Before Wildheart rolled into my life, I first had to do some homework. Like most folks who have decided to live full time in an RV, this means an obsessive amount of hours online, poring over RV manufacturer sites, going through classified ads at places like Craigslist, eBay, RV Trader, Facebook Marketplace, and dealer sites. I was no different, except perhaps that I was moving directly from never having slept a night of my life in an RV to living full time in a camper.
I was looking at a bit of culture shock, and I knew it. So research was even more important to me at that point.
The research itself wasn’t daunting. After all, I am a writer, and that’s what I spend a great deal of my work life doing. But this was different: I had less than zero knowledge of the topic at hand, and no idea where to start looking. So of course, I headed straight to Google and YouTube. I also went to a couple RV shows, which was a new experience all its own. The word “overwhelming” doesn’t quite capture the feeling, but it’s close.
After what seemed like months (it was really a few weeks), I had a fairly good idea of what kind of rig I could reasonably expect to pull with the BumbleBeep Jeep: almost nothing. I knew I needed something that, completely full, would be under the 3,500 lb. tow limit. The problem was, there are very few towables that weigh that little yet still offer enough space to actually live in.
Now, I was aware that there are plenty of people out there living full time in their Priuses (yes, you read that right), either by choice or by chance. I’m not that much of a minimalist, and I don’t wish to be. So I had to search long and hard for a suitable rig.
In December, I finally found that was at least in the range of the right weight, and whose ad kept popping up in several different places. I took that as some kind of sign, probably just of a motivated seller. After several weeks of dickering on price and going to see it in person, I made an offer and did the deal. It was delivered in mid-January, an exciting way to start out the year!
As a Bon Voyage Christmas gift, my niece, Bella, painted this picture of me in my Jeep, rolling down the road toward a storm chase…which I will decidedly NOT be doing when I’ve got the trailer on the back. But who knows? I may end up camping somewhere that allows me the chance to do so while leaving it behind for an afternoon to go see some Nature in action!
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