In this post we thought we would give you a little insight in the RVs of the camping world. We wanted to try and give you a view of some of the many different rigs that people travel in. There are not right or wrong choices it is all a matter of personal preference and finances. As we shall see there are a lot of different options.
This is our travel trailer. It is about 24 feet long and seems really well made. It is very well insulated. At 24 feet it is on the smaller side, not the smallest by any means but certainly below the average size. Great for trips but not extended living especially in cold and rainy weather. We are here in Buckskin Mountain State park near Parker Arizona along the Colorado River. We like this park because the sites are spread out and you have a fair amount of separation between units. Additionally there are some nice hiking trails and a decent selection of birds to find.
Here is the Entrance Station to Buckskin Mountain State Park where you check in upon Arrival. We stayed here for a couple of weeks in late December and Early January. The road comes in from the right and you stop at sign you can see in the distance. We are standing in the cactus garden where you can learn about some of the different types of cactus.
Just to the left but unseen in the first picture is the gift shop where they sell T-Shirts and what not. They also have a DVD loaner system and a book exchange where you can take in a book and trade it for a different one, both programs are no charge.
They have several of these colorful signs in the park by the river. The water is the Colorado River and the far rocky side is California, we are standing in Arizona. During the summer the river and the park gets a lot of use for water sports. However it can be really hot here in the summer 120 degrees plus and it does not cool down at night.
Most important of all is that the little visitor center sells ice cream. They have a variety of different ice cream bars, cones, and sandwiches. They are the prepackaged kinds, no hand dip here but what the heck we are camping and roughing it. The butter finger bars were great.
In the cactus Garden mentioned above they have a Desert Tortise habitat and a resident tortoise. Here is Bucky, they believe he is about 50 years old. He was out of his den several days while we were there. Not real fast and didn’t move much but a neat critter.
Here is the full image of Bucky His shell is rather neatly patterned and colored. Some people feed him apples or lettuce. He is supposed to be hibernating but one of the volunteers keeps feeding him and I think he has gotten so he likes to eat more than sleep. Hard to tell if he is overweight.
This is one of the small trailers that you see. There is everything and anything in trailer sizes, configurations, and tow vehicles. Whether you have a motor home or a trailer is partially a function of cost and partially a function of choice. The smaller trailers are great for short duration trips and don’t require expensive tow vehicles. In this case the truck is a Nissan Frontier, a small pick-up but then the trailer is small
This trailer is a brand called Casita. They are very well made and well insulated. You need to decide how much room you want. Can you even stand up in this? Most of these have a small combination toilet and shower which seems really cramped to us. You can see the rectangular air conditioning unit on the roof. Bet that would keep this trailer cold when it got hot.
This is a bare bones unit. It does not appear to have a heater, propane tank or battery. The battery and propane would normally be visible on the trailer tongue between the vehicle and the front of the trailer. It is a tent trailer and opens and expand out for sleeping. I am surprised that the Subaru Crossteck can pull this. The label on the side of the trailer reads “The Tangerine Tortoise” Maybe it does not pull it very fast. Some good friends of ours, Rodger and Ginger, have a tent trailer but theirs is much nicer than this one.
Here are some larger units. Most of these are nicer than our home and cost much more. They have every convenience you can image. This one is towing a jeep. The towed vehicles are collectively called a “Toad” it is a play on word for “Towed”. When you get to a campsite you unhook the jeep and you can go to town or sightseeing or wherever. I think this unit had 4 slide outs that really expand the living area.
Here is a large fifth wheel trailer. It is 44 feet long. It is a design called a “Toy Hauler”. The left or rear portion of the trailer can be used as a garage to carry your ATV. This model has two gas tanks 30 gallons each to provide fuel for your ATV. In this case the people lived in it full time and did not have an ATV. You can see the porch on this side and another one on the back. Both of them have the railings, they are just laid flat in the back. Both porches are suspended on cables and the owner said the one in the center of the trailer could hold 3,000 lbs. The back porch is used as a ramp when you have an ATV. The garage area in this case is used as additional living space. It has 3 air conditioners.
Here is another common method to move your ATV, a trailer behind your motor home. There were also a number of smaller toy haulers that were 5th wheel trailers or basic pull trailers and they had the ATV in the back garage. You will find anything and everything in RV configurations.
Since we mentioned ATV here is one example. If they are licensed for the highway they can leave the park here go up the highway and turn out into the desert. There are trails and terrain where they can ride. Many of them go out via the back trails to the Desert Bar we mentioned in an earlier post. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. This one carries four people. The owner claimed he got about 100 miles off an 8 gallon tank of gas. That seemed a little low mpg to us but he may really get his foot in it.
This fellow came driving by in the RV park. As mentioned earlier lots of different colors and configurations. Looks like they could be a lot of fun.
Several of our friends have asked about the weather down here in Arizona. The image above is of an RV park across the Colorado River and hence in California from where we were staying. As you can see it is a beautiful day. However we have talked with several people whom live here full time and they all say this is the weirdest and wettest weather they have ever seen for this time of year. It maybe weird and wet but certainly not nearly as uncomfortable as the winter in Walla Walla and numerous other locations.
When it gets cold down here it is best to stay together for warmth. The dog bed provides lap warmth and keeps both Deanna and Yogi warm. It was in the low 50’s this day and a chilly wind. Sill not nearly as cold as up north.
We have gotten a lot of rain. This is a desert but you would not know that from the amount of rain we have gotten. Here, several of the RV sites are flooded and the puddles stayed around for several days.
One thing we have always enjoyed about Buckskin Mountain State Park are the birds one can find there. There were three Common Loon on the river. Other birds of note include: Vermillion Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Says Phoebe, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Abert’s Towhee, California Quail, Ruby Crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rump Warbler, American Widgeon, Ring-neck Ducks, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Double-crested Cormorant, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk and various other species. They were nice birds, all.
Many folks have TV along with them. We have a TV in our RV but no satellite dish and we have not as of yet turned it on. There is no over the air tv signals in this location. Here a dish is mounted on a tripod and moved away from the RV. If you park under a tree or close to a cliff that will block line of site to the satellites you would need to move your dish to a location where you can get reception. Note the large rock which tethers the dish to the ground in case of wind.
Here we have another satellite option. It is an automatic signal finder with dish inside so you just place it out in the open, make sure it is level, it finds the signal, and you watch TV. In many of the dish type devices you need to set elevation and direction and manually search for the satellite signal. From prior experience, when we traveled full time, we know that it can be frustrating to set up the dish.
Here is a standard fifth wheel trailer. You can see the dish on the roof. Some of these types are set manually and some automatically find the satellites. The large slideout that you see on this side really increases the inside space. It makes it feel larger as well.
This is the front view of the bus seen below. It appears to be an older School Bus that has been modified to function as an RV. As the sign on the front says “2 Kool 4 School”
The side of this bus has a wonderful desert Mural. A lot of detail, quite a paint job. As you travel around you will see almost anything and everything. Some done really well as this one and some not so.
This large RV came in and parked. When we walked by we could see the face of the tiger in the front window. Really interesting to see and you never know what you might find in the RV Park. Was the tiger driving and is he licensed in AZ?
This image shows the satellite dish on the roof and something that is not so obvious. The aluminium edges that you can see on the roof are solar panels. The fellow had 10, 150 watt solar panels. He really did not need to be plugged in very much and had just recently spent some amount of time dry camping in Death Valley. Dry camping means no hookups.
The couple in this unit were from Illinois and were going to be out on the road another 3 months or more. The bed is in the slide out from the back. The round globe that you see on the roof is an in motion satellite dish. That way one of you can be watching the Super Bowl or reruns of the Donald Trump Press Conferences, while the other drives down the road. Also these folks did not have a toad “towed vehicle” so if they needed groceries or lunch at a restaurant they hade to drive their RV there. They admitted it was too small for them for a long stay and said they would have something different next year.
This is what is called a “Dump Station”. Most of the trailers have tanks that will hold the sink and shower water, called the grey water and another tank to hold the black water from the toilet. Some of the sites have full hook ups meaning water, sewer, and electric, the others in this park only have water and electric. If you are in a site without sewer hookup you need to periodically visit the dump station to dispose of the waste water. You can move your RV there or as in this case use what is called a “Blue Boy”. They got that title from the obvious color though now they are available in gray and other colors. The “Blue Boys” are available in a variety of sizes from 5 gallons up to 45 gallons and have wheels so they can be moved around.
I titled this picture “The Rain Man”. It was raining and he was heading to another location so he was draining his tanks at the dump station. He did not look happy with the towel over his head to try and keep dry. The green hoses supply water to flush your waste hose and rinse any residue down the drain.
This image was just an interesting comparison of the old and the new. In the background is a newer class A motorhome with a lot of bells and whistles. In the foreground is an older Dodge Pickup and a Prowler 5th wheel with no slide outs. Quite a contrast but both work for their respective owners.
These are older Volkswagen camper vans, one of the original RV rigs. They were sharing this site. There was a Camper Van gathering in Lake Havasu just north of us, these folks were heading there and had stopped for the night. Travelling about the next few days we must have seen several hundred Volkswagen vans heading to Lake Havasu. Must have been quite a convention.
There are lots and lots of dogs in many of the RV parks. Here is a Bernese Mountain dog named Bruce. He was very friendly. I would think he is a fur machine and would fill our little trailer with shed hair rather quickly. We also encountered a dog that the owner identified as a Chi-Weenie. It was a cross between a Chihuahua and a Dachshund. It had kind of a nasty disposition and growled and barked a bit at the boys. There was also Abbey a Chesapeak Chocolate Lab cross. She was really large, long legged but very friendly.
The boys greeted the above dog Charley several times during our stay. He was very friendly. Our first encounter with Charley was on an early morning walk, his lady owner was in the process of picking up his “deposit” when Charley spotted our boys. This gave his owner quite a spill as Charley was pretty powerful! His owner claims he was a Muttay (a supposed play on French for Mutt). He had large feet and a thick chest. He had a very stocky build. When we inquired as to the breed his owner responded that his mother had papers and his father had curses. There were a large variety of dogs in the park, all shapes and sizes.
We did have some nice sunsets in the park despite the rainy and somewhat cooler weather.
In this post we tried to give you a look around the RV rigs that are out there. There are many other sizes and shapes and types that we did not picture here. As we mentioned, anything and everything.
Send us an e-mail if you have any questions or comments.
Travel Safe, no matter which size or shape of RV you choose.
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