I keep hopping around but I think I finally settled on the one I want.

I would replace the dinette with a recliner and small table.





More photos...

https://mhsrv.com/2026-entegra-coach-22t...x-i4968798

Plan is starting to come together now. Closing is a week from Wednesday on Aug 12. From there, I will start the trip to Alvarado TX (just south of Fort Worth) to purchase the above RV, trade in my car on it or sell it to Carvana, then drive the RV either back to Collierville to help my sister move (her closing is Aug 24), or head straight to South Dakota.

At the point I head to South Dakota, the adventure begins! So it will either be Aug 14 when I get to Alvarado, or sometime later in August, when I head to SD from Collierville.

I'm too much of a social person to travel by myself, I'd bore myself to death. LOL

That's a sweet RV, I hope that you enjoy it.

(07-30-2026 05:46 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  I'm too much of a social person to travel by myself, I'd bore myself to death. LOL

That's a sweet RV, I hope that you enjoy it.

I've traveled my entire adult life. For work for 30 years, then in my now 28-year retirement, mostly with my sister in her RV in the last 10+.

For the foreseeable future, I plan to head mostly to tourist attractions, places I have yet to see. There will be plenty of others around I can socialize with, if I care to, or I can retreat inside my RV.

Pretty easy. If I don't want company, I'll cook and eat inside at campgrounds. If I do want to socialize, I'll cook and eat outside. And make desserts I can share with others. Easy peasy.

I'm outgoing to start with, anyway. For years in retirement, I traveled alone around the south to different campuses to tailgate before football games. Inevitably, I got invited to eat more than I could hold. All good food and drink. And company.

And since I will be visiting mostly vacation areas, most people will be in a relaxed, friendly mood. Easy for me.

Btw, on that floorplan, I plan to replace the dinette with a recliner, lamp and a small table, and convert one of the twin beds into a bench dinette.

Major change in plans! After coming close to buying the Class C, I have now concluded that I would need to haul a secondary vehicle behind it to give me something to run errands and visit local sites in.

That being the case, it would be cheaper and more convenient to just buy a non-motorized travel trailer and pull it with a truck. That way I can just unhook the trailer when I camp, and use the truck to motor around in locally. Seems a lot simpler if I'm going to have to tow something either way.

So now I'm back to square 1. :)

(07-31-2026 11:51 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Major change in plans! After coming close to buying the Class C, I have now concluded that I would need to haul a secondary vehicle behind it to give me something to run errands and visit local sites in.

That being the case, it would be cheaper and more convenient to just buy a non-motorized travel trailer and pull it with a truck. That way I can just unhook the trailer when I camp, and use the truck to motor around in locally. Seems a lot simpler if I'm going to have to tow something either way.

So now I'm back to square 1. :)

Quite the change, but better now than to regret later, IMO.

What are you thinking about purchasing?

(07-31-2026 12:21 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(07-31-2026 11:51 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Major change in plans! After coming close to buying the Class C, I have now concluded that I would need to haul a secondary vehicle behind it to give me something to run errands and visit local sites in.

That being the case, it would be cheaper and more convenient to just buy a non-motorized travel trailer and pull it with a truck. That way I can just unhook the trailer when I camp, and use the truck to motor around in locally. Seems a lot simpler if I'm going to have to tow something either way.

So now I'm back to square 1. :)

Quite the change, but better now than to regret later, IMO.

What are you thinking about purchasing?

I have to figure out the travel trailer first before I can figure out the truck. I just had this idea early this morning, and my advisory council seems to agree, lol.

Right now, I have seen 4 trailers I like. Once I decide that, then I can figure out what truck to get. I had a truck for 18 years straight until I sold it 2 years ago.

As for a new truck, with the proper gear to pull the trailer, I would consider a Ford F-150, A Silverado 1500 or a Ram 1500.

Total cost for the trailer and truck would be about the same as the Class C, except it would be a lot more convenient to have the truck to run local errands in. I had decided I needed to tow a small car or truck behind my Class C, until it dawned on me I might as well get a trailer instead, and get a truck to pull it. In the end, that's more convenient and cheaper.

Ok, switching gears to travel trailers rather than motorhomes, here are a bunch I like. Feel free to peruse if you are so inclined.

https://greatamericanrv.com/inventory/20...-air-63522

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...3252486-29

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...2843602-29

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...3413211-29

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...3413022-29

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...3205578-29

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...3308385-29

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...3393421-29

https://www.georgiacampers.com/product/n...3444897-29


Once I decide, then I will switch to finding a truck to haul one with.

Right now, the truck will be one of these 3:

Ford F-150
Chevy Silverado 1500
Ram Promaster 1500

Ok, here's the plan. Truck is the 2026 Ford F-150 XLT with the heavy tow package.

Travel trailer is the Grand Design Imagine XLS 17MKE. Here is your favorite RV girl to give you a tour.

This is what I'd do if I was you, I'm not, I'm better looking but anyway. I would get a fifth wheel or a trailer. Here's why, with an RV you would probably need another vehicle to do errands even if the RV is small. Towing a trailer is very easy and you'll always have a primary transportation mode. When you go on vacation, what do you do? You check into a motel/hotel and use your car/truck to move around and see the sights. This would be the same thing except your motel moves with you. Find a good spot, park it and roam around the sights with no worries about park rules, roads, the RV breaking down, etc. and then having to move into a motel anyway until your RV gets fixed, which could take a LOOOONNNGG time. But, if your vehicle breaks down just tow it to the dealership which would fix it immediately and then live in your trailer in the meantime.

I know, RVs are nice and sexy but for convenience sake I think a trailer or fifth wheel would be 100% better. I love RVs too but my common sense, ie. laziness would steer me towards a trailer and another plus, they're a whole bunch cheaper and most of the time NICER than an Rv of comparable size.

Just my two cents.

PS, sorry but I wrote this before reading your new posts, and I as you know by know, agree with you. I'm glad you saw the light. Oh, and you won't need to buy insurance for a trailer as your truck insurance will cover it...another plus.

Another bit of advice, get a trailer because you can always use the truck bed as storage. With a fifth wheel your hitch will be getting in the way, with a trailer not at all. Just get an accordion cover for the bed and you'll be able to leave whatever you want on the bed and not worry about where you'll put stuff in your new trailer. I have an accordion cover on my truck and I love it. It's an "undercover Flex" but I can't remember the manufacturers name. It's lockable too, don't get the fabric one, it's too easy to tear into, mine has metal cover.

(08-01-2026 06:13 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Ok, here's the plan. Truck is the 2026 Ford F-150 XLT with the heavy tow package.

Travel trailer is the Grand Design Imagine XLS 17MKE. Here is your favorite RV girl to give you a tour.

That girl is about as sweet as my wife's speech therapist. She's so sweet in fact, that I have to mop the floor from all the sticky sap when she leaves.

Tone it down girl.

(08-01-2026 06:13 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Ok, here's the plan. Truck is the 2026 Ford F-150 XLT with the heavy tow package.

Travel trailer is the Grand Design Imagine XLS 17MKE. Here is your favorite RV girl to give you a tour.

Here is a thread where someone cat scaled one of those, useful info.

https://www.granddesignrv.com/travel-tra...-xls/17mke

Looks like with nothing in it the trailer plus WDH the tongue weight was 720, then that goes up with stuff and full water or black tank (since you plan on boondocking). Helpful as you start to plan how much of the truck payload (on yellow tire loading sticker on door frame) is taken up by the tongue weight. 15% of the gross weight on the trailer is 959 pounds, if it is 720 empty you could definitely be around 960 tongue weight with stuff and liquids.

Truck wise make sure it has the bigger gas tank. I think all the new F150s have 35G, but I’m not 100%. They used to have a smaller tank with the 2.7L (like 23 gallons) which would knock your range with the trailer down to 180 miles due to the wind resistance of the trailer and it’s a pain in the ass.

Make sure your WDH has good sway control.

(08-01-2026 06:13 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Ok, here's the plan. Truck is the 2026 Ford F-150 XLT with the heavy tow package.

Travel trailer is the Grand Design Imagine XLS 17MKE. Here is your favorite RV girl to give you a tour.

That's a very, very nice trailer...and it's light. Even my Colorado could tow that thing easily. Dont' go overboard with the truck, the bigger the more expensive and if you don't need extra towing capacity it's just wasted money. But, hey, you just sold your house and you got money to spend, so who cares, get whatever. LOL

You guys are funny. Some good stuff sprinkled in there, though.

I bet I have never researched any purchases I have ever made more in my life than this trailer. The truck, not so much, but it's pretty straight forward.

Ollie, there seem to be 3 tow package choices on the F-150. I'm figuring out which one I need now.

Btw, Ollie, I'm just getting the basic XLT with the right tow package.

(08-01-2026 09:48 AM)olliebaba Wrote:  This is what I'd do if I was you, I'm not, I'm better looking but anyway. I would get a fifth wheel or a trailer. Here's why, with an RV you would probably need another vehicle to do errands even if the RV is small. Towing a trailer is very easy and you'll always have a primary transportation mode. When you go on vacation, what do you do? You check into a motel/hotel and use your car/truck to move around and see the sights. This would be the same thing except your motel moves with you. Find a good spot, park it and roam around the sights with no worries about park rules, roads, the RV breaking down, etc. and then having to move into a motel anyway until your RV gets fixed, which could take a LOOOONNNGG time. But, if your vehicle breaks down just tow it to the dealership which would fix it immediately and then live in your trailer in the meantime.

I know, RVs are nice and sexy but for convenience sake I think a trailer or fifth wheel would be 100% better. I love RVs too but my common sense, ie. laziness would steer me towards a trailer and another plus, they're a whole bunch cheaper and most of the time NICER than an Rv of comparable size.

Just my two cents.

PS, sorry but I wrote this before reading your new posts, and I as you know by know, agree with you. I'm glad you saw the light. Oh, and you won't need to buy insurance for a trailer as your truck insurance will cover it...another plus.

Another bit of advice, get a trailer because you can always use the truck bed as storage. With a fifth wheel your hitch will be getting in the way, with a trailer not at all. Just get an accordion cover for the bed and you'll be able to leave whatever you want on the bed and not worry about where you'll put stuff in your new trailer. I have an accordion cover on my truck and I love it. It's an "undercover Flex" but I can't remember the manufacturers name. It's lockable too, don't get the fabric one, it's too easy to tear into, mine has metal cover.

The only thing you got wrong was that better looking part. But we're def the two best looking 78-79 YOs on here.

(07-28-2026 08:37 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(07-28-2026 07:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  There are a lot of people riding those electric bikes now.

The teenagers around here have a death wish on them. They don't follow any rules of the road and are moving way too fast to not end up in an accident.

You did not grow up in the 70s or 80s....

we called them mini bikes and the gas throttle often got stuck or the brakes worked at 15 to 20 mph but had a hard time stopping you at 25+. Never knew a summer from 8 to 14 that me or a friend (sometimes many) did not have a cast on a arm or foot or scraped up and down one side of the body. From having to lay these mini bikes down on gravel or pavement

(08-01-2026 12:04 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(07-28-2026 08:37 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(07-28-2026 07:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  There are a lot of people riding those electric bikes now.

The teenagers around here have a death wish on them. They don't follow any rules of the road and are moving way too fast to not end up in an accident.

You did not grow up in the 70s or 80s....

we called them mini bikes and the gas throttle often got stuck or the brakes worked at 15 to 20 mph but had a hard time stopping you at 25+. Never knew a summer from 8 to 14 that me or a friend (sometimes many) did not have a cast on a arm or foot or scraped up and down one side of the body. From having to lay these mini bikes down on gravel or pavement

The last mini bike I rode, I slid and ran head on right into a tree. I got up and walked away, and said, Never again," lol.

(08-01-2026 10:59 AM)TripleA Wrote:  You guys are funny. Some good stuff sprinkled in there, though.

I bet I have never researched any purchases I have ever made more in my life than this trailer. The truck, not so much, but it's pretty straight forward.

Ollie, there seem to be 3 tow package choices on the F-150. I'm figuring out which one I need now.

Btw, Ollie, I'm just getting the basic XLT with the right tow package.

Glad everything is coming together for you because everyone earns the right to at one time or another to say the hell with life and do as they want. Your generation did not get to do that while in their teens to early 20s....

seeing the world on Uncle Sam's dime is not the same. So responsibly came very early.

I had a online friend that changed the way I thought. He was 67 (I was 52) he thought he was in good health but feeling tired. Went to the doctor on a Monday, in early May and dead two weeks later from something he never knew he had till that Monday.

I started working (on my own) at 17.5 middle my Sr year of high school. My whole life was, better not do that, a rainy day is coming.....on the big things, not everything, but things I wanted to do in life. At 50 , the housing market crashed, I saw it coming and was in place to buy up homes dirty cheap. So at 52 after my friend passed I said that's enough and my wife and I spent the next 7 years traveling about 3 weeks out of every month. Mostly followed WKU, football and basketball for every road game and hitting all the places we wanted o see. Now at the point where family is where we want to be with 4 to 6, week, to 10 days, vacations during the year. But even most of those include our kids and grandchildren.

Good luck and I hope it last till you no longer want to do it

(08-01-2026 12:54 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-01-2026 10:59 AM)TripleA Wrote:  You guys are funny. Some good stuff sprinkled in there, though.

I bet I have never researched any purchases I have ever made more in my life than this trailer. The truck, not so much, but it's pretty straight forward.

Ollie, there seem to be 3 tow package choices on the F-150. I'm figuring out which one I need now.

Btw, Ollie, I'm just getting the basic XLT with the right tow package.

Glad everything is coming together for you because everyone earns the right to at one time or another to say the hell with life and do as they want. Your generation did not get to do that while in their teens to early 20s....

seeing the world on Uncle Sam's dime is not the same. So responsibly came very early.

I had a online friend that changed the way I thought. He was 67 (I was 52) he thought he was in good health but feeling tired. Went to the doctor on a Monday, in early May and dead two weeks later from something he never knew he had till that Monday.

I started working (on my own) at 17.5 middle my Sr year of high school. My whole life was, better not do that, a rainy day is coming.....on the big things, not everything, but things I wanted to do in life. At 50 , the housing market crashed, I saw it coming and was in place to buy up homes dirty cheap. So at 52 after my friend passed I said that's enough and my wife and I spent the next 7 years traveling about 3 weeks out of every month. Mostly followed WKU, football and basketball for every road game and hitting all the places we wanted o see. Now at the point where family is where we want to be with 4 to 6, week, to 10 days, vacations during the year. But even most of those include our kids and grandchildren.

Good luck and I hope it last till you no longer want to do it

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words.

I traveled a lot for work for about 20 years, but not that much recreationally, b/c my wife suffered from depression our entire marriage, and didn't like to travel, anyway.

For about 10 years, I have traveled occasionally with my sister about twice a year, but this is a whole different ball game now. I've been pretty down since my wife passed, but I'm starting to ease out of it as much as possible, I suppose.

I'm starting to look forward to it. Lots of things I've never seen. Grand Canyon, Utah's Mighty 5, Rushmore, Sedona, Glacier, etc. Enough to keep me busy a long time, assuming my health holds up.

So far, so good. I had a physical a month ago. A++. And I had my annual cardiology checkup this past week. Same result, so I should be good to go.

I feel fortunate. At 79 (in 2 weeks), I feel really good, and have absolutely nothing detectable wrong with me, knock on wood, so hopefully, the old bones can hold together until I get all the rambling out of my system.

And I really appreciate all the encouragement here.