Starling Travel

Should you go tiny or huge? Luxurious or spartan?

When we were camping in Buckskin Mountain State Park last month, I was struck with the difference in size between our tent trailer and the motorcoach next to us. It made me wonder how my experience at the park compared with theirs and what each of us had to do to get there. So I made a comparison of my tent trailer to what I imagine for the motorcoach next to me.

Cost

Mike and I paid $1000 for the tent trailer that we own today. It’s a Jayco Eagle 8 from 1997 and it is still in good enough condition to house us. We store it in our garage, so there are no monthly costs to maintain it.

The owner of the motorcoach next to us paid a minimum of $30,000 and that’s if they bought it on the used market. If they bought it new, it probably cost upwards of $100,000, if not more. If they live full-time in that motorcoach, then they don’t need to worry about storage costs, but if they live in a home somewhere, they either have to have a large plot of land to park it or pay a storage facility a monthly fee. When I checked prices in SLC for storage, it would have cost us $110 a month for an RV that big.

We both paid the exact same amount for our campsite.

Mileage

On that trip, Mike and I got 29 mpg towing our tiny tent trailer with a Prius. I don’t know the exact mileage that motorcoach got, but based on responses from others, they got 9-15 mpg. It probably cost them twice as much in gasoline to get places than it did us.

Capacity

Our tent trailer can sleep six, but those people better like each other A LOT, because they will be bumping into each other constantly. Even with just the three of us, we were quite cramped. I’m sure that motorcoach can also sleep six people with plenty of room to spare. There will be no “excuse me” and “sorry I stepped on your foot” in that RV.

Comfort

It was a cold night in Arizona when we stayed there. I believe the temperature got down to 38 degrees. We had an electric heater in our trailer that got it up to 67 degrees and we felt plenty warm. I suspect that the heater in that large motorcoach didn’t have to work quite as hard as ours did (for example, it may have turned itself off in the night), but we were both warm enough in that desert.

Effort

It took us about twenty minutes to set up our trailer that night. I didn’t time myself that exact time, but I had timed us once that trip and that’s how long it took. We actually brought out the camping chairs and gear because the evening was slightly warmer than we had experienced the previous nights and we knew we were going to eat outside and have a fire in the fire ring.

The people in the motorcoach were already set-up in their campsite when we arrived, so I don’t know how long it took them to get situated, but they had a strip of decorative lights and a large outdoor carpet in place. I could easily imagine it took them as long as us to get all of those decorations and their satellite dish established in their proper positions.

Restrooms

We don’t have a restroom in our tiny tent trailer, so we made sure we we found a spot right next to the ones at the park. Because of this, the motorcoach was also parked right next to the park bathrooms. The only time I saw an occupant of the motorcoach, I watched her leave it and walk over to the bathrooms to use them. There is no way that an RV like theirs doesn’t have a bathroom, but she chose to use the park bathrooms rather than soil (or have to empty) her own.

Safety

We both arrived safe and sound at Buckskin Mountain State Park, so the question of safety is moot in this particular instance. I wouldn’t be able to drive a huge RV like that without a class of some sort, but it’s obvious that it’s not an issue for them.

Campsite Availability

At a state park, the campsites fill up on a first come first served basis. You can reserve one, but there isn’t a camp host who decides whether our tent trailer was “good enough” for a spot. Tiny and luxurious sit side by side in harmony.

Conclusion

Aside from that brief glimpse on the way to the bathrooms, we never saw the occupants of that motorcoach. We cooked our hot dogs over the fire and tried to block out their decorative lights to point out constellations in the sky. Other campers walked past us on the way to the bathroom and asked if we were trying to warm up the whole park and we laughed together at the joke. We enjoyed ourselves immensely.

I can only imagine that the occupants of the motorcoach enjoyed themselves as well. They had a warm and luxurious RV with a television and satellite dish, so I’m sure they never wanted for entertainment that evening. They had set themselves up rather nicely.

In the end, both the people in the motorcoach and us in our tiny tent trailer had a wonderful evening in Buckskin Mountain State Park. Does size matter? I don’t think so. Whatever size RV you use isn’t important. The important thing is that you get out there and enjoy our great natural resources.