We attended the RV show in Denver yesterday. I’ll do a post on our takeaways later. Instead, I want to share here some thoughts about one of our important considerations for full-time RV living: the tow vehicle.

We don’t yet have a replacement for our geriatric Pathfinder. Obviously, before we can upgrade our trailer, we’ll need to upgrade our tow vehicle to something capable of towing the next trailer.

I’ve been looking around the last few weeks for a used ¾- to 1-ton class truck. There are essentially three things I’m watchful for on that search:

1. Pass by anything with more than 250,000 miles on the odometer. Sure, diesel and some gas motors can run a million miles when properly cared for, but without knowing what the truck’s history is, higher miles are concerning. More than a quarter-million miles means, walk away.
2. Check for evidence of a previously-installed FW hitch. There’s no way to be sure what they were towing with it, but I always assume that when there’s a footprint from a hitch in the bed, that the previous driver was pulling something heavy. Based on my observations of other vehicles and drivers over the years, I also assume it’s been too heavy. Previously-installed FW hitch means we should proceed with caution.
3. An axle ratio not suited to towing: in the F250 and F350 arena, an axle ratio of 4.10 or higher is appropriate for heavy towing. But the 3.73 rear end is not. Run away from the 3.73’s axle code.

So, the next truck will need need the right drivetrain, limited evidence of abuse, and not too many miles. There are a few options out there that meet those criteria, but at our price range this will still be a bit of a gamble.

This is a long way of saying that we’ll also need to strongly consider a trailer that won’t put our next tow vehicle at the upper limit of its towing capacity.

As great as those big bunkhouse FWs are, they often still have dry weights in the 12,000 lb. (or more!) range. A 2003 F-350 with a 4.10 rear end can pull **checks Ford** 16,000 lbs, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to demand that an aging truck to do that regularly.

We’ll have to lean toward TTs.

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Edit: One thing’s for sure: when we do upgrade the tow vehicle, our little Jayco 17X is going to look absolutely lilliputian being pulled behind it.

So, we went to the Colorado Springs RV show last weekend.

We were hoping that it would be a good place to see RV-related vendors and products or even a reasonable assortment of RVs.

We were wrong.

A huge majority of the vendors were promoting goods and services that are unique to stationary, stick-built homes. Landscaping, gutters, back yard water features, construction services, home theater installs, sun rooms.

They had a small assortment of various RVs there. Two or three motorhomes, a fifth wheel or two, and a handful of travel trailers scattered between the interior of some random, nondescript, abandoned strip mall and its cratered parking lot.

The Colorado RV Adventure Travel Show at the Denver Convention center is far, far superior in my limited opinion.

And the Adventure Travel Show is still smaller than the Colorado RV, Sports, Boat & Travel Show (weekend after next) at the National Wester Complex in North Denver.

Not much in the way of posting recently.

We’re working on thinning out our belongings and deciding what house projects to tackle first when Colorado thaws out in another month or two.

There’s heavy consideration for a fence replacement as it’s going to become a safety issue pretty soon and likely draw too much attention from the city. I’m not looking forward to the fence project as I know the city will want “their share” of the costs.

There’s also some possibility that we’ll be installing three doors in the basement along with some super inexpensive flooring to make it look finished. Cosmetic remodels don’t need permission from assorted authorities here.

I suppose they’ll both need to be addressed in short order, so after tax season I’ll be laying in supplies for both.

Daisy is working on selling off some of our canning supplies and kids’ toys that they don’t play with anymore. But there’s also the back and forth of “should we keep this…” or “should we store this…”

I’ve a garage full of tools and implements, obtained over the years, that only serve a purpose for the house itself. With very few exceptions, those things simply won’t be needed anymore if we’re in an RV. So, when the house is ready, we’ll have a couple of epic garage sales — nearly everything will go!

It’s a little uncomfortable, but for us the end result will be worth it.