Honestly, and I mean this sincerely, no harm intended.
For wanting to live the mobile lifestyle, it seems you have painted yourself into a corner with all your belongings.
The bug, (I know non-negotiable), is more of a hindrance love affair. Not very efficient, powerful, or comfortable for you and Lucy on any type of distance trip. Find a little wagon or TDI bug. Has AC, cruise, gets 50 mpg, lay the seats down and plenty of room for Lucy. Easily towed. Can travel easily and comfortably in it.
You asked how I get vehicles, I have always taken my TDI and trailered or dolly’d it home. I have flown in before on a 1-way ticket, did not buy the vehicle and rented a car 1-way. That sucked. I have flown in 1-way, bought the car and drove 20 hours, that sucked. I have my quiver now. So hopefully my vehicle buying days are over. But like you, I wait for something to show up closer now instead of chasing things.
The turbo is a selling point for your MH. I asked to potentially buy it. You mentioned it was a hacked together system. Would you wanna transfer that to another van. I’m not sure you would need a turbo in a van if not pulling. 90% of the time, I don’t need a turbo for mine.
Sucks about Lucy and your pickup with a pop-up. That seems like the solutions I’d go for. I can’t stand in a van. GV and turbo on the pickup for the win!!
The cheapest vehicle is the one you own, think long and hard about a van vs your pickup with a pop-up. Sure you might have to tent it a few weeks looking for the right pop-up. It will come though.
If you buy a van, now you have a van, pickup, MH, Bug, and trailer
Go back to why you want this lifestyle in the first place. Drop the baggage and run light. The monthly savings might allow you to drive an idi more. Allowing you to travel ans see more.
Non of this is meant to make you mad or upset. I have painted myself into many corners. It’s just an outside perspective when I don’t know the whole story
Well the bug can be improved, with a bigger engine and a different exhaust system. Not super cheap but doable. Smaller tires would help with the engine it has now, but it needs two more stock rims for that. and a full set of stock tires. hence why I haven't messed with the tires yet.
the problem is that changing to something else is the issue, with or without the bug. The bug doesn't change the logistics problem, other than something more modern than can be flat towed would be better for longer drives. but how often do i need to do 200 mile drives from the RV? almost never.
if I get a van, the plan is go sell the motorhome and the truck. fuel cost in the RV is what has kept me away from the truck for so long. truck is the bigger priority, since i can store the rv for a season for $180 and use it again next winter until I'm 100% ready to sell it and get a winter use RV trailer.
a pop top truck camper would be almost as limited as a van in terms of space. there is no bathroom in them. and i don't want a big slide in, I'd just stay with the motorhome full time in that case.
to recap a bit:
I used the tiny truck camper most of 2017 and the later part of 2018 and i found i disliked it to limited space AND the issue with moving Lucy....and myself. sucks to have to go outside the cab to go inside in the rain or heavy winds or whatever. but I kept it as a backup because i already had it. but now it's obvious i don't want or need it. but I haven't been back since 2020 to do anything with it. (tried a trailer for about 2/3 of 2018 and I hated it worst than the truck camper)
I got the motorhome in January 2019 because of the above paragraph, and I have liked it very well (except the floor plan but eh, can't be that picky for idi RVs). that's why I have stuck with it for almost 5 years now. but fuel prices have gotten too much for 8.7mpg. 10.5 if i put the GV on would help, but a 15mpg C6 van (without GV yet) would be even better.
a van would give me a mixture of motorhome and truck camper that is on the truck right now. A best of both worlds, basically.
Turbo is kind of important for higher elevations, so yes I'd want to move it to another IDI if I get an IDI van. My NA F250 3.55 not towing is as slow as this 085 turbo 4.10 motorhome towing about 1500lbs on steep grades in higher elevation mountains.
The F250 had very hard starting along on hwy 285 in Colorado. It never did before or after. It was starving for air seemingly and couldn't start, even after only being off for a few minutes to fuel up. Acted like massive air intrusion. But as soon as I got down to I-70, I had no more problems. it was weak as hell too, as I recall.
keep in mind also, i had storage for years in Washington. I finally cleared it last year and got rid of at least 40% of it. what i didn't, it's mixed between the cargo trailer and in the RV right now. i sold one big box of stuff last fall for about $100 and I'm working on trying to sell more. so I am trying to make things simpler but it's time consuming when i had stuff spread all over. the cargo trailer is what helped empty storage so it has been a useful tool. perhaps it'll go eventually, but not just yet.
but now nothing is in Washington State. only the trailer near the LTVA and the truck in Arkansas (and the RV and bug with me). the plan is to sell the truck next year so that's gone.
If i get a van, I will try to sell the motorhome this winter season after i remove the bits i want. but it's not the end of the world if I can't. I'd probably aim for $3000 just to be rid of it. it'll be an NA 6.9, but it'll still have a fresh C6 in it. I would put back the stock pan though. they don't get to have the $250 deep aluminum one. Might put a cheaper trans cooler on it too, since it was about $100 for the one I put.
but yes I am trying to downsize. that's why I want rid of the motorhome. i just have to do things in a slow, complicated order, due to logistics. it would cost me $1500 in fuel in the RV to go sell the truck first and then come back out west to buy something, where the market seems much better. that makes no sense.
and i can't sell the motorhome first out here where there is a higher demand, until i have something else to live in, even if it's just a heavy duty tent, but that's $450-800 to buy and it's something else to store. better off using that money towards a van.
and if I DID i sell the motorhome first, I'd be under much more pressure to replace it asap before April since then I'd only have the bug, out west, with summer approaching. or try to drive it 1400 miles to Arkansas to get the truck -- the setup i greatly dislike and would also need to sell while I'm there. then if that's sold, I'd be in a dire way, no RV setup at all.
i can't have the truck and motorhome out west at the same time, unless i somehow got myself and Lucy out to Arkansas without the motorhome. that's not easy or cheap. the bug is a limiting factor vs say a newer car that can be flat towed but it seems silly to throw out the bug for something bleh (more modern) just for a one time thing. i haven't looked to change my setup in almost 5 years, so it's not like I need to make very long drives with a car often. and really it's only because of fuel prices, not because I don't like the setup.
(so many edits to fix typos and missing words..)
