After having this thing sitting next to the house for the last few months (busy with kids stuff and work, etc), we're finally getting into the RV and getting the interior fixed up and outfitted for the family! Figured I'd share progress here.

The bunk over the cab was originally an entertainment center, but we need it for sleeping with 3 kids, so that had to go. Next up is getting a platform set up so we can put a mattress up there.





The rig didn't have a head unit so we go a nice and big one since the original opening had space for I think a 7" screen. This one is 10" and works flawlessly thus far!

Anyone else curious as to why this thread is stickied to the top?

We going to take our kids to Disney/Universal this summer and going to stay in our pop up to save some money on hotels. We are going to stop off for few days in Destin on way back but debating on doing 30a on way there or just one night in a hotel. Any recommendations for a hotel between Biloxi and Mobile that will allow you park a trailer and is relatively safe?

Snipes said:

---

We going to take our kids to Disney/Universal this summer and going to stay in our pop up to save some money on hotels. We are going to stop off for few days in Destin on way back but debating on doing 30a on way there or just one night in a hotel. Any recommendations for a hotel between Biloxi and Mobile that will allow you park a trailer and is relatively safe?

---

Ft. Wilderness?

Yeah we're doing ft wilderness. We will probably spend more time in universal but they don't have a setup like ft wilderness unfortunately.

Snipes said:

---

Yeah we're doing ft wilderness. We will probably spend more time in universal but they don't have a setup like ft wilderness unfortunately.

---

not sure you're really going to save money on hotels at ft. Wilderness.

When we looked at it, rv spots were like $220/night.

There are a million AirBnbs for that price in the area. We stayed in a 4br house with a pool right outside the gates of Disney for like $275/night

Either way, not what you're asking but that was why we've nixed ever taking the rig, plus it's 4 LONG days of driving there and back.

I'm only paying $90 a night for my site and ft wilderness plus I get all the benefits of Disney resort.

Orlando is only one of the stops and I will save thousands over a hotel during the 2 weeks we will be in Florida.

We've been to Colorado several times and we stay at hotel in Amarillo to avoid having to setup camp for a night.

I'm looking to do the same at hotel on way to Orlando but not be too worried everything gets stolen while we sleep.

$90? Dang. Maybe we were looking at a super expensive time.

I got the cheapest site that fits pop up campers. The price jumps for the upgraded sites for 5th wheels the size of double wide trailers.

BSD said:

---

Anyone else curious as to why this thread is stickied to the top?

---

I mentioned to the mods that we needed a dedicated RV thread, and they agreed and made it sticky,. If it doesn't get any use, they will probably let it drop.

Doesn't matter much to me, I'm just glad we got the RV folks onto one thread

Went to a high school graduation for my goddaughter in Waco this past weekend and took our camper. We stayed at the Reynold's Creek CoE park on Lake Waco.
It was a great location. It was us and two other campers in the whole campground and we had an entire peninsula of the campground to ourselves.
Late Saturday night, I noticed that some of the 12V lights were flickering. Went to bed and woke up and none of the 12V stuff was working. 120VAC was still working.
Our awning was out, so I then got to spend 30 minutes manually winding it back in with a ratchet. The one time I left my drill at home...
After getting home, went to troubleshooting and the converter has gone out. Now I get to spend the next couple of evenings labeling wiring and swapping out the power center.
We've had the camper for 5 years now, and aside from a tire blowout, this is the first component failure we've had so far, so not too bad.

Who's going where this summer?

We're doing our annual 17 day trip to Colorado.

1 week in Granby for RMNP and surrounding area. Then our 8 days at Fun Valley in South Fork, CO.

Heading back to Glacier NP from Houston in late June. Total 24 day trip. 8 days at St Mary KOA on east side then 5 days at west entrance. Then a few nights here and there in Idaho and Wyoming before heading home. Super pumped.

bayouaggie said:

---

Heading back to Glacier NP from Houston in late June. Total 24 day trip. 8 days at St Mary KOA on east side then 5 days at west entrance. Then a few nights here and there in Idaho and Wyoming before heading home. Super pumped.

---

what's your travel itinerary along the way? that's a solid 3-4 days driving from Houston.

We are looking to downsize to a smaller less complicated RV to better suit the kind of travel we expect to do going forward. If anyone owns (or has) either of the models below, i would like to have a chat.

InTech Aucta Willow

Bigfoot 25' (any bed configuration)

Thanks

ChoppinDs40 said:

---

Who's going where this summer?

We're doing our annual 17 day trip to Colorado.

1 week in Granby for RMNP and surrounding area. Then our 8 days at Fun Valley in South Fork, CO.

---

We have a Tab 400 trailer set up for boondocking. Left Brenham on May 21. Spent a few days near Creede CO. We travel about 4 hours/day. Visited relatives north of Santa Barbara we stayed at a county beach for our first actual campground. We will load our truck/trailer on an AMHS ferry in Bellingham on June 5 and arrive in Haines AK on June 8. Take another ferry from Valdez to Whittier on June 16. Leave Kenai around the end of June. Go north towards Fairbanks then drive back to Creede arriving mid August. We have reservations for the ferries and a campground on Kenai June 16-23. Otherwise picking spots using iOverlander.

Nice! What a journey. Trip of a lifetime right there.

We've been planing an Alaska trip for several years. I really like your plan! What route are you taking back to the US from Kenai?

TRD-Ferguson said:

---

We've been planing an Alaska trip for several years. I really like your plan! What route are you taking back to the US from Kenai?

---

We got off the ferry in Haines on Monday. Spent the night in a pullout at a lake about 10 miles from the ferry landing. Last night in Haines. Tonite towards the end of the peninsula in a state park.
After we're done on the Kenai we will go as far north as Fairbanks then Tok, Chicken, Dawson City, Whitehorse then the Cassiar highway and through Jasper. I think we will cross into US at Sweetgrass. There aren't that many options!
We've only been here since Monday but no problems yet. It is not crowded and locals are extremely friendly and helpful. Scenery is beyond expectations.

ChoppinDs40 said:

---

Who's going where this summer?

We're doing our annual 17 day trip to Colorado.

1 week in Granby for RMNP and surrounding area. Then our 8 days at Fun Valley in South Fork, CO.

---

We just solidified our plans.

PDX > Boise > Craters of the Moon > Salt Lake > Moab/Arches > Winter Park Condo with some friends for 5 days (Rocky Mountain Nat) > Dinosaur Nat Monument for the dinosaur obsessed daughter > Shoshone Falls > Joseph, OR/Wallowas > PDX. 3 week trip.

Wife told me no more storing bikes inside/on the bed in the van. Everything has to go on the back rack. Just upgraded from 2 hang on Flatline rack + 2 One-Up hitch for an Alta 8 pack hitch... We'll see how that goes over. But XC, trail, road, gravel #1, gravel #2 + wife MTB and daughter MTB can all come now!

8 bike rack? lol. Big ol fat ass hanging off that van.

"Swingers" and "large racks".

Alta owner knows how to sell product:

ChoppinDs40 said:

---

Drove through Winter Park today and man it's amazing how much activity there is in the summer time now. Last time we were there in the summer was maybe 15 years ago. It was EMPTY. Bustling today.

---

We just got back from Winter Park. The Rendezvous center is awesome and ALL the moose were out on the Fraser River Trail. Smoke was tough, though.

14 days: PDX > SLC > Moab (Canyonlands / Arches / Slick Rock / Porcupine Ridge) > Winter Park > Moab (7 year old saw the Springhill Suites waterpark on the first leg and we needed a break) > Park City (4th shin-dig @ PC Canyons) > Boise > PDX.

We just finished an 18 day Florida run. 1 night in Tallahassee at the drury inn which I highly reccomend for 1 night stop over. 8 nights at Disney ft wilderness which was fine to sleep there but the pool wasn't that great and packed full of PWT. 4 nights at turtle beach on siesta key to recover from 7 days of theme parks. This campground was hidden gem and only has around 40 spots all full hook up but it's not big rig friendly. Beach had ton of shells and seeing manatees floating right off beach was nice touch. Final stop was 4 nights at Camp Gulf in Miramar Beach. We usually stay at Ft Pickens in Pensacola but wife wanted to try something new after their bathroom was pretty skank on our last trip. Camp gulf had lot of activities for the kids and they have put some money into their facilities. We had great shaded campsite because we're only 20ft, but a lot of the huge 5th wheels were jammed together and could barely fit their awnings or slides outs. Beach is nice but small and was real crowded on 4th of July. Seeing all the fireworks displays all the way from 30a to ft Walton was pretty cool. Starting to plan next years adventure to Yellowstone and curious to hear anybody route from Houston.

Just got home from a few weeks in the road with the fam (5). TX > Dollywood > DC > Philly > Gburg > Hershey > NYC > Niagara Falls and wandered back. 3,600 miles.

Still want to do a Acadia/Niva Scotia trip, but couldn't get another week in on this loop.

Older 28' class c. I love the form factor for these trips. Park anywhere. Don't have to get out. Only have to stop for gas and driver bio breaks. I can drive while everybody sleeps, in the evenings in the mornings.

We had left it out In Vegas for a few years and used to fly out there too do road trips around the parks. We did that for a few years and got to see all of it well. Utah is underrated.

Then three summers ago we went to bring it home. Vegas > Death Valley > Salt Flats > Boise > Spokane > Coeur d'Alene > Hiawatha > Missoula > Glacier > Waterton > East Glacier > Great Falls > Lewiston > Roosevelt > Badlands/Rushmore/DTower/WDrug/etc > Omaha (year before natty run) > Branson > Rockefeller (Scout drop of) > Aggieland. Great trip.

Also an Aggieland > Dublin > Roswell > Riudoso > White Sands > Cloudcroft > Carlsbad > Guadalupe > McDonald Obs > Ft. Davis > Home at Christmas.

Add a few weeks of just camping a year. A few Colorado trips. Great time to spend with kids. Oldest just started a job and graduates HS next year. Teenager attitude was thick on the last trip, but I still wouldn't trade that time and those experiences. Attitude have been better since we returned after that time together.

I'm building a FWD ambulance for a solo/duo rig for when kids are mostly/out. Feels like it's coming up fast.

I am looking at the Godzilla. Last diesel I owned was a 2005 without all the exhaust BS.


How do you like the 7.3?

What tank did you install?

Alr3111 said:

---

I am looking at the Godzilla. Last diesel I owned was a 2005 without all the exhaust BS.


How do you like the 7.3?

What tank did you install?

---

More power than you'll ever need. Sucks gas but I have the tremor with 4.3 gears. It's basically a monster truck.

Had the transferflow midship 58gallon tank installed. Over 400 miles to a tank pulling the rig.

I like the tremor for many reasons, one being the 350 rear end and the 350 transmission.

This thing is heavy duty. Rides a little rough but it's a HD truck on 35"s. What're you gonna do.

On our camping travels the campsite makes just as much difference in enjoying the trip as the destination does. We camp at variety of Texas state parks, county parks, national parks, and full on rv parks and I listed some of our favorites below and curious on what others favorites are.

Our favorite Texas state parks are Galveston, Guadalupe, Pedernales, and Lost Maples. Garner is a great park but absolutely over crowded and we ran into some trashy people that tarnished it..-

We haven't stayed in a lot of national park or forest service campgrounds but we really enjoyed Ft Pickens in Pensacola FL and Silver Queen near the Maroon Bells in Aspen CO. The beach is amazing at Ft Pickens and having the blue angles practice overhead is really cool. See an eagle dive bombing fish in front of us on the beach was pretty cool. The bathhouse can get a little funky during the summer though. The silver queen only has few boondocking sites and a pit toilet, but being only ones in the park each night and easy access to the Maroon Bells for sunrise/sunset views was amazing.

Our favorite county park types are Molas Lake in Silverton CO and East Portal in Estes Park CO. The panoramic view of Molas Lake and the San Juans at our site is something I will never forget. East portal backs up to RMNP and coming back each evening to having a drink with view of the park while kids played on the playground was a huge hit.

Little Arrow RV Resort in Townsend TN and FIMFO Hill Country are are favorite proper RV Parks. Little Arrow is hands down nicest park we have ever been down. Everything was so well thought out and ran from the bathhouses, pool, and even a hand built playground and treehouse for the kids. Quick access into Cades Cove for early morning Bears was great. FIMFO is huge but really well run park with tons of amenities and kids programs.

Look at Fun Valley in South Fork, CO.

My family's been going there for decades. Like a time capsule of an RV resort nestled in the San Juan mountains.

We had somebody recommend fun valley before but hasn't lined up with any of our routes yet.

We're looking into stopping around Fort Collins on our way up to Yellowstone next summer. The KOA is best option at the moment but open for any other good ideas.


Our pop up is only 20ft so can fit in a lot more places than most people but need some form of toilet preferably flushing so the ladies don't complain too much

I usually use google and Google Maps to find sites but I've found few gems on here like Molas lake.

Try iOverlander for finding good sites. You have to be persistent/patient with the free version but we have found many great mostly boondocking sites using it all over US/Canada/Alaska.
Also Harvest Host can get you some great surprises.

We have a cassette toilet but that not exactly ideal to use and need sites with a toilet. That unfortunately won't work with Harvest hosts and boondocking.

Ehh, we send it with a Thetford holding tank / electric flush toilet. Daughter and wife don't really care and we have zero issues with smell. I handle the dump / chemicals.

You're missing out with a toilet restriction. So many cool places out there for boondocking.