Category Archives: Adventure

Fifth Wheel Toy Haulers For Your Next Big Adventure

Fifth wheel toy haulers are the perfect combination of RV and cargo trailer.  They can have all the comforts of a motor home or camper trailer with an attached garage for your “big toys” – ATVs, motorcycles, classic cars, etc.  5th wheel toy haulers allow you to utilize your big toys away from home while maintaining all of the comforts of home. 

Fifth wheel toy haulers come in a variety of styles and levels of comfort, all depending on your needs.  Some toy haulers are garages with convertible living space. They include beds that pull down, fold out, or hook up to the ceiling, and a small kitchenette.  Other toy haulers have separate living quarters with attached garages.  Depending on your priorities, you can have more space dedicated to the garage or more space dedicated to the living area.  In either case, your living amenities are generally in the front of the trailer and your cargo space in the back.  In the living area, you will generally find a sleeping area, a kitchen, a bathroom and plenty of storage space.  There is also usually some kind of table and eating area as well as air conditioning and a furnace.  More luxurious units have a generator, satellite TV, a stereo system, DVD player, and even satellite internet. 

The cargo space is usually between 10-14 feet and has a ramp door that folds down to allow easy loading and unloading of your toys. You can customize your cargo space with shelves, cabinets and racks, and even a portable gas pump so that you are always ready for your next adventure.   

Toy haulers come in both drivable and towable units.  Towable units give you the flexibility to have an around-town vehicle that can detach from your trailer, while, drivable units provide the ease of only maneuvering one vehicle.  Another advantage to the towable models is that they are easier to maintain.  If you choose a drivable model, you have the option of either a Class C or a Class A.  Class C models are built on a van frame, generally use gasoline, have higher fuel efficiency and include a bunk above the driver’s cab.  Class A models are built on a bus frame, generally use diesel fuel and tend to seat more but sleep fewer than the Class C. 

Before purchasing your used or new toy hauler, do some research to figure out what you want.  If possible, you may even want to consider renting one to make sure it fits your needs.  When you are ready to make a purchase, check out your local classifieds, as you can often find a good deal on a used RV from a private seller.

Make Life A Daring-Do Adventure

Too much comfort in our lives and work is as unhealthy for personal growth as too much risk and danger. The key to taking risks is to learn the 7 keys of personal change.

1. First Change Yourself. When we find ourselves in an unsatisfactory position that is due to circumstances beyond our control, such as a job we no longer enjoy or people we no longer like, most of us try to change the situation. We complain, moan, criticize, judge, and condemn. None of which works. That’s because there is only one way to change an unsatisfactory situation. And that’s to change ourselves.

2. Let Go Of Old Positions. When we stay entrenched in old positions, even if they are no longer relevant, there is no possibility of change or improvement. That’s when it is time to take a risk. That’s what Mikhail Gorbachev did in the 1980’s when he recognized the changes in the world around him. In his meetings with the US President Reagan, Gorbachev took a huge risk in offering a one-sided reduction in nuclear weapons. The risk meant the ending of the arms race and with it unprecedented changes in the history of the world.

3. Think Like A New Start. When we start a new adventure or a new enterprise, there is a buzz about us. We’ve all felt it. It’s like the first day at a new school or a new job. Sadly, we soon lose that feeling beneath familiar routines and habits. In taking personal risks, we can re-discover it. As Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds said: “When you’re green you grow; when you’re ripe, you rot.”

4. Re-Invent Yourself. Real personal change comes when we do more than just learn a few new skills and habits. It comes when we re-invent ourselves. Re-inventing ourselves is a way of casting off one identity and putting on another. Tom Peters goes so far as to say that the imagination and zeal to regularly re-create yourself is the definition of greatness. And it doesn’t have to be something you do just a few times in a lifetime; it can be something you do each new day.

5. Manage Your Own Morale. Taking risks is fraught with difficulties and dangers but we can keep going if we learn how to manage our own morale. The keys to morale management are working on your belief that things will turn out positively in the end and creating a support system to help you through tough times. This can be your own support group, the inspiration of people who’ve been there and done that, and keeping the whole process light.

6. Step Back. When we take risks, it is valuable to be able to distance ourselves from what we are involved in and take an objective position. Here we can see what is going on without being in the fray. When we do that, we can accept criticism dispassionately and not personally. It’s also the place we can go to take a breather and chill out.

7. Be Willing To Fail Before You Succeed. All risk carries with it the possibility of failure. Fear of failure is one of the chief reasons we hesitate to take risks in the first place. But we can overcome the fear of failure by making friends with it. As William Faulkner says, there is far more to learn from failure than from success: “To try something you can’t do, to try and fail, then try again. That to me is success. My generation will be judged by the splendour of their failures.”

Taking these 7 steps in personal change assures you of moving assuredly out of your comfort zones. When you do, you’ll find that the old comfort zone has now expanded and what once looked like a danger zone has now become a place you feel safe with.