Our carefully constructed plans carrying us from May through September quickly crumbled to pieces shortly after leaving the Mt. Airy fiddle festival in early June. We’d been considering what to do regarding our current nomadic lifestyle, and somewhere between North Carolina and Pennsylvania we finally decided to sell Cecil our Class C motorhome and begin the search for a trailer and tow vehicle.

Why the sudden change? Well – it wasn’t all that sudden, to be honest. I’m constantly torn between continuing life on the road versus finding a small stationary place to call home again, and Ashley genuinely enjoys moving from spot to spot while having no strong desire to settle anywhere in particular at the moment. We’ve always talked about camp hosting somewhere, or spending more time in one location before moving on, but having only the Class C and our bikes for local transportation limited our options. While we like biking, pedaling 20 miles on country roads to the nearest grocery store or firing up the RV just to run some errands in the closest town are not very appealing options. So while this method of travel suited us well for the first two and a half years, our styles and preferences continue to evolve.

Swapping the Class C for a trailer with tow vehicle seemed like a good compromise between the freedom of life on the road and settling down in one place for longer than a couple of weeks (not including our family’s homes in both Florida and Pennsylvania, where they claim we are always welcome for as long as we want and we certainly appreciate the generosity). The first hurdle was figuring out how to list Cecil for sale and where to put all of our stuff in the limbo between Class C and travel trailer.

Between traversing Pennsylvania from west to east visiting both of our families, we spoke with my parents who agreed to allow us to once again use their driveway as a staging area during the transition. While the good people (and Ashley’s family friends) at Randall Motors in Portage PA were on the hunt for our future tow vehicle, we spent the first week or so in Cross Roads narrowing down our trailer options and taking a couple of trips to see a few in person.

We knew we wanted something small (less than 20 feet) with no slideouts. Our Class C motorhome had a bedroom slide, which wasn’t really a hassle or anything, but the only way to sleep in the bed was to extend the slide – not always convenient when parking at a Cracker Barrel overnight, for example. We spotted quite a few Casitas and Scamps (small all-fiberglass trailers) while spending last summer hopping across New Mexico and really liked the aesthetic flaunted by these tiny rolling homes. Apparently we aren’t the only people who like Casitas and Scamps because finding one used, especially on the East Coast, is unlikely to say the least. We also found r-pods appealing because of their size and design options, but weren’t really sold on the model after doing more research (i.e. reading tons of internet reviews). So it was by pure happenstance that we stumbled upon Winnebago travel trailers on one of our early in-person expeditions to a dealer outside of Phoenixville PA (also home to the Sly Fox Brewery – highly recommended when in the area).

I’m not exactly sure why, but we’d never considered Winnebago trailers up to this point – maybe we assumed they were simply too expensive, or our strict online search criteria inadvertently filtered them out of the results. But after seeing a few models in person (brand new, of course – no used Winnies at the first dealer we visited), we began our digital search in earnest with Winnebago as our new number one choice. And once again – the used market was incredibly sparse. We found one listed at Juniata Valley RV in Mifflintown PA and a quick e-mail declaring our intent to purchase was met with a reply letting us know it had just been sold. But the salesperson (Travis) was incredibly friendly and helpful, so we decided to pay Juniata Valley a visit to check out their competitively-priced models in stock sometime soon.

Ashley hopped a train back to Johnstown to visit her family for a few weeks while I ventured to Elizabethtown to visit my sister and her family. I stayed in contact with Travis and eventually learned they’d be receiving a brand-new Winnebago Micro Minnie 1708FB on the sales lot in early August. This model fit our specifications – 19 feet long, no slideouts, dual axles, and with the added bonuses of a full-size (well, full-size for an RV) refrigerator in a trailer that small and an upgraded “comfort” package (a more powerful air conditioner). We weren’t necessarily in the market for a brand-new trailer, but our self-imposed requirements limited the selections in used inventory available.

Travis and the team at Juniata Valley were also willing to list our Class C motorhome for sale on consignment. Rather than attempting to sell Cecil on the private market, we thought consignment would be a more efficient option for us. We already planned to spend another winter in the Florida Keys, and we didn’t want to get stuck in a Pennsylvania winter waiting for Cecil to sell. Juniata Valley already had all of the listing mechanisms in place (their website, a connection to rvtrader.com, a client base searching specifically for RVs) and had the ability to extend credit to a potential buyer – something we were unwilling to do for obvious reasons. So, yes, we would pay a percentage commission to Juniata Valley based on the final sale price, but the cost to us was worth the services we received.

I returned to Cross Roads where Cecil was patiently waiting and proceeded to unload our RV while Ashley was making the rounds in western Pennsylvania. You never really know how much stuff you have until most of it is laying on the ground in front of you. This massive pile came from our outdoor storage areas tucked away in Cecil’s nether regions. I carried it into my parent’s basement for short-term storage and organized it into smaller piles of “Things We Definitely Need” and “Things We Might Not Need” while waiting for Ashley to return before making any further decisions.

Remember way back in early 2017 when we first purchased Cecil? We made some modifications (which you can read about here) that now needed to be undone to prepare our trusty steed for sale to the next group of adventurers. I reinstalled the metal folding table in the skinny outdoor bin that once carried our solar panels, put the microwave back into our former book nook, hung the TV and stand back on the wall in the over-cab bunk, reattached the DVD player, and finally swapped our composting toilet back out for the original traditional RV toilet – still brand new and in the wrapper from the factory! Juniata Valley RV didn’t choose to list that as a selling point, for some reason – “Gently used 2017 Coachmen Freelander 21RS with factory fresh toilet!” Sounds good to me, but what do I know about selling motorhomes?

By the time Ashley returned, we had a firm date for delivering Cecil to Juniata Valley for consignment and a loose time-frame for picking up the new Winnebago. We’d essentially be homeless in the lag between these two events, so we made plans to visit my sister’s family again (and sleep on their “tufon” as my four-year old niece calls it, which is close enough to “futon” for me) for a few days. Despite the newfound urgency and mild upheaval to our usual lifestyle, we’re grateful for the extra time we spent with friends and family this summer (which will probably be the subject of a future article).

We enlisted the help of both my dad and his truck to pick up the new trailer after we returned to Cross Roads, so the three of us piled into the front of his Silverado and made the trek up to Mifflintown. Once again, the experience with Juniata Valley RV was excellent. We had a complete walkthrough of the Winnebago and various systems, which are unsurprisingly similar to our former Class C. The service technician even took the time to ensure the hitch was adjusted properly on my dad’s truck so we could safely tow it back to Cross Roads. We bid one last farewell to Cecil – now moved off the sales lot and sporting a “Sold” sign, which really should have been a “Sale in Process” sign – and completed the return journey uneventfully with the Winnebago in tow.

We’re now the proud new owners of a Winnebago Micro Minnie 1708FB. Juniata Valley managed to sell Cecil and get a check in our hands in under three weeks – which is nothing short of amazing, from our point of view. The folks at Randall Motors found a tow vehicle for us – a Nissan Armada – which should be appropriately sized to pull the trailer (more on that in the future after we get more miles under our belts). I’ve watched dozens of videos on weight distribution set-ups, trailer towing tips, and parking instructions to make me feel just mildly more comfortable with a trailer. I squeezed in a little practice with a boat trailer over the summer, as well as a small utility trailer hitched to a riding mower – every little bit helps! Considering that I’m writing this while sitting in northern Florida, all of this preparation wasn’t for naught as we’ve successfully towed from Pennsylvania after leaving earlier this fall.

If you’re in Pennsylvania and in search of a new trailer or motorhome, we highly recommend contacting Juniata Valley RV. Travis is the most low-pressure salesperson I’ve ever met and always willing to answer questions and share information. If you’re in the market for a used vehicle in Pennsylvania, contact Randall Motors. They are honest and genuine and will work with you to find a vehicle to meet your specifications. This entire experience would have been undoubtedly more stressful had we not worked with both Juniata Valley RV and Randall Motors. You might find your next RV privately listed on rvtrader.com or a used car on Craigslist – but we found working with dealerships in this instance to be the right fit for us. The process was more efficient than expected with no real obstacles along the way.

With fond memories of our first motorhome, we bid farewell to Cecil as he embarks on new adventures and continues his own journey of exploration. We hope his new passengers fill their own book with satisfying experiences and travel highlights while under his watchful care!

Have you switched from a motorhome to a trailer, or vice versa, in the past? What were your reasons for the making the switch? If you have any stories to share, please post them in the comments below. Thanks again for reading and look forward to more stories about trailer life in the near future!