There are many reasons people choose a particular type of RV. For us, when we were looking for our current RV there were two major factors: 1) It needed to be a motorhome, 2) Size matters.

We have had travel trailers (aka: bumper pulls) and fifth wheel trailers in the past. Now that we were considering full-time RVing it was important to get a motorhome and try it out. When we had our trailers we parked them next to house and it was great to be so convenient. We could take our time (usually a couple of days) packing, unpacking and cleaning. Unfortunately our current home didn’t have a lot of parking space in the short driveway. And the town we live in doesn’t allow overnight RV parking on the road or any parking on an unpaved surface.

Those conditions limited us to a Class C motorhome no more than 25 feet long – the length of our driveway – unless we were willing to put up with the inconvenience and expense ($60 a month is cheap in our area) of storage. We didn’t want the Class B because we wanted a “real” bed and bathroom.

We ended up with an Itasca Spirit that measured in at 24.5 feet.

Not much farther.

If I pull in head-first I have just inches to spare. But we have loved having a motorhome. One this size sets up in no time. We have all the conveniences and just enough room for the short vacations we take now.

I don’t think we would ever go full-time in a coach this size, but we do love having a motorhome instead of a trailer. Rainy travel day? No problem, pull over into a rest stop and have lunch without getting wet. The unit is fully self-contained with a generator and a solar panel to augment the coach batteries.

Just fits on the driveway.

If I get close enough to the fence we can still park our car in the driveway. And the rear bumper is just inside the limit. Alas, it is very small and we will likely upgrade soon. But until then, we are having a great time.

It is customary to name your motorhome. We have christened ours “Escape Pod” because that is what we use it for.

In the year that we have had it we have made it all the way to Michigan and back, around East Texas and to Arkansas mountains a few times.

We love it. We think of it of escaping the pretend life we have day to day and to the reality of the world around us.