Hi Everyone. I've been stealthy for several weeks and finally decided to register. I love reading all the comments. I have wanted a trailer for decades. I just had to convince the husband. We retired in late 2014 and went to an RV show last year (just browsing). Honestly, can't put a finger on why but ended up with a fifth wheel. I wanted something small but my husband is very tall and wanted to be comfortable. We read and researched ourselves into a coma. We finally decided that a 29 foot Arctic Fox was the way go. Unfortunately, you can only get them on the West Coast or get one shipped to a dealer in Pennsylvania. We decided we needed a little adventure so drove from Maryland to Oregon to pick one up. Really didn't know what we were doing but learned fast with helpful advice from my sister and brother-in-law who also have a fifth wheel. We love it but have a bit of buyer's remorse because it doesn't feel like "me" if that makes any sense. It's also over 13 feet tall so I'm terrified that we are going to hit something. Also, I love driving but after witnessing what my husband went through when we drove down some hellishly stressful downhills in California, I don't think I can do it. I think the thing I was most surprised by was the gas. Oh my God. Our truck couldn't get enough of it. We drove about 7-10 hours a day and seemed like we stopped for gas constantly. Looking forward to Spring when we can just put it somewhere for a week and chill out.
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highdesertranger
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Welcome Artic54 to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you. BTW we love pics. highdesertranger
rvpopeye
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Welcome aboard Arctic54!
A 29' 5er is a big first step............
Try only driving for 1 tank a day . That should take away some of the stress.
7-10 hrs is almost guaranteed to wear you out !
All you get to see is road and fuel stops.
I only go 250 mi or less , sometimes WAY less.
There are a couple of books that should help avoiding the white knuckle hills.
Mountain Directory East and Mountain Directory West.
A 29' 5er is a big first step............
Try only driving for 1 tank a day . That should take away some of the stress.
7-10 hrs is almost guaranteed to wear you out !
All you get to see is road and fuel stops.
I only go 250 mi or less , sometimes WAY less.
There are a couple of books that should help avoiding the white knuckle hills.
Mountain Directory East and Mountain Directory West.
cyndi
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Yup! Less driving, more exploring!
There's a learning curve when it comes to hauling. There are also apps that will guide you to more RV friendly routes
Jason and Nikki list some good ones, here: http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/road-trip-apps
Their entire blog is a great resource
There's a learning curve when it comes to hauling. There are also apps that will guide you to more RV friendly routes
Jason and Nikki list some good ones, here: http://www.gonewiththewynns.com/road-trip-apps
Their entire blog is a great resource
eDJ_
Well-known member
Welcome to the CRVL Forums 
As you read here you will come across a way of exploring that we call the "2 X 2 X 2".
What it means is that you break Camp and get ready to travel in the morning after the traffic rush and then
travel no more than 2 hours total, while you make many stops for sight seeing along the way so that you are done by around 2 PM.....when you are pulling into a Campground somewhere. (State or National Park etc)
The last 2 is that you stay there for 2 days of leisure Camping, hiking, boating & fishing, and taking in whatever sites that there are to see.
Then two days later you repeat this.
Now, how do you plan for taking in sites and attractions while you are driving on the road ?
There are numerous websites that help you find free campsites around the country and these even have Trip Planners in them. The Planner will ask you which direction you are intending to travel in and then how far off of your road you are willing to go to see something interesting. There is much to see out there and Technology today is at your finger tips so that you can find all kinds of interesting sites to see.
Free Campsites net has a trip planner at the upper left of the page which can help with this.
https://freecampsites.net/
There are many others available too where you can even take a virtual tour of the area while sitting in Camp.
Tripomatic (USA & International) Map Muse & Journey Planner are some others
See the bottom link in my Signature lines below. Your two days in Camp will provide time to use these sites
for planning your next travels.
If you are just driving down the road just looking at the countryside you're probably missing a lot of interesting stuff and wasting a lot of fuel at the same time.
As you read here you will come across a way of exploring that we call the "2 X 2 X 2".
What it means is that you break Camp and get ready to travel in the morning after the traffic rush and then
travel no more than 2 hours total, while you make many stops for sight seeing along the way so that you are done by around 2 PM.....when you are pulling into a Campground somewhere. (State or National Park etc)
The last 2 is that you stay there for 2 days of leisure Camping, hiking, boating & fishing, and taking in whatever sites that there are to see.
Then two days later you repeat this.
Now, how do you plan for taking in sites and attractions while you are driving on the road ?
There are numerous websites that help you find free campsites around the country and these even have Trip Planners in them. The Planner will ask you which direction you are intending to travel in and then how far off of your road you are willing to go to see something interesting. There is much to see out there and Technology today is at your finger tips so that you can find all kinds of interesting sites to see.
Free Campsites net has a trip planner at the upper left of the page which can help with this.
https://freecampsites.net/
There are many others available too where you can even take a virtual tour of the area while sitting in Camp.
Tripomatic (USA & International) Map Muse & Journey Planner are some others
See the bottom link in my Signature lines below. Your two days in Camp will provide time to use these sites
for planning your next travels.
If you are just driving down the road just looking at the countryside you're probably missing a lot of interesting stuff and wasting a lot of fuel at the same time.
You rock!! I am so thankful for this great advice. I probably should have mentioned in my original posting that we didn't make a lot of stops on the trip home because it was November and it was getting dark by 5:00 and we were concerned about getting home before bad weather hit. Thank you again!
