I decided to go ahead and give you guys a tour of our home. It won't be much considering its only around 250 square feet for our family of five. Believe it or not, we haven't had many issues transitioning into this lifestyle. We've been at it for almost a year and a half and have yet to have major hiccups along the way. The first trailer we purchased was only 27 ft and didn't have a couch, the dinner table was our only seating. It also had a kitchen island which took up a lot of space. Even though it was less than ideal to live in when we purchased it in Feb 2018 we had no idea we would be selling all of our belongings and living on the road. This trailer was perfect for spending Tyler's days off in the mountains fly fishing for a week or so. Just what we needed. After several trips, a light bulb when off. We decided we wanted to do this full time and started searching for a trailer that could accommodate up a bit better.
My dad had researched a lot on four-season trailers, you have your big brands like arctic fox and lance. While those trailers are very nice and hold up to extreme weather they are manufactured in places that love to overuse their governmental powers and charge an arm and a leg for companies to get their legal seal of approval. The brand we purchased is called Outdoor RV, they are manufactured in the Oregon mountains and are not 20 grand overpriced. They are equipped for the outdoors and rugged terrain. They have a higher clearance than most of your standard cookie-cutter travel trailers. We wouldn't be able to get to a lot of our favorite spots if we did not have this clearance. The holding tanks have a higher capacity than most trailers as well. It is also made with higher quality wood and materials, unlike your mass-produced trailers. The Outdoor Rv's has also fabricated a larger dinner table that is rock solid, which is hard to find. The table size is a big deal for us considering how much we use it for school and crafts.
The craftsmanship, as well as the thoughtfulness of the layout sold us but that's not the only thing we were looking for in a trailer. This trailer came equipped with solar power as well as an onboard Onan propane generator which was a huge selling point. Previously when we had our first trailer and I was by myself I would have to unload our gas generator, which was the easy part. Loading the generator by myself into the back of the truck was very strenuous, I had to make sure the tank was empty, making it light as possible. Still, it was hard to lift alone but I was able to do it. Let's just say I appreciate the onboard generator. If you are looking into purchasing a travel trailer do your research!!! 90% of travel trailers produced in America is manufactured by 3 companies no matter the brand. So when you are at a dealership and looking at 10 different brands, most likely they are all made at the same plant. Most are poorly made and will fall apart after a short while. DO YOUR RESEARCH.
We lived in our first trailer for about 3 months, then after that three months, we made our way to Oregon and picked up our Outdoor RV and haven't looked back. The girls have their bunk beds as well as their own closet. Our first trailer had nowhere for their clothes to be stored so it was almost unbearable. They have their bookshelf which holds...you guessed it books as well as schoolwork and teaching aids. Drawers under the dining booths hold their craft supplies and their limited amount of toys, puzzles, and games. We purchased shoe holders that are now mounted on the bathroom door and they store their shoes off the floor and out of the way. Living in a trailer and being outdoors we probably sweep our floor more than 3 times a day.
Our kitchen has ample storage space, even though we had to rearrange things due to the weight of the fridge and canned foods. The fridge in outdoor RV's is also bigger than your standard travel trailer allows. This extra fridge space allows us to stock up and be off-grid without having to worry about trips to the store. Usually where we camp we are about 2 hours from the nearest grocery store so space matters here.
Somehow I managed to ramble on this long about our small living space. I felt it would be nice to give a visual representation of our home. Most people have never been in a travel trailer and don't really understand the concept of how it works. Hopefully, this clarified it a bit for you guys. I'm going to write a post or two about the purchases and modifications we have made. Again thank you for reading and allowing us to share this with you. God bless.