Going From Towable to Motorhome!
Camping, Glamping, RVing, no matter what you call it, as long as you are getting out there and exploring, what you call it doesn’t matter! And how you do it can vary greatly! From a pop-up camper, to a travel trailer or a motorhome, choosing what is best for you and your family can be a daunting task! We are going to tell you our story: how we decided to make the leap from a towable RV to a drivable RV!
We have owned our 2013 Jayco 197 Ultra Lite since we purchased it brand new in August of 2013. It has been our little towable home on wheels for almost 10 years now! We travel with our Siberian Huskies and this little trailer was perfect for the most part. There were many days when we would discuss going to a slightly bigger trailer or making the leap to a motorhome. In the past few years, those talks have happened more and more. I think every traveler dreams about the next step, or how to make their travels easier, and the more we travel, and the further we want to go, the idea of the best way to do it has changed. So, when spotting this 2022 Jayco Redhawk 26XD we decided to make the leap!
What Made Us Want to Upgrade?
Upgrading from a travel trailer to a motorhome really is a big step, and there are a lot of things to consider. One of the reasons we wanted to upgrade was space. Our trailer was just under 20 feet long and we travel with 3 Siberian Huskies. Yes, we all fit, but it wasn’t always the best setup. We were just ready for something bigger, and something to make our travel a bit less stressful. There was a lot of work involved with towing a Travel Trailer, arriving at camp and trying to control the 3 dogs while setting everything up.
With the motorhome, we pull in, and the dogs are already inside the rig! It makes the setup so much less stressful! We still have a checklist of things we need to do, but that no longer includes unloading dogs from the car, trying to keep them calm while leveling the trailer and getting all setup!
Driving vs Towing
There is quite a difference when it comes to driving your rig, versus towing one behind you. When driving, you have access to everything, including the bathroom if you need it! The dogs have room to move around, and multiple places to lay down and get comfortable. If you need a quick snack or a drink, everything is right there for you to grab! You can even make a sandwich while on the road.
When towing a trailer, you have to stop if you need anything out of it, and it’s never safe for your kids or pets to ride in the trailer. We would usually pack lunches and snacks and keep them in the car, which also meant less space in the car (and making sure the dogs didn’t steal the snacks).
Some people will argue that pulling a trailer is easier than driving a motorhome, and I do think there's some truth to that. We pulled our trailer with our mid-sized SUV, which limited us to how long and how heavy of a trailer we could pull. When we were looking to just get a bigger trailer, we knew it had to have a dual axle, and it had to be less than 22 feet long, which really limited our choices, but we had to make sure that whatever we got was able to be safely towed.
Your travel distance also matters. Short trips are easy, long trips can be much harder. Driving the motorhome was actually easier than we thought. We do have some upgrades we will be making to it to make things go even smoother, but for the most part, there wasn’t too much difference for us going from one to the other. And I know so many people are concerned about gas mileage, ours was actually better in the motorhome than it was pulling our trailer with our midsize SUV!
The Purpose of Your Rig
What it all really boils down to is the purpose of your own rig, and what you expect to get out of your experiences. For us, after almost 10 years of amazing adventures with our little Travel Trailer, we were ready to go on longer trips and journeys further away from home. We personally felt a motorhome would help us accomplish those desires. We will be towing our Jeep Wrangler behind us, so we will still have a vehicle to go out on adventures no matter where we are.
There is no right or wrong answer on which rig is the best. It’s all based on you, your lifestyle, your purpose with travel and what’s best for you and your own family! We are very excited to have taken this leap from a towable to a drivable RV! And I think our dogs appreciate it too!
If you would like to see a video of our adventure to pick up our new rig, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/UrBDznJoXFo
And if you would like to see the story behind the RV you can find that here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGAq-Rq7ByI&t
