Haw Creek » Tennessee

All the Conveniences

Mike — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:52:46 +0000

Image Gallery: Around the Upper Loop, September 13, 2007

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We were camped at West Yellowstone KOA several miles west of town for nearly a week in September 2007. Our camper was a Big Horn fifth wheel by Heartland. We were set up with satellite TV and satellite internet and had almost all of the conveniences of home.

For all of the conveniences, though, we found that we were not doing the kind of camping that we really preferred. We prefer national and state park and forest campgrounds, but found in some of those kind of campgrounds that maneuvering into sites that could accommodate the size of our 5th wheel was often difficult and, in some instances, there just were not any sites that we felt comfortable with trying to get into.

We now have a small motor home and are able to get into just about any campground that we want to with little or no difficulty. The only ones we can’t get into are those restricted to tent camping and those that we can’t get to with the camper. We’ve visited a couple of places where the curves were so tight that our 25 foot motor home was over the length limit. We’re also not quite yet prepared to go too many miles down an unpaved road.

In 2009, we camped in 4 national park* campgrounds, 4 nights in each one. We didn’t have satellite TV or internet and we were doing the kind of camping we really prefer.

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* Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Shenandoah National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Mesa Verde National Park

Small Class C motorhomes

Mike — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:34:52 +0000

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Class C motorhomes, Elkmont Campground, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, May 4, 2009

In today’s economy, smaller may just be the ticket, at least for the near term, for many who are interested in RVing. Across the country, many surviving RV dealerships are downsizing their inventory, both in the number of units they carry on their lots and the size and type of units.

As well, many of the newer recreational vehicles may be more economical to operate. For instance, the two class c motorhomes in the picture above are probably about the same size. The Coachmen motorhome, with its v8 gasoline engine, will probably be lucky to achieve more than 8 to 10 miles per gallon. The Winnebago View, on the other hand, with it’s 3 liter Mercedes Benz diesel can easily achieve 15 or more miles per gallon, even when towing a small vehicle. Some without a towed vehicle have even achieved over 20 miles per gallon.

Gallery: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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