Sorry for the hiatus, more soon...

I have to say that I've missed writing this blog a bit. Things just go too busy, and while I do plan on taking it back up with fervor when I get to a semi-permanent location in August, I have a couple of backed-up posts to post before that. Please pardon the absence and break in Cool RVs. Hopefully, many more will be showcased shortly.

One quick note though. During the hiatus, I had the most strange thing happen. I ran into one of my postees. The folks that tow the Class B with their Class A were staying at the same park while we were in San Diego.

I did get a chance to chat with them again, but never got a good, straight answer as to why they liked their Class B Airstream so much as their around-town car. It was pretty crazy that we ran into people from Arizona in Oregon and California, and in areas that neither of us have any real tie to - 6 months apart. Sometimes I think, the RVing world is a little smaller than some of us think. More soon...

You're towing WHAT? (Take 2)

I thought I'd seen it all when I saw the 3500 being toaded.  The other day I found a guy with a class A bus (another Prevost) towing a nice Class B Airstream as his toad.  I chatted with him a little, not realizing that he was towing that as his "around-town" car, and it was just the two of them on a nice jaunt from 'home to the coast for a few weeks'.  Maybe they like to take vacations at campgrounds where the bus won't fit and want to be prepared for anything? 

It was a pretty interesting sight to see it drive away.  Maybe I'll wind up being surprised a lot along this journey.

A different kind of "Hauler Bed"

There are a lot of setups that can be used to tow around an RV full-time.  Once you full-time, the practicality of a regular pickup bed becomes, well,  less practical - ease of access becomes "I wish I could lock it all up and not have to reach over the sides for everything." The ability to haul 4 x 8 foot sheets of plywood becomes "When will I ever need to do that?"  People who drive things around for a living very rarely have standard pickup beds.  They usually have one of two things:  Hauler beds, or Flat beds.  Each has their own purpose.

Flat Bed (c) DewEze

Flat beds are great for farm work and the like. You can stack anything on them as wide as the truck.  You can get them dirty as can be and it doesn't matter.  They give tremendous access to everything about a truck with minimal fuss.  In fact, you never worry about scratching, denting, or bending them because that's what they are built for.

Typical Hauler Bed - there are dozens
of variations (c) Alum-tite

Hauler beds are great for people that drive all the time.  A large, flat area for piling up various goods - should you need to - but with no high sides so getting that cargo is easy.  More importantly, a large, flat, well-armored, minimally-worrysome area to bump/break/catch/tear at the trailer.  Protected corners on the back, cut at 30 degree angles, so that backing a trailer or making a tight-turn is not a troubling experience.  Lockable (usually) compartments so that you have a place to not worry about your chains/tools/stuff while you go in for dinner.  A headache rack across the back to protect the driver in case of a sudden stop with something loose, and above all, they are usually made of steel so that if you bump something into it is simply dimples rather than becomes an unsightly and expensive repair to the flimsy sheet metal of pickup beds.

Both types usually have mounting areas for towing systems.  Goosenecks and Fifth-Wheel hitches, class IV or V receiver hitches and easy clearances are the norm.  Personally, I have a Hauler bed on my truck because it is what I wanted.  Sure, lots of folks run pickup-beds, but I liked ease of use of the hauler bed.  I could have gone for a flat-bed, and almost did at one point, but the look of the hauler bed, and what it is designed to be, appealed to me.

Why I wrote so much about this - I just don't know.  I guess I felt like I needed to give a little background on some of this stuff.  I probably won't be doing that in the future - it is very time consuming... :)

ANYHOW - to the point of this post.  I am always on the lookout for how other folks 'do it'.  Yesterday in the campground I saw something new and wanted to keep record of it. I think this setup accomplishes a lot with the layout.  So much so that I might consider having something similar built if I ever end up with a new truck and we're still doing this.  I think I'd probably put rails down the sides so that I could tie things to the back behind the cab, but it is a good start.

I like the openness of the layout.  I like the open space, the amount of storage, and the fact that (it looks like) there is a hidden fuel cell in that section above the covered fifth-wheel hitch.  The Freighliner it is attached to is clearly older, but the design could be adapted to any size one-ton DRW (or bigger).  I just wanted to make note of this, and post something...  Mission accomplished.

The Cool: Not really that much that's 'cool' perse, but just something that I liked in layout and design.  The amount of storage is pretty cool.

The Interesting: If I'd had more time to go into history I'd think there would be a lot of 'interesting' there.  As it is, this is interesting to me because I get to stay on the lookout for things out there that work well.  Might not be interesting to some of you, but it is to me.

You're towing WHAT?

Captured from my door as they pulled in.
  I told my wife, "I have GOT to get a picture of this..."

The word 'befuddled' comes to mind when I think of our stop in Grant's Pass.  One afternoon early in our stopover there I looked outside to see a very nice Rig pull in, which is standard fare at many of the parks we stay at, but behind it... is that?... No, it can't be.... It IS!  The guy was toading a nearly-new 3500 Chevy.

I've seen some interesting toads - I love some of the little ones - and I tend to notice when they are 'different'. I'll have pictures of one in a later post where they guy was toading a half-ton commercial truck with a rack for his boat on its trailer (pretty cool idea). But towing a 3500 here seemed like an interesting choice, and again, something I'd never seen. Now, granted he has his bright yellow Harley-Davidson in there, which is why he needed the 3500 - for the payload - right?

They were in for a group meeting of some club and I saw them, and several other guys and their toys, around town the next few days wearing their yellow shirts for the club and driving their perfectly detailed 60's muscle cars or their over-the-top motorcycles.  Clearly, these folks were in town to have fun and they have the cash to do it up right.  The truck did have a set of street slicks and 24-inch chrome rims to complete the look, and did therefore qualify as a "toy".

Here is the Rig after getting set up.  They sure ran all over town.

The Cool: I mean, how cool is that? I'm not sure if its a good solution to a plaguing problem (too many things, not enough space) or if it's just Go BIG or Go Home, because he can, but you have to admit, it is cool.

The Interesting: I wonder what kind of milage he gets with the entire outfit, and if that bus even notices the difference between towing that, or a Smart Car...