FWC advice needed

[la_morris]

Get a tent, if you don't have one. You are still plenty young enough to backpack to places a FWC can't go. Save the rig and camper for old, or at least older age, unless you truly take pleasure in having expensive stuff that you need to take care of.

 

[foeger]

Thanks to all - I am so grateful to have the collected wisdom of the members of this forum. I cannot reply to each poster individually, but here are some highlights and take-home messages:
I cannot buy my way out of this mess
Experience is what counts. Possessions are merely a means to that end.
The purchase would make more sense if I were living out of it full time (which I cannot, since working full time)
It would be hard to use truck/camper as daily driver
“the boring way isn't always so boring”
“being financially sound in all aspects of your life is true freedom”
“the rig is meaningless - it's the adventure itself that holds the meaning.”
“Too much money.” … and in the same post: “you only get one life, one shot. The quality of that life is up to you and your decisions and it is NOW.” - existentialism in a nutshell.
"Anyone who spends more money on camera gear than film, is no photographer."
“I think you need to take step back and just chill for a bit.”
“Save the rig and camper for old, or at least older age, unless you truly take pleasure in having expensive stuff that you need to take care of”
So I think that seals it for me - wait. Now is not the time. You have not heard the last from me, but maybe it will be a while...
Thank you!
Rob

 

[knoxswift]

Good luck!

 

[longhorn1]

Thanks to all - I am so grateful to have the collected wisdom of the members of this forum. I cannot reply to each poster individually, but here are some highlights and take-home messages:
I cannot buy my way out of this mess
Experience is what counts. Possessions are merely a means to that end.
The purchase would make more sense if I were living out of it full time (which I cannot, since working full time)
It would be hard to use truck/camper as daily driver
“the boring way isn't always so boring”
“being financially sound in all aspects of your life is true freedom”
“the rig is meaningless - it's the adventure itself that holds the meaning.”
“Too much money.” … and in the same post: “you only get one life, one shot. The quality of that life is up to you and your decisions and it is NOW.” - existentialism in a nutshell.
"Anyone who spends more money on camera gear than film, is no photographer."
“I think you need to take step back and just chill for a bit.”
“Save the rig and camper for old, or at least older age, unless you truly take pleasure in having expensive stuff that you need to take care of”
So I think that seals it for me - wait. Now is not the time. You have not heard the last from me, but maybe it will be a while...
Thank you!
Rob

Stay active on this site and check out the Four Wheel Campers Owner's site on Facebook. More you absorb the easier the choices will be when you are ready. jd

 

[trikebubble]

Yes, good luck. My .02? Step back for awhile, as others seem to have mentioned. Next time you have a couple weeks off for a holiday, fly to Whitehorse, rent a truck and camper and cruise the North for a couple weeks. Next time after that, maybe fly somewhere else, rent a truck/camper and enjoy the temporary-traveler's life for another couple weeks. There will always be time to purchase some sort of adventure/travel rig, and based on my previous experiences (and those of others I've read), go easy with your first rig, I guarantee it will not be your last. It can take awhile (years sometimes) to finally figure out the best option for you at any given time in your life.
Enjoy life and get busy living.....in whatever form it takes.

 

[BBZ]

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/16057-picked-up-a-project-90s-granby/

If you are a tinkerer get an old one and have some fun.. lots of cool builds out there that lets your create what you want and enjoy time with your camper when you can't get out and camp.. my build above from this winter.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Ya know, I'm of two minds on this! The time I spent before retirement and the time I spent after retirement. I spent a good part of my life working (BLM) and playing in the back country. I did lot's of hiking, walking, tent and truck camping back packing for that first part of my life and thinking back; I would not change a thing. I need to tell a short story to start that 2nd half!

The year before I retired I was truck camping on the coast: it was rainy, cold windy, could not keep the fire going or the tent up-really miserable. well as me and the dog sat there, a guy and a camper, pulled up near me, got out, let his dog out, then climbed in the camper and a few minutes later came out with a cup of coffee, looked at me and finished his coffee, called his dog, and drove away! A little while later, I saw an add of a couple sitting under an awning, on a fwc enjoying drinks up in the high country somewhere-a couple of months later  bought a FWC Granby! Yep it was time for a life style change!

So what am I trying to say? When I was young and dumb, I could drink and chase wild women all night, bounce over 4wd roads, and climb mountains with a hang over all day and do it all over again the next day. Then one day, your body/wife etc , says its time to slow down!  Boy were there times in the past I would have loved to have had a FWC-of course. If I were rich, I could have bought a neat RV or something, and played. However, like most of us I roughed it and again I would not change a thing. Does that mean if you have a chance to do some wild and crazy you shouldn't do it? No-do it if you know you will have the time to recover from it and not destroy or hurt any personal commitments. You may never have a chance to climb that mountain or buy that neat speed boat again. So if you don't do it, you can start planning for future adventures and do a few small trips or whatever, but you will always wonder; if you should have done it; Safe and sure, wild and crazy, you will know what to do when the time comes!

Sorry, don't know if that bit of advice helps, so like that guy and his dog and that camper, i now enjoy those mornings (with the dog) and my coffee on those nasty days, in my nice and warm FWC!

Smoke