hounds. It's doable without any problems.

I know it's a big change than what I have looked at, wrote about and questioned in the past 11 months but everything feels good in this.

All is good here in the tropics of Southern Indiana!

I Clear Out More I Find More

Since my last post telling you about test driving different potential tow vehicles, I have moved more things to recycling.  I have pulled more clothes from the closet for my next Goodwill run to the larger town 25 miles away. During this time of doing a room at a time, I find more things I would do to the house if I were staying here. So I really need to do them and I think some things can be done while the For Sale sign is in the yard.

I am not a "pack rat", never have been nor will be ... but it is amazing how one person can collect so much stuff over the years. I do a lot of downsizing on an annual basis, so this is why it is so surprising to me as I move through each room, just how much stuff has accumulated.

The next thing to sort are books, my music collection and my IU sports collection. What do I do with them? When I say books, I am not talking a lot of books but these are the books that survived the last time I went through and cleared out books. My music collection is nothing more than obnoxious. Ranging from LP's (vinyl), to cassette tapes (over 300 ea), to CD's (close to 400), a dvd movie collection and a collection of IU football and basketball games on VCR tapes and DVD's, dating back to the first VCR player/recorder in 1985.

So I guess I am at the hard part of getting rid of some things that I really like, still listen to, still read or look through ... I am not sure what to do with them ... storage is not an option.

Throughout my busy day at work and the time home in the afternoon, one thought kept moving through my head pretty consistently. That was, a Toyota Tundra Pickup, with a cab high bed shell and a trailer. Still when I went back and looked at some Class C's along with the BT Cruiser that I had bookmarked.....I like the advantages of them and wanted them just as much as a truck and trailer. LOL

Even though I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff this weekend, I still have a lot to do and it's like a never ending battle. I did sell one of my bedroom chests within hours of texting the pics to my friends. I am having no luck selling my spare set of wheels and tires on Craig's List, except the Nigerian that wanted my name, address and phone number so his company could send me a check and his shipper could stop by this small out of the way Midwestern town to pick the wheels and tires up. In a reply to his email I just attached a link of his name that I found on google showing he was from Nigeria...never heard back from him.

Someone at work today asked me if I thought you could RV full-time on a "shoestring budget". He and his wife would love to do that but being cash strapped due to life, I'm not sure it would be a good idea. I told them I have no experience in RVing so I couldn't answer that but to me traveling in anything across the country on a full-time basis, on a "shoestring budget" is pretty dangerous. I told him to talk to another co-worker that had the huge Chevy dual axle pickup and the 38' 5th wheels for the RV experiences, not the monthly expenditures.

So, the thought of the day ... do I want to get on the road the fastest way and that is buying a truck and a trailer for less than I would spend on a Class C. Or do I need to wait? I don't want to touch my savings, like I have said before. Now I do have a savings for just RVing that has been increasing, but the best way to raise cash is selling the house.

Truck / Trailer or Class C towing a small 4x4 vehicle? Or just a Class with no toad?

I wish I would really make up my mind ... very very frustrating.