50 States – 18 Months – 1 Airstream Episode 4: Size Matters

Rodric Lenhart

5 years ago

THE CASE FOR A BIGGER CAMPER

Yes. I know. Chasing less. I get it. We certainly don’t need a bigger camper. There is actually very little you, or I, need.

My immediate response to any criticism over said debate is two fold:

By now, you know Chasing Less, and minimalism in general, is not about living in A Mud Hut In My Underwear. <—-shameless plug, if you haven’t read this, please do.
We are planning to live in 154 square feet of living space for nearly 2 years. Until you vow to do the same, with a co-habitant, please don’t critique the MASSIVE upgrade to 175 square feet as extravagant.

Ok…where were we?

SAFETY, SANITY AND SEMI SOLID WASTE

There are three main reasons we are looking to upgrade @LadyLolaMae our airstream to a just-ever-so-slightly-bigger version. But first, a snazzy overhead layout of our current setup.

THE 22FB

Not a bad setup indeed.

However, one must remember that this Airstream was originally purchased to enter our portfolio as an Airbnb “property” in the heart of Charlotte, NC. It was never intended to be lived in for any great length of time. So, honestly, not a lot of thought was put into it’s layout or conveniences.

After one trip in @LadyLolaMae , however, we were hooked. Our first guest reservation for this “property” we ended up declining, and swiftly delisted it from Airbnb. From that day on, she became our little clubhouse. Then, like most relationships, we started noticing her flaws.

THE 25RB

So without further adieu… here is the overhead of the new rig we are considering, and the top 3 reasons we are contemplating the… “upgrade”.

SANITY – You have to climb over the inside sleeper if you need to use the potty. Even if You Don’t Just Have To Pee (<—another shameless plug) it’s nice to be able to get up without crawling over the other person.
SAFETY – The 25RB comes with dual axles. To over-simplify, besides being easier to tow across the country, it has 4 wheels. Meaning if we catch one flat, we aren’t necessarily stranded until we change it out. Remove and roll on – in theory at least.
SEMI SOLID WASTE – This one is a bigger deal than we could have imagined. The tanks on our little 22 are around 20 gallons a piece. This is for both fresh water and “Gray water” meaning everything but poo, if you’re unfamiliar. The 25 DOUBLES the size of the tanks. When does this matter? At most national parks, where there are no hookups. Since we are venturing to all 58 parks on our trip, there will be times we will need to survive for a week or more on our own water and waste systems.

To give you an idea of what a 20 gallon tank will hold. It’s approx. one average American shower…. ever the wasteful lot we are, no?

So here we are, in Helen, GA at Top of Georgia Airstream park to check out one of the few 25RB’s we could find for sale in the region. Wish us luck. The weather is a little dicey, and we are backed right up to the Chattahoochee river. Risking life and limb to be able to take more than one shower. Godspeed.