A New Chapter

Arnold & Danny

This idea hatched over lobster stew in a lobster pound on the coast of Maine near Acadia National Park. It was our second attempt to have a vacation in Acadia this season. Both trips ended with our 22 ft. 2001 VW Rialta van in the shop for repairs. The first time it was a CVC and new axle. The second time it was the transmission.

We were wondering if we could go full time, figuring out a budget on the paper napkin. It looked like we could. We are both experienced campers. The dogs like camping. We decided to see if this would work.

The next few weeks were pretty intensive RV shopping both online and in person. We learned a lot about the different manufacturers and product lines. We looked at Truck Campers ( not big enough, especially with 3 large dogs), travel trailers ( I don’t want to tow one) and finally settled on a fifth wheel trailer. We called some of our favorite Vermont State Campgrounds and asked them if they had any limitations on the size of RV they can accommodate. The answer was to stay at 30 feet or less.

So the mission is to find a 30 foot new or used-in-good-condition 5th wheel with lots of storage, good insulation, and heated tanks. Everything we looked at was a compromise on one criterion or another. I kept thinking that when we find the right one, we would know it. And we did!

Danny is a 30 ft. 2011 Forest River Wildcat. It has the insulation we were looking for, the enclosed and heated tanks and a lot of storage.

We had traded Lee’s jeep for a 2008 Ram 3500 diesel dually with a gooseneck hitch in the truck bed earlier this fall. He’s a monster so we named him Arnold. Arnold can tow anything! So we bought Danny on Halloween and brought him home on Tues. 11/3. My first towing/backing lesson was yesterday. Driving forward is not so bad. I still have a lot to learn about backing up.