First Thing First

The foundation for the beginning of our new chapter was being poured several months ago. At that time, my mother-in-law moved to a nursing home and we decided to live in our 16' CampLite camper until we found a place we wanted to move into. Thankfully, we ended up having much more time to pare down our things before leaving the house. In the process, we learned some things.

1. We had a lot of stuff...well, actually, I had a lot of stuff.
2. A 16' camper actually shrinks when 2 adults, 2 dogs and stuff needed for life are added.
3. It is hard, challenging at best, to eliminate a vast majority of your stuff.
4. Did I mention we had a lot of stuff?
5. Despite the difficult process of reducing one's stuff, it is incredibly freeing to do so.
6. Coming to terms with what is really important and what is not makes for a smoother transition.

A lot of life happened between then and now but to stay on point, I will move on.

Our 2013 Silverado 1500 and our 2015 LivinLite CampLite 16DBS

Our full time RV'ing experience started in the above setup. I hope it would be obvious we did not purchase this camper to live in. We bought it, a) because we wanted to move up from a tent for our weekend excursions/vacations and b) because it was the best and lightest camper we could find that our truck could pull comfortably. On those two marks, it was amazing. Weighing in at just under 3000 pounds, our truck pulled it easily. It was perfect for a weekend adventure with our dogs and grandson. Not so perfect for full time living.

Situated within was a full size queen bed, a couch in the slide out that folded down for additional sleep area, fridge with freezer, small counter top with 3 burners and a sink, large tv (for my husband) and a too small restroom with shower (that we used as a closet). It had all the conveniences needed except space. Due to the lack of space, pretty much everything we had left had to be put in a storage unit. So began our quest for a bigger living space.

Our search for a larger rv gave us a bit of an education. We learned many things about rvs that helped us make our decision, but, first, we dreamed big. We looked at what current full timers were using and then we window shopped... Then, we looked at our wallet...and groaned... There was no way we could go all out but we would get as close as we could.

However, before getting the rv, we would first need to find a truck. The Silverado was going to need to be upgraded. 6400 pounds of pulling power wasn't exactly power. Practicality and a not so thick wallet helped us eliminate the much heavier and larger luxury brands. This, in turn, narrowed our truck search since we knew for certain we would not need a dually. We settled on a 2016 Ram Laramie 2500 Heavy Duty Turbo Diesel. Some deciding factors were:

1. It had the Cummins 6.7 
2. It was already set up for fifth wheel and goose neck hitches.
3. It had the cold weather package. (We may live in Texas, but I am from Michigan. Cold weather is in our future.)
4. It can tow 17,200!
5. It had the all important (all important to me) side steps and the perfect backseat setup for our dogs.

Now that we had our truck, we could get serious about finding our new home on wheels.