daverave
Senior Member
Hi Wanderers! Just joined WTW yesterday, here's our story....
My wife and I have been long-time outdoor enthusiasts based in California. Constant backpackers, mostly in the Sierra of course but even when we travel we arrange for at least a couple of backpacks. For example, just went to Scandinavia for a month this fall and did 5 days of backpacking (brrrr...) We also do our fair share of car camping out random dirt roads in the west. We've got a DV trip planned for the spring, love it there. All of the domestic trips were done in a Ford Explorer Sport, 2D, 4WD (we've had two) which we have several times lived out of for up to a month with a hotel stay now and then to get the stank off.
Our game plan/dream has always been to get an RV to live out of in our "golden" years and just last weekend we started getting serious about figuring it all out. We thought our perfect vehicle would be a Sportsmobile although the price is daunting. We went to a used RV lot and were surprised at the low quality for Class B/C rigs, then went to a big RV dealer and realized that didn't work for us either because whatever we are driving has to be pretty NIMBLE and off-pavement capable. Then we discovered that we live in a great place for pop-up camper shopping although we then also realized just how little we know. The language and gear and permutations of possible camper configurations are mind boggling.
So despite that we made a pilgrimage just up the road to FWC on Friday, went for a day hike in the burned out Cache Creek wilderness, then got a morning tour from Marty at ATC yesterday, then looked around the local CarMax in the afternoon. Short story short, today we bought a low-mileage, 2013 Ford F-150, extended (not Crew) cab, 4WD, 6.5 foot bed. There are not a lot of F-150s in that configuration available in the region. It's gotta work with something from FWC or ATC, amirite??
Right now we are thinking that tonight we will go through the FWC literature and price sheet, read more WTW threads, get a basic game plan, and go up to Woodland again tomorrow morning to spend the day fine-tuning while trying to beat the 12/1 price increase to save two grand. If that doesn't work out, I could see us ending up at ATC.
It doesn't seem that many members here are quite this spontaneous about putting their rig together. We on the other hand figure the best way to learn is by doing while not letting the perfect being the enemy of the good. We will both turn 62 this year, will both be retired, and are anxious to get on with the next phase of our lives together. We'd love to get our camper for our late March DV shakedown trip.
Not sure the point of this post other than to ask the venerable WTW members, particularly FWC owners, if there are any really obvious rookie mistakes that they wish they had avoided, or upgrades they wished they had, that they can share with us. Thanks!
My wife and I have been long-time outdoor enthusiasts based in California. Constant backpackers, mostly in the Sierra of course but even when we travel we arrange for at least a couple of backpacks. For example, just went to Scandinavia for a month this fall and did 5 days of backpacking (brrrr...) We also do our fair share of car camping out random dirt roads in the west. We've got a DV trip planned for the spring, love it there. All of the domestic trips were done in a Ford Explorer Sport, 2D, 4WD (we've had two) which we have several times lived out of for up to a month with a hotel stay now and then to get the stank off.
Our game plan/dream has always been to get an RV to live out of in our "golden" years and just last weekend we started getting serious about figuring it all out. We thought our perfect vehicle would be a Sportsmobile although the price is daunting. We went to a used RV lot and were surprised at the low quality for Class B/C rigs, then went to a big RV dealer and realized that didn't work for us either because whatever we are driving has to be pretty NIMBLE and off-pavement capable. Then we discovered that we live in a great place for pop-up camper shopping although we then also realized just how little we know. The language and gear and permutations of possible camper configurations are mind boggling.
So despite that we made a pilgrimage just up the road to FWC on Friday, went for a day hike in the burned out Cache Creek wilderness, then got a morning tour from Marty at ATC yesterday, then looked around the local CarMax in the afternoon. Short story short, today we bought a low-mileage, 2013 Ford F-150, extended (not Crew) cab, 4WD, 6.5 foot bed. There are not a lot of F-150s in that configuration available in the region. It's gotta work with something from FWC or ATC, amirite??
Right now we are thinking that tonight we will go through the FWC literature and price sheet, read more WTW threads, get a basic game plan, and go up to Woodland again tomorrow morning to spend the day fine-tuning while trying to beat the 12/1 price increase to save two grand. If that doesn't work out, I could see us ending up at ATC.
It doesn't seem that many members here are quite this spontaneous about putting their rig together. We on the other hand figure the best way to learn is by doing while not letting the perfect being the enemy of the good. We will both turn 62 this year, will both be retired, and are anxious to get on with the next phase of our lives together. We'd love to get our camper for our late March DV shakedown trip.
Not sure the point of this post other than to ask the venerable WTW members, particularly FWC owners, if there are any really obvious rookie mistakes that they wish they had avoided, or upgrades they wished they had, that they can share with us. Thanks!