How big of a trailer did we want versus need? Could we make do with a teardrop? Could we afford an airstream? Can Josh work from the trailer? What maximum length could we reasonably take to national parks? What kind of truck can pull this trailer? Trying to figure out the constraints around the first camper trailer took a lot of investigation and dream-crushing.

Finding “the right” truck  was not straightforward, but here’s what we did:

1. We made some decisions on the kind of trailer we wanted. We decided on Grand Design because they are used by many full-time RV families that we follow on Instagram and YouTube.

2. We found several Grand Design trim levels that would be excellent full-time travel campers. Specifically, we were looking at Transcend, Momentum, or Reflection.

3. We used the KYD payload calculations to determine what truck could handle some of our trailers. And, a picture started to emerge.

An F150 with a Max Tow Package had enough Towing Capacity to load the truck and still “safely” tow many of the trailers we were looking at. Sadly, while an F150 could pull the Momentum 25G (our dream trailer that had almost everything we wanted), the hitch weight was max, and the GVWR was maxed, a little over, which meant we barely had enough weight rating left for passengers, much less putting anything in the truck bed (which is always packed).

A day before my brother’s birthday, July 24, 2020, we took possession of Artemis. As I have already documented, this was the brainchild of Elizabeth. So this was her truck. We went to the dealership with our max tow package in mind, and Elizabeth succinctly said “we need an F150 with the max tow package.”

Since this was smack in the middle of 2020, supplies were short (the assembly lines were offline), and no one was buying new trucks. So if it wasn’t on the lot, good luck, but if it was on the lot, congrats, you can finance it with a 0% interest loan. They had several trim lines with a max tow package on the lot (yay!). They were all costly, but we were trying to find an F150 that wasn’t white and had four doors with a 5.5-foot bed. We wanted it to be “small but mighty.”

The dealer mentioned that they had just taken delivery that day of a truck that wasn’t yet on the lot that matched that description, but it had the Blackout package. What a gorgeous truck! We signed the papers. We bought it for the max tow capability. Still, we hit the “availability” lottery with a fully upgraded beautiful F150 with upgraded rims and about every nice thing you could want from a design package (including an all-new black Ford logo).

Now that we have a truck, we can get serious about getting a camper trailer. Since we needed to know what we wanted to get a truck, we thought this would be “easy.” Our dream list of trailer features:

• Bathroom with a shower

• Storage

• Less than 30 feet (max for most national parks)

• High quality, can stand up to full time living for years

• The least number of slides we could find (none is good, but one is better than two)

• Comfortable TV watching (we were going to use this trailer for a second living room)

• Bed had something on the side that would work for a CPAP machine

Out comes another spreadsheet, designed in this case to confirm our truck could handle it, and we kept a real-time list of what models were available on what lots. We had to call each location multiple times to confirm availability. Much like our truck purchase, this was the pandemic. Our timing window was the primary constraint, so we were limited to what was on the lot. Above is our short list of trailers we were “ok” with, but we wanted the XLS 22 RBE 2021 edition (because it had more windows and fancy cubbies on the side of the bed).

Why this one? Well, it’s designed specifically with a couple in mind. Many of the trailers we were looking at had uncomfortable seating that we wouldn’t use that converted into an extra bed that we didn’t need. The 22 RBE had reclining chairs and was smaller because it did away with the extra beds. The thought that led us here was something we had heard on a KYD video (or was it Less Junk More Journey?): buy the trailer for how you will use it 90% of the time, not the other way around. If you’re going to compromise, make the choices that lead to your compromise for the least amount of time.

On January 22, 2021, we took delivery of Atlas, our very own Grand Design XLS 22 RBE 2021 edition.

Let the journeys begin.