Lawdogs
06-18-2014, 10:31 AM
The DW and I started out tent camping. We love to spend our time outdoors. After a couple of wet mountain trips and rocky sleeping areas, DW was ready to sleep up off the ground. So, down to the dealership to buy a pop-up, a 2002 Coleman. I loved the pop-up and we used it alot. At the time, I was towing it with a 07 Ram 1500 with a 4.7L engine. Here is where the story begins. Last April (2013), we were camping with family at a state park. DW made a comment that the fridge was not tall enough to stand stuff up (strike 1). She then made the comment how she hates getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathhouse and could not go back to sleep (strike 2).:rolleyes: Before strike 3, back to the dealership.
We had the salesperson show us several smaller TT's. He was really a super guy. He would show us any TT we wanted but he stated if we bought to small, we would be back to up size. We ended up with a 2012 24' Wildwood TT with no slides. We thought it was perfect for us and our small Pitbull, Tater. The new issue was the truck. It would pull the TT fine, but I did not like the fact that I was taching 2700 rpm going down the interstate.:eek: So, I traded the truck for a 2012 Ram 1500 with the 5.7L Hemi. Towed like a dream and look great.
Veterans Day Weekend, we went camping with my parents in the mountains. We had a new addition to the family, a 16 week old German Shepard pup. My parents had a 26' camper with a large slide out. After seeing my parents camper and knowing the puppy would at some point in time be pushing 110-120 lbs, DW decided we needed more space (i.e. a bigger camper). On Veterans Day Monday, back to the dealership.
Same salesperson, again, showed us all the TT that we wanted to see. We were interested in newer used units with slides. After not see anything we liked, we decided to bite the bullet. Being that it was soon to be our 25th wedding anniversary, we agreed to attempt to buy our first new TT. Before looking, I put a weight restriction on any trailer we would buy. I was worried the Ram 1500 would have problems pulling a heavy trailer. After spending sometime looking and not finding anything, the salesperson said he had two TT's he wanted to show us. Both trailers had opposing slides, just what we had in mind. My issue with the TT's was the weight, around 7400 lbs. dry. Salesperson assured me our truck could handle the load. We ended up with the Outback 298 RE. We thought the Outback was the best thing since sliced bread. The truck did a good job of hauling as well.
Now that we were doing more camping and going to different places, I became concerned that the Ram 1500 might struggle pulling some of the mountain grades. I started looking for a TV with some diesel power. I found and bought my first new truck that had everything that I wanted already on the truck, a 2014 Ram 2500 with 6.7L Cummins diesel. With the new truck, we knew we could pull any trailer we wanted. Did I mention that DW and I always saw ourselves in a 5th wheel. :D
So in April of this year we made the first trip with the new truck and third for the Outback. We went camping with my sister and brother-in-law at a nice campground that we go to often. My brother-in-law had bought a TT toy hauler before we bought the Outback and he also bought a 2014 Chevy 3500 Duramax diesel before I bought my truck. Kind of looks like I am trying to keep up with the Jones. While sitting around the campfire and enjoying several barley pops (beers), the conversation about trailers came up. My brother-in-law says to me "You don't have a hair on you A** if the next time you go camping, you don't have a 5th wheel". DW and I both knew it was going to happen, and that we should go ahead and do it while we were both still working. So, Monday afternoon, back to the dealership. DW was not there so I was just window shopping. By Friday evening, we were the proud owners of a Cougar 327 RES 5th wheel. We absolutely love the 5er. We have camped in it ever weekend. Even did driveway camping over the holiday weekend (where we will do most of holiday weekends). I think we finally got to where we wanted to be. DW has even hauled the 5er a couple of times and did a awesome job (and why wouldn't she).
For those keeping count...that is 3 trucks and 4 campers in one years time.
Moral of my story: Buy the biggest, baddest TV and trailer you think you might sometime be able to afford. It might save you money and time in the long run.:rofl:
Happy Camping!!!
We had the salesperson show us several smaller TT's. He was really a super guy. He would show us any TT we wanted but he stated if we bought to small, we would be back to up size. We ended up with a 2012 24' Wildwood TT with no slides. We thought it was perfect for us and our small Pitbull, Tater. The new issue was the truck. It would pull the TT fine, but I did not like the fact that I was taching 2700 rpm going down the interstate.:eek: So, I traded the truck for a 2012 Ram 1500 with the 5.7L Hemi. Towed like a dream and look great.
Veterans Day Weekend, we went camping with my parents in the mountains. We had a new addition to the family, a 16 week old German Shepard pup. My parents had a 26' camper with a large slide out. After seeing my parents camper and knowing the puppy would at some point in time be pushing 110-120 lbs, DW decided we needed more space (i.e. a bigger camper). On Veterans Day Monday, back to the dealership.
Same salesperson, again, showed us all the TT that we wanted to see. We were interested in newer used units with slides. After not see anything we liked, we decided to bite the bullet. Being that it was soon to be our 25th wedding anniversary, we agreed to attempt to buy our first new TT. Before looking, I put a weight restriction on any trailer we would buy. I was worried the Ram 1500 would have problems pulling a heavy trailer. After spending sometime looking and not finding anything, the salesperson said he had two TT's he wanted to show us. Both trailers had opposing slides, just what we had in mind. My issue with the TT's was the weight, around 7400 lbs. dry. Salesperson assured me our truck could handle the load. We ended up with the Outback 298 RE. We thought the Outback was the best thing since sliced bread. The truck did a good job of hauling as well.
Now that we were doing more camping and going to different places, I became concerned that the Ram 1500 might struggle pulling some of the mountain grades. I started looking for a TV with some diesel power. I found and bought my first new truck that had everything that I wanted already on the truck, a 2014 Ram 2500 with 6.7L Cummins diesel. With the new truck, we knew we could pull any trailer we wanted. Did I mention that DW and I always saw ourselves in a 5th wheel. :D
So in April of this year we made the first trip with the new truck and third for the Outback. We went camping with my sister and brother-in-law at a nice campground that we go to often. My brother-in-law had bought a TT toy hauler before we bought the Outback and he also bought a 2014 Chevy 3500 Duramax diesel before I bought my truck. Kind of looks like I am trying to keep up with the Jones. While sitting around the campfire and enjoying several barley pops (beers), the conversation about trailers came up. My brother-in-law says to me "You don't have a hair on you A** if the next time you go camping, you don't have a 5th wheel". DW and I both knew it was going to happen, and that we should go ahead and do it while we were both still working. So, Monday afternoon, back to the dealership. DW was not there so I was just window shopping. By Friday evening, we were the proud owners of a Cougar 327 RES 5th wheel. We absolutely love the 5er. We have camped in it ever weekend. Even did driveway camping over the holiday weekend (where we will do most of holiday weekends). I think we finally got to where we wanted to be. DW has even hauled the 5er a couple of times and did a awesome job (and why wouldn't she).
For those keeping count...that is 3 trucks and 4 campers in one years time.
Moral of my story: Buy the biggest, baddest TV and trailer you think you might sometime be able to afford. It might save you money and time in the long run.:rofl:
Happy Camping!!!