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Autism Family Travels

Autism Family Travels

Rank IV

Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Adams
My parents are building a new home next to ours here on my property. I think after they are finished with it, I am going to sell our big home, move into that, and use it as our base. I am currently looking at used 28-32ft class c motorhomes. I am budgeting 40-50k cdn on the unit. Then I am going to bring it to U joint off road and get a full 4 wd swap into it. 80% of a earthroamer for 10% of the cost. My wife and I have been discussing this for about 2 weeks now. From the sale of our home we can buy out my brother on the parents home. He's not interested in owning it, and have enough to get the rig, and pay for some travels as well. I think this is the future for the A.F.T. Family. I am also getting back to working remotely full time ASAP. Enough of having to go into the store part time.
 
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John and Mandi

John and Mandi

Rank V

World Traveler III

1,518
Nokomis, FL, USA
First Name
John
Last Name
Fazio
Autism Family Travels said:
My parents are building a new home next to ours here on my property. I think after they are finished with it, I am going to sell our big home, move into that, and use it as our base. I am currently looking at used 28-32ft class c motorhomes. I am budgeting 40-50k cdn on the unit. Then I am going to bring it to U joint off road and get a full 4 wd swap into it. 80% of a earthroamer for 10% of the cost. My wife and I have been discussing this for about 2 weeks now. From the sale of our home we can buy out my brother on the parents home. He's not interested in owning it, and have enough to get the rig, and pay for some travels as well. I think this is the future for the A.F.T. Family. I am also getting back to working remotely full time ASAP. Enough of having to go into the store part time.
Click to expand...
The Ujoint system is very capable. While being 28-32ft will limit some of the places you'll be able to go, the comfort when you are at places will be enviable. The common advice for rig selection is: "get the largest you're comfortable driving and the smallest you're comfortable living in." It seems to surprise many that after being on the road a while, when asked what's the best thing about the rig, almost everyone answers the fridge...not 4x4 as expected. It's a lifestyle so it has to be livable.

I haven't researched class-c motorhomes in a long time but IIRC Bigfoot and Born Free are/were very well made. We once owned a Bigfoot 25RQ travel trailer and that thing was fantastic, one of the only things we wished we still owned. We've seen a Born Free that was converted to 4x4 by Ujoint and it was impressive. Many people may scoff at big rigs but people are driving them all over the world. There is nothing better than having a get together in a big rig with friends when the weather sucks. We've also seen US and European Class C RVs all the way south, off the shelf with little to no modifications except AT tires. There are several things we'd recommend changing since we've seen the problems but if you are not planning to drive outside the US it may not be worth the cost (switching the fridge to a 12v one if you plan on mostly staying off grid would be beneficial).

And people think our van is big (the last van is 2wd and a dually)
IMG_4482-X4.jpeg

Another perspective
DSC_9499-X4.jpeg

We've also seen 6x6s and 8x8s, all converted military trucks. Drive what you want to drive, live how you want to live, and when you can...get out there. Good luck on the build.
 
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Autism Family Travels

Autism Family Travels

Rank IV

Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Adams
We are a family of 3, our son has autism, so we want him to have some room to live. Plus we need some space for "alone" time. The Class C will give us all of that. Yeah, I am cool with not going "Everywhere" just where we want. The lift will give us a little extra clearance for fire roads etc. Not going to be going rock crawling etc. We will be venturing around Canada first, then figure out from there. I want to hit baja at some point too, as well as route 66 and off shoots of that into the mountians etc!
 
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John and Mandi

John and Mandi

Rank V

World Traveler III

1,518
Nokomis, FL, USA
First Name
John
Last Name
Fazio
Autism Family Travels said:
We are a family of 3, our son has autism, so we want him to have some room to live. Plus we need some space for "alone" time. The Class C will give us all of that. Yeah, I am cool with not going "Everywhere" just where we want. The lift will give us a little extra clearance for fire roads etc. Not going to be going rock crawling etc. We will be venturing around Canada first, then figure out from there. I want to hit baja at some point too, as well as route 66 and off shoots of that into the mountians etc!
Click to expand...
Those pics are from Baja ; ) Chris (Ujoint) does a lot of RVs that are primarily used on the east coast beaches. A big plus to having the 4x4 conversion, besides the ground clearance, is using low range to help on ascents and descents. We think the 4x4 rvs are very cool and we'll probably have one as our retirement rig one day. Right now we are wanting to be a little shorter but have a little more inside space. We're toying with the idea of cutting the back of our van off and building a custom body that mates to the cab. Something like the Turtle Expedition V but attached like a class c so we can still have a pass through and utilize the swivel seats. It's way more than we want to bite off right now but it gives me something to play around with.

More than one lifetime can be spent exploring Canada and the US. We throughly enjoyed our time south but we also loved the last three years just kicking around the US and Mexico. The stretch of land from Grand Teton to Jasper is phenomenal, still one of our absolute favorites. During our time on the Dempster, there were class As, Cs, and people pulling 5vers...not as rugged as seen on Instagram. Stunning, yet accessible to any vehicle. One day we'll get back out into the Yukon and go a lot slower than we did the first time. We were new to the road and were treating it like a vacation. Beautiful lands we live on.
 
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Autism Family Travels

Autism Family Travels

Rank IV

Enthusiast III

1,212
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, Canada
First Name
Steve
Last Name
Adams
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North American Sojourner

North American Sojourner

Rank VI
Member

Inventor I

3,886
Mid-Missouri, MO, USA
First Name
Dave
Last Name
Zimmer
Member #

30139

Service Branch
USN (ret)
Autism Family Travels said:
My parents are building a new home next to ours here on my property. I think after they are finished with it, I am going to sell our big home, move into that, and use it as our base. I am currently looking at used 28-32ft class c motorhomes. I am budgeting 40-50k cdn on the unit. Then I am going to bring it to U joint off road and get a full 4 wd swap into it. 80% of a earthroamer for 10% of the cost. My wife and I have been discussing this for about 2 weeks now. From the sale of our home we can buy out my brother on the parents home. He's not interested in owning it, and have enough to get the rig, and pay for some travels as well. I think this is the future for the A.F.T. Family. I am also getting back to working remotely full time ASAP. Enough of having to go into the store part time.
Click to expand...
Great idea. I'll be watching.
Zim
 
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North American Sojourner

North American Sojourner

Rank VI
Member

Inventor I

3,886
Mid-Missouri, MO, USA
First Name
Dave
Last Name
Zimmer
Member #

30139

Service Branch
USN (ret)
MOAK said:
Zim, have a great time, we only go around once. Be good do good. BTW if ever in Pennsylvania gimme a shout, you can plug in here for a bit!
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Thanks Donald. I want to play golf at Arnold's place in Latrobe? On my bucket list. I'm looking for that damn tractor. LOL. Thank you for the offer. I appreciate that.
Zim
 
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