Search the Community

So.... turn 40 in july, but these ideas are all from my lady... so technically it's not my mid life crisis, but rather my mid- wife crisis. (sorry about the long winded story) I skrimped and saved and back in the day I bought a used pop up from my buddy. A classic 1979 coleman. Now it needs a few things here and there, not much but all we ever really do is have a soft place to sleep and a clean place to get dressed. Still cook outside and except for one javelin trip, the camper has never been a refuge during trips. Then I met a girl. She's keeping ,me around, been 4 years. We bought a house together, and I just got a check from selling mine... which has opened up a can of worms. She isn't a fan of my old vintage camper, takes a bit to set up and its hard to pack (without setting up, and unpack). I toyed with the idea of buying a New-to-me pop-up. Been keeping an eye out, missed a few deals because we were waiting to sell my house but oh well. The understanding was, sell my house, get a new camper. Turkey season came, one more set up of the ol coleman. She said, "what about a hard side". Well, trying to stay mobile with the smaller the better, and the fact that I have a half ton (or in most circumstances, my brother pulls it with his jeep), I want a small camper. Independent thinker.... she started showing me pictures of campers she found. So I fired back pictures of ones I thought would be a compromise. Finally she said "there's a rv show at UoPS, mom n dad are wanting to go, we can go too just to get ideas; then well look for something similar used." (Her dad is getting ready to retire, they want an apartment on wheels for traveling to see family and a bucket list). I thought the show didn't have anything all that interesting. She told me I was wrong, she found a camper that she liked 30' bunk house blah blah blah... well fully loaded, its hitting the limits of what my truck can pull. the next day I showed her pictures of ultra lights that I liked, and again, thought it was a compromise. Wrong again...I started the debate with "my truck cant handle that, my truck can pull these 3 trailers just fine.".... wrong.... she fired back, "you need a new truck then"., whipped out her phone to show me prices and had budgets and spread sheets.... (yeah, don't try to argue numbers with an accountant). I added the clause of... well depending on which "camper" you want us to get, im fixing up the pop up so I can actually go hunting still. SO finally the guy part of this... I want another dodge, first off. -What do I get? -Gas or diesel? (a diesel will be better for pulling, but in general use stand point) -years to stay away from? (I know they had a transmission issue for while) - Power wagon? (5.7 or 6.4?) -Mpg? So the background is, I really like the power wagon, but that might be because its awesome. Our budget is around $30k. a 3/4 ton will give us the capacities to pull the camper, but the cost of general upkeep on a diesel first of the practicality of towing a trailer a few times a year ? We probably found 12 trucks that are worth looking at off cyber scouting.