I spent Saturday morning at the Cal-Expo RV and Boat Show in Sacramento.    The boats were interesting but that’s not what I went there for.  I went to take a look at Grand Design RV’s newest model the 380GK.  It’s basically the 35′ foot version of it’s bigger brother the 384GK.  I really like the floor plan of the 384GK the best but at 40 feet long it seems a bit long for a trailer towing newbie like me.  The 380GK is 5 feet shorter but has same great kitchen layout as the 384GK.

After looking at the model, however, I’ve decided that we’re going to stick with the 369RL. While we love the spaciousness of the 384GK and the basement storage is HUGE, the problem is the pantry space is limited and it’s load carrying capacity is less than the 369.  Though I like the 380GK, it just doesn’t have the interior storage that I think we’re going to need.  I think we’ll stick with the 369RL.

Saw a great article on the Roads Less Traveled blog about the new Ram 3500 truck they just bought.  THAT is almost exactly the truck I am looking for.  The article is here: http://roadslesstraveled.us/dodge-ram-3500-dually-truck-best-rv-fifth-wheel-trailer-towing/

At the last moment I decided to take my wife away for an overnighter for Valentine’s Day.  Our favorite hotel is The Westin along the Sacramento River in Sacramento.  Cristy loves the large bedroom and very large bathroom with big claw-foot bathtub.  We were lucky enough to get a river view this time!

The next day we headed over to the former McClellan Air Force Base.  Now just an economic zone of sorts.  One of the local RV companies had rented a large hangar and held an indoor RV show.  Since they are a Grand Design RV dealer I wanted to give Cristy a chance to look at her favorite RV’s again.

Second runner-up, Grand Design Reflection 337RLS:

We both really like the layout of this coach.  I also like that it is lighter and does not require as heavy duty a truck to pull it.  However, it is small, and the materials are lighter weight (cheaprer) than the other models we liked.  Here are a few pictures we took of the 337RLS:

First runner-up, Solitude 384GK:

Cristy really likes this one.  There is tons of storage in the kitchen and throughout the unit.  Really the only draw back is that it’s useful load is only around 2500 lbs.  That’s not a whole lot for a house on wheels.   This may still be an option though.  Here are a few pictures:

And the winner is, Solitude 369RL:

This has the same general floor plan as the others but is more spacious and open.  It also has the greatest useful load at 3300 lbs.  It is their most popular model and so there should be a lot of used models on the market when we are ready to purchase.  Again, we took some pictures of this unit:

 

So there you have it.  We have now decided on our next home.