By then the new model years will be out and you can choose from them. I certainly wish you nothing but the best and know that you will enjoy whatever you get. I currently have the Heartland Prowler Titanium edition 5er with much lower insulation values than the Gateway and I live in California where the temps can easily get into the 100s during the summer. Had I decided to keep the Prowler, I would have put in the second A/C but otherwise truly enjoyed camping in it. It has a great floor plan and layout but does lack storage space. I discovered years ago that it is not the vehicle you travel or camp in, it is about the trip and who you are with that makes camping fun. So I know that you will have fun regardless of which trailer you choose.
Right. Yes, I am sure we will, as long as my teenager isn't in on of her rotten moods. I know the Gateway will serve you and your wife for a long time to come, and sincerely wish the best for you!
For us, the RV won't just be for camping. We're working on a plan to be out of debt within five years, and the RV will most likely play a role in that as well as valuable family time away. At some point in the near future, we will sell our home and buy land. We'll need a place to live until we get some permanent housing in place, and I'm not sure how long that could take. Having the RV will provide temporary housing. It's hard to say how long we will need to stay in it. So, this is the primary reason I'm being a bit picky about insulation. Most people have no such plans, and it's just a camper in that case, but many people still need an affordable RV to full time or part time in. We may part time in ours at some point. In any case though, any RV is using energy during extreme temps, and any steps to reduce energy usage are important as we watch demand on our power grid rising.
I know we will have fun and be making many family memories together. I can't wait! We actually started looking at and researching campers two years ago, and had even made a down payment on one in the spring of last year. Friends told us that our truck wasn't powerful enough to handle that RV, despite the dealer telling us we would be within the limits. Friends said yes, it would pull it, but eventually we would do harm to the truck, so we had to back out of the deal, take a big step backwards and buy a more powerful truck to accommodate the type of RV we wanted. We've had two financial setbacks that have slowed down this dream of family time away and family memories, but that may work out to our advantage in the end as the industry takes important steps to reduce energy usage in RVs.
I think that what Gateway is doing with streamlining processes and reducing costs is the way to go. Sometimes circumstances push us in new directions that benefit us anyhow. It may, in fact, change the way the RV industry works and make quality RVs accessible to more people. We may be witnessing the beginning of a paradigm shift in the RV industry that benefits everyone.