The Sandpiper was fantastic. We both really wished we could keep it. Several factors made us stop and re-evaluate what would best fit our needs.

Our home has some space for a trailer but not enough for a long one. The Sandpiper was almost 39 feet. The driveway is a steep climb up from a road which is fairly steep down grade. Not only is it a steep climb for 120 feet, but it curves right then left in 50 feet. There is little chance I can back it in, while making the curves, and not blow the transmission backing up. The Sandpiper is just a little too long to pull it up the driveway and swing a U-turn. While we have many locations near us which will store RVs, none have room. Also, they have waiting lists when spots do open up so we would not likely get one soon. So we have been storing it at a lot 30 minutes from home.

With our vehicle this far away, we would pack everything into the truck the day of the trip, then drive to the lot, unpack things into the trailer since most were in the pickup bed and could not travel in the bed while the fifth wheel was connected. This also meant carrying ice packs because the fridge would be hot. The beds would not be made and often I would have to bring replacement propane tanks that would need to be hooked up. Then half the time the destination would be in the opposite direction we just traveled. This added 90 – 120 minutes to the trip out and then about the same on the return. When you have to wait to get off work on a Friday, this extra time often meant we did not take as many weekends camping and also limited our destinations.

Then the lot we were using made many upgrades including covered spaces causing the rent to go up. We would either have to pay the increase or find another lot which would be further away. We decided we could buy a smaller RV, use our own space at home, and save money.

Just like many things in life, we choose our first RV based on an incomplete picture of what was important. We also did not save as much as we thought but we came out close to even and the convenience of having it at home has been awesome.