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RV Camping is a Game of Inches

...positive inches, when you're lucky. I've done a lot of back-and-forth about whether my next travel trailer should be a converted cargo trailer 6 foot or 7 foot wide. When we discussed trailer size a few months back, didn't an experienced RV camper say that width doesn't matter much? He wasn't necessarily wrong, of course. It all depends on your camping style. If you spend a lot of time camping in ponderosa forests, where trees are far enough apart to suck you in, width does matter.

Note the driver's side mirror and the nearest tree. To heck with 7 foot wide trailers. Six feet is the width of the tow vehicle.


But in this case, I was using a flank attack (where width mattered) rather than a direct frontal assault, where ground clearance was even trickier. It's an example of how logically-distinct design criteria blur together in the real world.

At any rate, the campsite (near Luna, NM) was worth it.

The forest fire last year near Glenwood NM. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Following the breadcrumbs you left last year, minus the tagalong community? ;)

Size does matter. It always amazes me when a newbie posts on an RV forum wondering about what rigs can fit in small forest campgrounds and such. Inevitably one or more veterans will respond, declaring that they've been "boondocking" and campground camping for forty years in Class A motorhomes up to 42 feet long with never a problem fitting. Or it's some guy with an HDT plus 45-foot 5th wheel.

Liars? Or did they always predetermine where they would fit and discard everywhere else, labeling them in their minds as unworthy of consideration? Therefore they never encountered a site that was too small and they're not lying. It's a curious phenomenon, indeed.
Ted, your analysis is spot on, I'd say. Most of the "boondocking" done by big rigs is on flat desert pavement near Quartzsite, or in regular national forest campgrounds or Corp of Engineer campgrounds. Very little of their "boondocking" is dispersed camping, I'll bet.
Teri said…
Just spend the big bucks and get an "earthroamer" or a "tiger motorhome" or "xp camper" and you should be able to go anywhere you want with a lot of clearance.
Let's start a new internet meme in the RV blogosphere: one that doesn't try to solve a problem by fantasizing about BUYING some big showy toy or status symbol.

Full sized pickup trucks or vans have adequate clearance. So do trailers with 15" tires, a skid plate built over the holding tank drain, or a lift kit installed. Or a cargo trailer with the holding tank inside and the drain plumbing out through the wall.

Teri, I'm sorry to respond so curtly, but this "earthroamer" escapism annoys me.
edlfrey said…
AHH Boonie, you have been divorced from our culture for so long that you have forgotten the driving principle of this country. There is no problem that can not be solved if you throw enough money or time at it. Teri is simply trying to solve the problem as most anyone raised in our consumerist culture would be expected to.
Poor Teri was just making internet small talk with a standard joke and then we start ripping her! But her harmless joke brings up a larger issue that is hard to be neutral about.