On the level

Back in early 2005, not long after heavy winter rains had rearranged the landscape all over southern California, I stopped at Red Rock State Park near Mojave north of LA. It was late afternoon on a Friday, and there was only one camp site left. It had been nearly washed away and then partially pushed back into shape by a bulldozer. But it was obvious why no one had taken it. It sloped about two feet downhill from front to back and a foot from left to right.

I decided to give it a try. I backed in at an angle to reduce the worst of the slope, then I used all of my larger planks and blocks to get the wheels leveled side to side. My full set of interlocking blocks on a wood base raised the left landing gear of the fiver enough to complete the leveling.

It was worth the effort. It's a nice state park and worth a stop if you're in the area. I love the sandstone formations. You'll probably find this space easier to park in by now.

Grizzbo

And from our "cuuuute" department, we bring you FW Grizzbo, the plush fifth wheel bear. I caught up with these at the big Quartzsite RV Show last winter. If you're like me you've been to more than one RV show, but if you haven't been to the Quartzsite show, you are missing out. With 100,000 RVers as prospective buyers, the show attracts just about everyone with anything remotely RV related to sell. And a lot that isn't RV related.

Back to the bears... Grizzbo is a good name for the brown toy, but it seems to me that the polar bear version should have a more fitting moniker. Frosty? By the way, you don't have to go to Quartzsite to buy a bear. You can order your very own Grizzbo or other plush RV pet from the ANMOR-ANMOR store on ebay.

Rim shot

Time to share another great boondocking location. Most Arizona RVers already know about the "Rim," short for the Mogollan (mog-yawn) Rim, the place they all go to escape the summer heat in the desert. The Rim is the southern edge of a vast plateau that runs half way across the state. Unlike many areas in the southwest, dispersed camping in the national forest right along the Rim is not allowed. However, there are several areas set aside for designated camping, but with no services and at no cost. There's a two week limit, and at the height of summer these areas are in demand. But when I was there right after Labor Day, I had my pick of choice sites right on the edge, with views that extend forever. All were in tall pines, included picnic tables and large rock fire rings.

I tried to get a photo showing how close I was camped to the edge of the cliff, but then I couldn't take in enough of the magnificent view. So imagine my fiver parked just to your right and the land dropping away at your feet. Take a deep breath!

This area is east of Payson, Arizona. If you get the chance, go there. But as I said, there are no services, so please leave your site cleaner than you found it.

Toy hauler options

I don't know about other parts of the country, but in the West toy haulers are very popular. Here in Arizona you see them just about everywhere that you see RVs. Southern California appears to have its share too. It seems that most fifth wheel trailer manufacturers now offer a toy hauler model. On the RV dealer's lots around Phoenix they seem to make up a significant portion of their inventory.

I don't have any motorized toys and I have no plans to buy any. But out of curiosity, I poked my head in a couple of units at a dealer near me. I know that a typical toy hauler floor plan has a bed in the "garage" that can be raised during hauling and lowered at camp. So I was a little surprised to see the variation pictured above. Here the dining room is built to be raised, after the table is first lowered it seems. This unit also had steel garage flooring extending into the lounge area and a bench-style sofa that folds up to make room for even more toys. It still had an adequate kitchen too.

Gypsy

I guess it's time that I talked about my fifth wheel, which I named Gypsy. She's a Dutchmen Colorado 27RL, but the actual length is about 30 feet. I've had her for about 2 years and towed her almost 20,000 miles all over the Western states. She's been a great rolling home.

Because I planned on a lot of dry camping, I shopped around for a trailer with substantial fresh and waste water capacity. Gypsy has a 52 gallon fresh tank and three 30 gallon waste tanks, two gray and one black. I also installed two 120 watt solar panels on the roof and I have another mobile 80 watt panel on a 15 foot cord. It has worked out great. We boondock for weeks at a time.

Oh, yeah. The photo was taken at Lake Pleasant, Arizona, dry camping of course.

The return of Alvin Straight

It's been almost two years since I took this photo, but I think about it periodically. It's not exactly a fifth wheel story, but I hope you'll permit me the leeway to write about other RV related stuff. I suppose it's a stretch to call this rig an RV, but there it was camped just down the row from me at Davis Camp, Arizona, along the Colorado River.

I never did see the occupant - I think he left when I was out visiting. But I couldn't help thinking about Alvin Straight when I saw this "camper." If you have never seen the film "The Straight Story," go rent it. It's a feel good story about the real life adventures of Iowan Alvin Straight who set off to visit his dying brother in Wisconsin. Because of his failing eye sight, he couldn't drive a car. But he was determined, so he loaded his gear in a wagon (not unlike the one in the photo), hitched up his little riding mower and set off down the highway.

I wonder where my Arizona Alvin was headed. Here are a couple of shots from the movie...

Early fiver

I noticed this fifth wheel parked at an RV park in my area. It caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First is the size - this thing was probably not much over 16' long. It looked a lot smaller parked right next to a 35' Montana. Also, check out the "bedroom," if you could call it that. It's more like the crawl-in sleeping area of a Class C. I've been doing a little research on fifth wheel history and that's how the first fivers were built in the late 60's and early 70's. Real bedrooms with raised roofs & lowered floors came a few years later. Notice the "landing gear" too. They are actually travel trailer jacks. This unit really looks like a truck camper on two axles. No slide out, no roof-mounted AC unit, a tiny exterior storage area - it kind of dramatizes how far fivers have come in 35 years.

Unusual cruiser

OK, today's challenge is to identify this craft:





Well...

We'll give you

just a minute

to think about it...

Here's a clue:

Turn it over!







It's a Titanium fiver. One of these things parked next to us at Bridge Bay in Yellowstone National Park. I had to look at it twice to figure out what was different about it. This Canadian built unit extends clear over the cab of the tow vehicle. You would expect this to generate a lot of wind resistance, so they designed a prow that's almost like the front of a boat to streamline it. And to move more living space into this extended forward area, they raised the roof. Even their smaller units are over 12' high. I think it's quite striking & I like to see creative new ideas in the fifth wheel world.

Room with a view

That small white shape in the upper left of this photo is my fifth wheel, perched near the edge of Chama Canyon in New Mexico. I've stayed at some nice campgrounds, but very few offer the solitude and scenery that I prefer. Finding camp sites like this means getting off the beaten track, locating Forest Service and BLM roads and doing a little exploring. As was the case here, I'm careful about where I tow my trailer. After nearly getting wedged up a narrow back road on one or two occasions, I now find a place to drop the fiver while I scout out an area for a great camp site that I can safely get into and out of.