RE: Subject: GMC: THE CHOICE???.....
.......Input from the normally "less active" readers is sought here as well as the old pros. Thanks for any insight You might provide on this subject. If this proves useful, there are many other aspects We might
address similarly.
OK, I'll give it a roll.
Virginia and I run a '73 26 foot GMC that we named "Wanabizo"(Chippewa Indian for "he gets lost driving"). We've been putting in 7 or 8 thousand miles on it a year for 4 years, usually in 1 to 3 week blocks. We
almost always dry camp, meaning that we just plug in the electric when it's available and dump/fill every three days or so. This is in keeping with our love for sightseeing in the thing and just enjoying and
sharing with each other that marvelous view; as opposed to futsing around with a toad. If we're sitting there listening to a babbling brook and decide to run into town to take in a slasher movie, I can have the
electric unplugged and stowed and be driving away before the air pump is even finished topping off the tank. For us, simple is better. I would have a different opinion if we drove it down to Florida for the winter
to sit in the sunshine. As for the length issue, we find the storage adequate. I said adequate, not generous. Having come up through backpacking>canoe camping>tent/car camping>VW bus>GMC we tend to travel pretty
lean, the exception being all of our books. I've only been in a couple of 23 footers, so I don't know from where they take the three feet, but I wouldn't want it taken from mine. I believe (lacking other
experience) that driving is probably the same. I know I'm happy to take, and HAVE taken our GMC everywhere your average soccer mom would take her SUV. I pay very close attention to the traction and ground clearance
issues, but I go anywhere you average van would go. So what would be gained by losing three feet?
Bottom line... I'll tell you right now that my coach is a project and a money pit and has a do list that makes my credit cards cringe; but I would not give up Wanabizo for any reason. Not for a trendy bus wannabe,
not for a fifth wheel, not for nothing...so there! For the way it sings down the road at whatever speed, in (almost) whatever weather, for the way it meets its design goal with such elegance, I don't think it can
be beat.
Regards to all you motorhome searchers.
Doug Smith
dsmithy
.......Input from the normally "less active" readers is sought here as well as the old pros. Thanks for any insight You might provide on this subject. If this proves useful, there are many other aspects We might
address similarly.
OK, I'll give it a roll.
Virginia and I run a '73 26 foot GMC that we named "Wanabizo"(Chippewa Indian for "he gets lost driving"). We've been putting in 7 or 8 thousand miles on it a year for 4 years, usually in 1 to 3 week blocks. We
almost always dry camp, meaning that we just plug in the electric when it's available and dump/fill every three days or so. This is in keeping with our love for sightseeing in the thing and just enjoying and
sharing with each other that marvelous view; as opposed to futsing around with a toad. If we're sitting there listening to a babbling brook and decide to run into town to take in a slasher movie, I can have the
electric unplugged and stowed and be driving away before the air pump is even finished topping off the tank. For us, simple is better. I would have a different opinion if we drove it down to Florida for the winter
to sit in the sunshine. As for the length issue, we find the storage adequate. I said adequate, not generous. Having come up through backpacking>canoe camping>tent/car camping>VW bus>GMC we tend to travel pretty
lean, the exception being all of our books. I've only been in a couple of 23 footers, so I don't know from where they take the three feet, but I wouldn't want it taken from mine. I believe (lacking other
experience) that driving is probably the same. I know I'm happy to take, and HAVE taken our GMC everywhere your average soccer mom would take her SUV. I pay very close attention to the traction and ground clearance
issues, but I go anywhere you average van would go. So what would be gained by losing three feet?
Bottom line... I'll tell you right now that my coach is a project and a money pit and has a do list that makes my credit cards cringe; but I would not give up Wanabizo for any reason. Not for a trendy bus wannabe,
not for a fifth wheel, not for nothing...so there! For the way it sings down the road at whatever speed, in (almost) whatever weather, for the way it meets its design goal with such elegance, I don't think it can
be beat.
Regards to all you motorhome searchers.
Doug Smith
dsmithy
