Hello from Minnesota

[Reinhold]

My wife is retiring Friday and my date is to be determined, so in preparation we are planning a Trailer Purchase. Still in the research mode and joined the forum to learn from those who have been down the road a time or two...

[TahoeJoe]

Welcome, tons of good info in these forums. I'm new to Escape myself, but I've spent some years full-time RV'ing and camp hosting...in fact one of our first gigs as camp hosts was right near you, in Taylors Falls, MN at Interstate State Park. We love your area!

[BigSwede]

Welcome from Minnesota!

[brroberts]

Welcome. I too am new to Escape, but have RV’d my whole life. I’ve had really cheap RV’s, and really expensive ones. They all provide lots f fun and have pro’s and cons, but I’m on the list for an E19 as the best choice for me after all these years.

[firstpug]

Welcome!!
My brother from Apple Valley MN and I each picked up our 21' Escapes in May 2019. We love them. Hope to see you on the road some time!
Drive safe-

Mike & Claudia
(and Otis, Blizzard, Sadie, and Pugsley too!)

[jpwalski]

Joining the others from Minnesota welcoming you to the forum! We are just south of you in Little Canada, right off 35E, so if you'd like an in-person viewing of our 19, just contact me. Email is walski48@gmail.com.

John and Marti

[UncleTim]

Originally Posted by Rpoppke

My wife is retiring Friday and my date is to be determined, so in preparation we are planning a Trailer Purchase. Still in the research mode and joined the forum to learn from those who have been down the road a time or two...

Welcome to our group. And all that stuff.

Let me get this straight. Your wife is retiring but you are determining who your date will be? I would think she would be.

Tell her we welcome her too!

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Rpoppke

My wife is retiring Friday and my date is to be determined, so in preparation we are planning a Trailer Purchase. Still in the research mode and joined the forum to learn from those who have been down the road a time or two...

Hi: Rpoppke... WELCOME... We bought our 1st. Escape 5 yrs before retirement and I still remember my date!!! She's now retired too!!! Alf... Dreaming of Florida again!!!
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by UncleTim

Welcome to our group. And all that stuff.

Let me get this straight. Your wife is retiring but you are determining who your date will be? I would think she would be.

Tell her we welcome her too!

Hi Tim
My lovely wife of over 50 years never developed a taste for beer. However one of my coworkers did. So she became my beer drinking wife. After several hours of imbibing Rita would come through the door to pick me up and take me drunk, I’m home again. One evening the barmaid said in a Clint Eastwood movie kind of way “ I gots to know”. “You come in with the blonde and leave with the brunette, what’s the deal.” We explained to her that Rita was my most of the time wife and Julie was my beer drinking wife. Everything doesn’t have to make sense to everyone all the time.
Iowa Dave

[UncleTim]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Hi Tim
My lovely wife of over 50 years never developed a taste for beer. However one of my coworkers did. So she became my beer drinking wife. After several hours of imbibing Rita would come through the door to pick me up and take me drunk, I’m home again. One evening the barmaid said in a Clint Eastwood movie kind of way “ I gots to know”. “You come in with the blonde and leave with the brunette, what’s the deal.” We explained to her that Rita was my most of the time wife and Julie was my beer drinking wife. Everything doesn’t have to make sense to everyone all the time.
Iowa Dave

Some of us are just farther along than the rest. That's all.

[Reinhold]

Originally Posted by brroberts

Welcome. I too am new to Escape, but have RV’d my whole life. I’ve had really cheap RV’s, and really expensive ones. They all provide lots f fun and have pro’s and cons, but I’m on the list for an E19 as the best choice for me after all these years.

Thank you Randy and Barb. Very interested to hear some background on your past trailers and why you made the decision for an Escape.

[Reinhold]

Originally Posted by firstpug

Welcome!!
My brother from Apple Valley MN and I each picked up our 21' Escapes in May 2019. We love them. Hope to see you on the road some time!
Drive safe-

Mike & Claudia
(and Otis, Blizzard, Sadie, and Pugsley too!)

Mike & Claudia,

Your brother and I may have spoke about a week ago as Escape provided a local contact (John) to talk and potentially see a trailer. During our call he mentioned that his brother got one at the same time. Thanks for the welcome to the group!

[Reinhold]

Appreciate the warm welcome and witty replies... Looking forward to more connections and learning from the experience on this Forum.

[brroberts]

Originally Posted by Rpoppke

Thank you Randy and Barb. Very interested to hear some background on your past trailers and why you made the decision for an Escape.

It’s a long post. Here you go:

All RV’s have maintenance, but the Escape construction and design should have less than any trailer I have ever seen. (Or owned)

All RV’s have compromises, but you have to figure out how you will use the trailer to determine what compromises work best for you.

For trips to northern Canada and Alaska I prefer a pickup camper. For the lower 48 and southern Canada I prefer a travel trailer. I carry too many toys for a 5th wheel and like to go places a big rig won’t fit. Everyone has different wants.

Stick built RV’s need much maintenance, but are fairly easy to fix. Those fancy laminated fiberglass, aluminum and / or wood RV’s (most of the market) will eventually delaminate and then are difficult and expensive to fix. These are typically grouped with the stickies. Fiberglass is fairly cheap to fix, but seldom needs it. Some fiberglass RV’s like Bigfoot and Oliver for example have cores with their fiberglass shells. They can delaminate, but many times, that’s not structural in RV’s unlike boats, and cored construction is repairable. Lots of fiberglass trailers like the big three, Casita, Scamp, and Escape are single wall fiberglass. There is nothing to delaminate ever. Of the three, my time looking at them tells me Escape is simply better designed and constructed. Of the stick built I would say ORV is done fairly well, but any small “stickie” type trailers are simply built to a price. Compare a 30 year old fiberglass RV to any of a very few 20 year old stickies you could find and the difference is immediately noticeable.

You really have to determine what works for you. I’m not a fan of the motorhome. It sits a lot, you have to pack up to move it, or tow a vehicle. The pickup camper is similar. Trailers are long and have to be backed up, but I’ve never minded. Campers don’t have a rolling chassis, so that cuts some maintenance. 5th wheels tow, hitch, and back great, but you lose much of the space in the truck. Nothing is the perfect do all.

I’ve had 33’ motorhomes, class B+, and small B’s. I’ve had 27’ and 33’ 5th wheels. I had 13’, 17’, 18’, and 19’ travel trailers. I’ve had a lightweight pickup camper and a heavy four season one. I’ve had wood stick, laminated, and fiberglass construction. I had great times in all of them. Lots of fun and good memories no matter the RV.

At the end of it, I prefer small fiberglass RV’s. You can go more places and worry less about problems.

Is Escape the best built trailer? I personally don’t think so, but it’s the best single wall, small, fiberglass trailer. It’s far from perfect, but as close as I can get for my needs. Your needs may be very different.

Remember, if you buy a $10,000 Forest River product or a $500,000 diesel pusher, most of the appliances and systems are using the same parts. It’s the integrity of the frame ( Escape is decent, but not outstanding there) and the integrity of the structure (Escape is one of the better ones there) that you are paying for.

These are simply my opinions, but you asked, so here they are. I’m sure others may disagree, and chime in with other opinions.

Hope that helps. It’s a long post, but tried to keep it as short as I could without too much detail or inaccuracy on some points.

[Perry Butler]

Hi Rpoppke!

Terry and I live in Lanesboro, 45 miles SE of Rochester. When we're not out with our Escape it sits in the 250 Campground, .8 mile from our condo. Lanesboro is a beautiful, quaint, little town on the Root River with hiking, biking, trout fishing, canoeing, kayaking, golf, etc. It's a great place to visit! If you make it down we'd be glad to show you our Escape 5.0.

Enjoy your research!

Perry

[Reinhold]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

Hi Rpoppke!

Terry and I live in Lanesboro, 45 miles SE of Rochester. When we're not out with our Escape it sits in the 250 Campground, .8 mile from our condo. Lanesboro is a beautiful, quaint, little town on the Root River with hiking, biking, trout fishing, canoeing, kayaking, golf, etc. It's a great place to visit! If you make it down we'd be glad to show you our Escape 5.0.

Enjoy your research!

Perry

Thank you Perry, yes that part of the state is beautiful but I have not been to Lanesboro (yet). Curious on your decision path to a 5.0 vs a 19 or 21?

Take care and enjoy the warm MN weather.

[almost born canadian]

Hello from Ely MN! We bought an Escape 19' four years ago after having a Northern Lite truck camper. Escape has been a super camper for us. Annual spring trips to Utah, Arizona, New Mex. Colo. and Wyo. I picked up the Escape at the factory in British Columbia. That was fun journey. It can be a long time between order and delivery but it was worth the wait. Seems to be some good used trailers for sale on this forum and many owners that upgrade (go bigger!) that is a good sign of approval for Escape.

[Reinhold]

Originally Posted by almost born canadian

Hello from Ely MN! We bought an Escape 19' four years ago after having a Northern Lite truck camper. Escape has been a super camper for us. Annual spring trips to Utah, Arizona, New Mex. Colo. and Wyo. I picked up the Escape at the factory in British Columbia. That was fun journey. It can be a long time between order and delivery but it was worth the wait. Seems to be some good used trailers for sale on this forum and many owners that upgrade (go bigger!) that is a good sign of approval for Escape.

Thank "almost born canadian". Looking forward to some long loops exploring the country and would also like to get back up to Alaska. We did a family trip there when I was a bit younger with a Class C motorhome. A lot of driving but it was worth it!