February 2, 2007: Bradenton, Florida.
It's been raining here in Florida and since the whole appeal of coastal Florida is the beach, we've been spending a fair amount of time hanging out at our campground. As I walk around the campsites, it's fun to check out the various types of RVs. There are two kinds that seem to be the most popular in the campgrounds that we've been staying at.
The first is the extravagant, just-like-home Class "A" motorhome:


The Class "A" is good for full-timers who don't want to miss out on the luxuries of home (some even have washer/dryers). The downside to these rigs is that they're expensive ($150,000+) and they pretty much require that you tow a vehicle so that you have a means of transportation once your motorhome is stationary at its campsite. They're also usually about forty feet long which makes them hard to maneuver and prohibits them from staying at many of the national parks.

The second most popular is the fifth-wheel trailer. This trailer mounts to a hitch in the bed of a pickup truck. Fifth-wheels are neat because they come in all sizes and price ranges.

The big disadvantage here is that you have to have a powerful pickup truck to tow the fifth-wheel. The upside is that once you've set up the trailer at the campsite, you simply un-hitch it from your pickup and then you've got a vehicle to drive around with.