Checking out

[kwoodrg]

Well this will be my last post to the FR forums. We traded our beloved Trilogy 37BH yesterday on a small class C motorhome of another brand.

After three years of full time living in that trailer with two adults and two teens I have to say it has been a wonderful adventure and the Trilogy was a central and integral part of it. It was truly a wonderful camper.

Now the kids start college in a week and so earlier this year my wife and I bought a simple small (under 1000 sqft) house and plan for that to be our home base from here on out.

The kids will attend college 15 mins away and use the second bedroom as a bunk room until they graduate.

In the meantime we will still camp and travel occasionally in our little class C. However, the days of just hooking up and going with the kids are now at an end and a new phase has begun.

So, I am happy and sad at the same time but definitely glad we took the leap and experienced this lifestyle. It taught us simplicity, focus and a value of having each other nearby that I don’t think would have ever really developed in the traditional suburban house we owned prior.

To all who consider the RV full time lifestyle I would say DO IT. Go ALL IN and not half way. TRAVEL with it. Don’t sit in one spot. Enjoy the trials and the joys. It doesn’t even have to be forever. But do it and experience a whole different way to think and live. You’ll remember the memories and treasure them forever!

Good luck to all and God bless!

[Reverse_snowbird]

Sorry you're leaving.

You could still come back and post about your travels. I don't think you have to be a member to share.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

Sorry you're leaving.

You could still come back and post about your travels. I don't think you have to be a member to share.

You absolutely do not have to be a FR owner to share. Feel free to stick around!

[timfromma]

That's a relief.


My first thought when I read the thread title was that you were gonna die.

[Kaadk]

No need to go anywhere. Just because we're based on FR, doesn't mean you have to actually own an FR. We're not FROG. There are plenty of people here who own non FR products and contribute every day. A lot of the knowledge on this site is applied industry wide, and has very little to do with specific FR knowledge. Your contributions will always be valued, regardless of the brand you have.

[Wiscampsin]

Stick around. Just because you don't have your FR Trilogy anymore doesn't mean you couldn't share your knowledge and expertise.

[JohnD10]

You can still stay, post and ask questions!

I currently do not own an FR product and still hang out here!

I can understand your change as I just recently did the same thing.

Sold my house in Denver earlier this year...lived in my 5'ver for six months, just me and my four Mainecoon furballs of joy!

Had planned on doing that for the unseeable future.

However, I found a place I just couldn't say no to...bought it...finished my full-time RV journey of seven weeks and just moved my GF from the midwest here.

Was starting to realize that my camper wasn't a camper anymore...

Now it is again!

[John Hagen]

Sorry to hear you traded your Trilogy. How did you make out on the trade? Lose quite a bit? I sure hope not. Stay in touch!

John

[kwoodrg]

Many thanks to all who have encouraged me to stay and post. I was picking up around our little camper ( a Coachmen 20CB ) when, to my surprise, what do I find? On one of the manuals, brochures, etc (I don’t remember which one) I see the FR logo. What? Coachmen is owned by FR too? A quick internet search and she enough it appears FR acquired Coachmen back just after a initial downturn in the economy back around 2008 or 2009. I have to say I was pretty shocked. It appears that the downturn brought Coachmen to a point where if Forest River hadn’t bought it then the name wouldn’t exist anymore. I’ll be honest sometimes I get tired of the FR name as it seems to be on every camper around. I don’t know how I missed it on ours at first. Even the weight loading info is the standard FR yellow sticker.

At the same time I also realize that a lot of the RV monikers we have known for years wouldn’t exist at all if FR hadn’t taken the risk and bought all these companies at a time when many were deep in debt and the future looked extremely bleak for them. Today RVs are flying off lots and it proved to be a very smart move by FR but back then—it couldn’t have gone not so well. So, in the end it all worked out for the best I suppose.

At any rate, see as I still am in an FR product and the fact that this forum has the best people in the RV world, I may be poking in from time to time. When I do, you’ll find me over in the other low volume topic—Coachmen motorhomes!

Thanks again to all.

Oh and John we got our behinds handed to us! We tried listing it online (Craigslist and RV trader) independently for over a month starting at $50K. With no interest for near a month I dropped it to $30K just to see interest level. In that time we got only two people to seriously ask about it. In the end both opted to buy brand new inferior campers because they thought the new+warranty was worth it more than a 2014 well built unit. They were both new to RVing and weren’t versed in the joke that RV warranties often end up being but those are lessons we all end up learning in life.

So in the end we ended up getting a mere $25K for it. That was after visiting multiple dealers and haggling pretty hard. It was disappointing to see that most dealers had no interest whatsoever it offering even a penny for it. I have chalked it up to history and made peace with it. I still say the Trilogy we had was one of the best and most reliable RV fifth wheels ever. It truly was amazing. Even after 3 years it still looked and operated like brand new with never a serious failure during the entire time. No water damage at all. Many people who viewed it asked us if we ever used it at all!

So in the end I still would not do a thing different. Even if I got nothing for the camper. The effect that full timing with what seemed like absolute freedom had on the whole family alone is absolutely priceless.

See ya’ll around!