Why We Chose a Super C
We had several years in a Class C under our belt before Harriet ever entered the picture.
And there were things about that style of RV that we genuinely loved.
On travel days, if Lisa needed to use the bathroom, she got up and went to the bathroom. If I wanted a soda, she walked back to the refrigerator and got me one. If we pulled into a rest area for lunch, we didn't have to get out, walk back to a travel trailer or fifth wheel, climb inside, and then eat.
We just walked back and sat down.
That may sound like a small thing, but after years of traveling that way, we had become very accustomed to having the whole RV available to us while we were on the road.
So when the time came to start thinking about another RV, we already knew we wanted to keep that part of the experience.
What Phyllis Taught Us
Phyllis, our Class C, had a Ford V10 gas engine and was fairly light for her size.
I used to describe her as an empty cracker box.
She did what we asked of her, and we traveled a lot of miles in her, but there were limitations.
Power was one of them.
Long grades took some planning, and cruise control wasn't something you simply set and forgot about.
The bigger issue was the way she behaved on the road.
Because she was relatively light, larger vehicles affected her. When a semi passed us, we felt it. On windy days, we felt everything.
There were days when driving became much more work than it should have been.
Those were the white-knuckle days.
Seeing a Super C Up Close
My brother eventually bought a Super C.
He had watched how we traveled and wanted to do something similar, so I got a firsthand look at what happened when you took the things we liked about a Class C and put them on a much heavier truck chassis.
That got my attention.
A Freightliner chassis.
Larger wheels and tires.
More weight.
More power.
Still the same basic Class C idea, where the living space is right there behind you while you're traveling.
That was when I started seriously looking at Super Cs.
Finding Harriet
I knew fairly early that I wasn't interested in buying new.
I was perfectly happy letting somebody else take the initial depreciation hit.
So I spent a lot of time browsing the web and looking at used Super Cs.
Eventually, I found Harriet at the same dealer in Alvarado, Texas, where we had bought Phyllis.
That felt almost appropriate.
We drove down, traded in Phyllis, made the down payment on Harriet, and then began moving everything from one RV into the other.
That sounds much easier than it actually is.
There is an amazing amount of stuff hiding in an RV after you've traveled in it for several years.
Eventually, though, Phyllis was empty, Harriet was loaded, and we headed west.
Our first stop was Hilltop RV Park in Fort Stockton, Texas.
We noticed the difference almost immediately.
Same Game, Different Level
The best way I have found to explain the difference is this:
Imagine playing in a high school basketball game on Friday night.
The next morning, somebody hands you a different uniform and tells you that you're playing in an NBA game that afternoon.
It's still basketball.
But it is being played at a completely different level.
That was what moving from Phyllis to Harriet felt like.
We still had the things we liked about Class C travel. Lisa could still get up and move around. The refrigerator was still right behind us. We could still pull into a rest area, walk back, make lunch, and sit down to eat.
But the driving experience had changed completely.
Harriet's weight makes her much less affected by passing trucks.
The larger wheels and heavier chassis give us a smoother ride.
Long grades that required much more attention in Phyllis are handled without constantly fighting the cruise control.
And windy days no longer turn into the same kind of white-knuckle experience.
Why a Super C Worked for Us
A Super C isn't the right answer for everybody.
It is large. It is heavy. It takes more room. And there are places Harriet simply isn't going to fit.
But that wasn't the question we were trying to answer.
We already knew what we liked about traveling in a Class C.
We didn't want to give that up.
What we wanted was the same basic style of travel with a heavier chassis, more power, more stability, and a more relaxed experience behind the wheel.
That's what Harriet gave us.
Phyllis taught us how we liked to travel.
Harriet simply let us do it at a different level.
