The new rig

    Well, we picked up the new rig on Saturday.  We settled on the Flagstaff 26FKSBD.  It's about a 26 foot box with a front kitchen and rear bedroom.  There is a floor-to-ceiling slide-out in the living room which has the sofa bed and the dinette (also convert to a bed).  There is a partial slide-out in the bedroom.  Both slides are driver side slides. The people at Custom Camper in Southington, CT (http://customcamperinc.com/) were incredible to work with.  We told them the kind of camping we do - about 30% dry camping for us - and they helped us setup the rig.  We have two 6-volt batteries that will give us longer life on a single charge.  We have a 150W solar panel mounted to the roof.  With these additions plus my 40 gallon portable water bladder and a 25 gallon tote we can easily live "off the grid".
    After years of towing popup campers towing a travel trailer is an experience. My previous camper was the Coleman Niagara weighing 4400 lbs.  The Flagstaff is at 6600 lbs dry so neither is a burden for my Ram 2500.   The real 'shock' was looking in the rear view mirror and not being able to see what is behind me over the top of the popup.
    We got the Anderson weight distribution / sway control hitch.  I don't know if it was this new, high-tech hitch or the setup of the trailer but it tracked true right behind the Ram
   We spent Sunday packing up the trailer.  Our fear was that there would not be enough storage to handle he rig packed to full-time.  The clothes storage may still be limited but there are plenty of pass-throughs to storage bins where we can pack the off season clothes in totes and store them in the pass-throughs.
     We have 13 nights of camping (9 of them boondocking) before we live in the trailer full-time and then we'll have 3 months local to work out the kinks before hitting the road in September.  Our first trip will be to Normandy Farms (http://www.normandyfarms.com/) in Foxboro and the following weekend we are at Sunset View Farms (https://sunsetview.com/) is Monson, MA.  Both are a little over an hour of towing.  Then in early May it will be off to Assateague Island Nation Seashore (https://www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm) for 9 days of boondocking at the best place (so far) to stay at. We split the trip to Assateague by staying at Ft Dix (http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/new-jersey/willow-pond-camp) on the way down and Naval Weapons Station Earle (http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/new-jersey/earle-rv-park) on the way back.
    Once back from Earle wwe will have to have a semi-permanent place to stay (we still have about 3 weekends a month booked) so we will definitely have a good assessment on the rig before we hit the road big-time!