Debra is a full-time RVer who has traveled coast to coast looking for the cutest bookstores and the perfect cup of chai. She and her husband enjoy creating community on the road by meeting up with friends or finding new ones enroute. They love sharing their adventures and making friends here at The Virtual Campground and sharing Barry’s great photography.
Our Class A Winnebago Itasca — affectionately known as Big Al — carried us across deserts, through mountain passes, and into more small towns than we can count. At 38 feet long with dual slides in the living area, she was roomy, comfortable, and for a long time, exactly what we needed for full-time RV life.
Compared to the 2,500-square-foot home we left behind, she was a huge reduction in living space. But it was amazing how fast we adapted to life in a moving apartment. Big Al became our home, our comfort zone, and where we learned to full-time RV.
But somewhere along the way, things started changing. We felt restricted, we had to pass on a few experiences. The campgrounds at National Parks could not accommodate Big Al’s length. The boondocking site was too tight of a turn. The research we did on destinations like Alaska suggested smaller rigs.
It wasn’t Big Al.
It was the places we wanted to go.
Slowly we began asking a question we never expected:
Was our home on wheels too big for the adventures we wanted?
Yes, But Now What
Once we started talking seriously about making a change, two questions came up right away.
When should we do it?
And what kind of rig should replace Big Al?
Barry dove into research (as Barry does) and very quickly became convinced that our next RV should be a travel trailer.
I was not as sure. First, it meant getting a truck – a big truck which meant something hard to park. Second, it meant giving up by comfy big seat while traveling. My passenger seat with its footrest and easy access to the toilet was my work station, napping site, and cozy seat. And it meant going much smaller.
But when to do it. We needed to finish up our 2025 plans and that bumped right up to the holidays. Selling an RV at the holidays felt like less than ideal timing. We figured we would start looking in the new year and try to sell Big Al in early spring.
But you know what they say about the best laid plans! A new 2025 model of the trailer that Barry had decided upon was for sale in Buena Vista, CO. It has been on the market for most of the year and the price was the lowest he had found. We felt like we needed to get it while we could. So we did, purchasing it over the phone after just one walk through back in May. I am not sure I even remembered exactly what it looked like.
Moving from One Rig to Another
Now the dilemma – we owned two RVs, in two different states. We knew we had a larger pool of potential buyers if we sold Big Al in Dallas so how do we get our belongings from Big Al in Dallas to the new trailer in CO?
Drive Big Al up to CO and unload her directly into the new RV, then drive her back to Dallas to sell? Sounded easier but like a lot of unnecessary driving. No, we decided on the harder option – pack up all our stuff (or at least what seemed like it might fit in the new trailer) and U-Haul it to Buena Vista.
Of course, the new rig was not ready when we arrived. So, we unloaded the u-Haul into a storage shed and rented a VRBO for a few weeks.
Surprisingly, when we finally started unloading the crates into the trailer, most things found a home. Well, at least in the inside. If moving from a house to an RV is a big downsizing exercise, moving from one RV to a smaller RV is the sequel.
Human nature is to fill your space and Big Al was chock-full. Barry had to give up a lot of tools and gear he kept in the “garage” of our Class A since the trailer is VERY limited. The good news was that by starting the process in Dallas, we were able to store special items purchased along the way in Texas with family. That way, we didn’t have to make any hard decisions on getting rid of some things that I really liked.
Other items that were less special and didn’t find room in the trailer were given away or tossed.
RV living has a way of teaching you what you really need—and what you don’t. Over and over again!
What We Learned
Changing rigs reminded us of something that’s easy to forget after years on the road.
RV living isn’t just about the vehicle.
It’s about how you want to travel.
For us, the shift from a Class A to a trailer wasn’t about upgrading or downgrading—it was about adjusting our home to match the kind of exploring we want to do next.
More state parks.
More boondocking.
More out-of-the-way places.
Big Al gave us eight incredible years of travel and memories. We’ll always be grateful for the adventures we had in her. I don’t think I would have lasted eight years if we had not had that comfort and space.
However, now we are nearing the end of our full-time travels and want to have a few adventures. So this new trailer feels like the start of our next chapter on the road. It will be another learning curve and likely as full of mis-adventures as adventures, but isn’t that what life is all about?
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