Introduction
Here's our 2005 Shadow Cruiser T-160. We may try a few vacations and campgrounds, but we bought the RV primarily to spend weekends at the WK&S Railroad
RV'n at the WK&S.
Life is more fun when we can take our dog with us. That can be a challenge with conventional travel. One might say that we bought the RV for Belle.
Belle takes in the view from her new RV.
...and she has her own bunk, of course.
2005 Shadow Cruiser brochure (click image for larger picture).
Background
For years my wife and I talked about getting an RV, but never got around to it. We always have plenty of other projects to keep us busy and an RV seemed like a somewhat overwhelming undertaking.
In 2009 we finally decided to rent an RV to test if it was as much fun as we thought it would be. Instead of a small travel trailer, we ended up with a big motorhome because that's what was available in our area. It was indeed fun, so we came home and looked around for something of our own...
Our "RV-4-Rent" from Cruise America.
What we found was a 2005 Shadow Cruiser T-160. The T-160 is not exactly our dream RV, but it offered many advantages. It was cheap (relatively). We could pay cash with just a small ding to our bank account. It's an older model so we just leave it out in the yard with little worry. It's small enough for our existing Trailblazer, so there was no need to buy a big truck. In summery, we got our RV with little financial or emotional investment (i.e. it's not overwhelming).
Online ad for our Shadow Cruiser (click image for larger picture).
There aren't very many companies that offer small, light weight trailers of conventional construction. Most small RVs feature some sort of pop-up or pop-out contraption. But the Shadow Cruiser has none of that, which was a big selling point for us. We wanted to minimize set-up time and we wanted to be able to pull over and have a convenient place for lunch and pit stops.