Funny how life gets in the way of plans. I made a few posts here a year or so ago, before life kicked us in the teeth. It's been long enough, I thought I'd reboot from the start, and go from there!

My name is Kyle, and my Wife is Michele. We are in our mid forties, and currently live in central Wa. State. We have been talking about buying an RV, and full timing, for several years. We were looking hard at an Arctic Fox 32' travel trailer, that we could tow with our current 3/4 ton gasser, and were about to put money down on one, when the whole world dropped out from under us. My stepson wound up in the hospital for 4 months.  After his release, (he is ok for now) two months later, my Wife was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer at 43 years old. (get the girls checked, please, ladies!). Several surgeries later, she is OK, no signs of cancer. The specter will always hang over us, but for now, it's all good.

So that's the bad news. The good news is, after all that, we sold our house, and are currently living in an apartment. I've always been told that market timing is a fool's game, but my spidey-senses told me to sell now, take the money, and run!

We modified our plans over the course of the last year, and decided to jump in with both feet. The logic is probably familiar ground for a lot of you. I'm just sick of owning a house. I did it for 20 years. I'm tired of working on it. I'm tired of neighbors I can't just drive away from. I'm tired of being a slave, if you will.

Last week, after a lot of consideration, we ordered a 2017 Arctic Fox 29-5k fifth wheel, and a 2017 RAM 3500. The truck is a 3 month wait, and the 5'ver will be ready in Feb 17.

The 29-5k is smaller than either of us thought we wanted, when we started looking in to this idea, though further thought on the matter makes it just about perfect. Great cargo capacity, and shorter length (we plan to boondock as much as possible). My thinking is, we might even be ok in some campgrounds that have a 30' restriction. Unless some over-acheiver at the gate breaks out the measuring tape, I can just point to the "29" on the side. (It's actually 35', nose to tail).

 We had our heart set on a Arctic Fox 35-5z, until we looked at the unit in person, and realized that with a full water tank, the cargo capacity went down to 1300lbs! The 29-5k has a much higher rating. Equipped the way we have ordered it, I am expecting close to a 3000lb cargo capacity, perhaps more. We ordered it from Apache Camping center in Portland, Or. I liked their low-pressure tactics, and the price could not be beat!

The short list on the trailer is: no furniture (we will add our own), second AC in the bedroom, 6 point leveling system, slide toppers, and a 16 gal water heater. I did not order a larger fridge, for several reasons. We don't eat a lot, for starters, so we don't need the extra space. Once we looked hard at our home refer, we realized it was mostly full of stuff that was rarely used. Keep it simple, keep it small :). The other main factor was replacement cost. Spiffy looking 12, or 18 cu ft units are not cheap. Close to $5k for the 18cf model, when, not if, it fails.

Costco has a great deal on Grape Solar 400w system right now, and the UPS truck just dropped one off the other day.  Four, 100w panels, Xantrex charge controller, all wiring, and Xantrex 2000w pure sine inverter for $999. I have been eyeballing this setup for a year or so, and it finally went on sale.

This will be going on the roof, once I actually have a roof to put it on. Right now it gets set up on the apartment balcony, while I run around with my multimeter testing it, to the puzzled looks of our neighbors :)

The truck is an SLT3500 drw, with the factory auto level air suspension, AISIN trans, and 4.10 rear end. I agonized over 3.73 vs 4.10, but was finally convinced to go the 4.10 route. It should tow most anything we need. Keeping to the SLT trim level kept the price down some, and I didn't want leather seats anyway. I did get the cargo camera, and a few other widgets, but tried to keep it simple. I went with the factory issue 25klb hitch, and the removable puck prep for it. It looks like a slick system, and I believe the hitch is made by Reese (?), and just rebranded as Mopar.

This whole process will take a few months, as we sell/give/dump the rest of our stuff, and get ready to leave. Hoping to be on the road in early March of '17.

More to follow, as this unfolds.

Thanks for the great resource. I'll be picking your collective minds for experience, but will try to research stuff myself to avoid another "will my truck tow this" thread:)

Regards, Kyle