Red Roads Fulltiming Family

Fulltiming FAQ's: Our Fifth Wheel

1. How long is that rig?

    Our Travel Supreme is forty feet long. It has two bedrooms, so the kitchen/living room area is similar to a shorter fifth wheel. When the fiver is hitched up to the truck, the overall length is fifty-seven feet. It's usually fellow RV'ers who ask this question. They seem to be mentally comparing it to their own fifth wheel or motorhome. Perhaps they try to imagine what it's like to handle such a rig.
    I'll admit that, even though I have driven the whole rig a few times, I have not yet developed confidence in judging its whereabouts in relation to curbs, other vehicles, and trees. David does quite well with it, though, even in Wal-Mart parking lots! Unlike me, who had never towed anything before, he'd been towing various kinds of trailers since he was a teen.

2. Is it a problem to find campsites big enough?

    We haven't had difficulty with this. Sometimes we'll try a campground and find that they have no spot for us. (This might be just because they are full.) So far, we've always been able to find an alternative overnight parking place, usually at another campground. We do check directories for descriptions which specify maximum site length. More and more advertise "big rig sites." But we have found that if we show up and check out available sites in person, we've almost always been able to find a suitable one.
    After our stay at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we couldn't maneuver into the dump station, which had obviously not been built with big rigs in mind. We just stopped overnight at the next campground we came to and got a full hook-up site.

3. How many people does your rig sleep?

    There are two bunks in the rear bedroom and a queen-size bed in the front bedroom. These accommodate the four of us. My brother has spent his vacation with us and reports that the queen-size hide-a-bed in the living room is satisfactory. Actually, we think a bigger issue when determining how many people can stay in the rig is bathroom usage.