In the late 60's my parents drove my sister and I all over the country in their Volkwagon Camper Van. They then upgraded to Allegro Motorhomes, my Dad and I used to drive all over in it "county hunting" with our Ham radios. I purchased a 1986 Barth Regal 28' and I drove it all over the country with my wife. It was a great Class A puller with off road capability. Wonderfully built coach with everything we needed. It's max speed was 65 MPH while towing my Jeep. But you could work on it without the aid of a computer and with normal tools. It had Twin beds, dual fuel refrigerator, two coach batteries and one chassis battery, crank up antenna. All we had to worry about before leaving was if the antenna was up and the stairs retracted.
Now we are in a 2006 Tiffin Zephyr 45 QSZ hauling more "stuff" than we will ever need. 500 HP Cummins ISM will cruise at any speed regardless of the load. Residential refrigerator that loves to suck the electricity. 6 Coach batteries, two chassis batteries. Select Comfort King Bed, In motion satellite, flat panel TV's, Solar power, it is just amazing what these buses can do. The car hauler I tow behind the bus is bigger than the Barth we once had. Now I have to worry about curbs, lane widths, avoiding major city traffic in the daytime, never having to back up, etc. Dirt roads (remember driving down dirt roads with the generator on?) What a dust storm I can create. With this monstrosity I am always watching for tree limbs, turning radius. etc.
I love the life style so much we try to get out every weekend weather permitting. Sometimes I miss the Barth for it's simplicity, It was the essence of RV'ing. Now our idea of roughing it is parking on a slight incline and the Satelite signal is lost. But every once in a awhile I pull over while driving at night and turn everything off, step outside and look at the stars. Beats the heck out of sleeping in my bag on a sleeping pad using my clothes for a pillow!
