here is anouther one I just found this weekend. Looks like it is towable by a half ton and is real nice. The dealer I seen it at had a sticker on it of $18,600 but would take less with no trade. Not as cheap as the others but anouther option to look at. I have always wanted a far bigger fifth wheel but with the fuel prices going the way they are I wont be able to aford to drive my new Diesel let alone tow anything. If I had one of these I could always go back to a half ton in the future without having to find a different smaller camper.

http://www.travelstarrv.com/travelstar_images.html

 

You would get better mileage towing that with the diesel than a 1/2 ton gasser. Plus your truck is built for towing it.

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Ya towing milage would be much better with my current truck but the miles I curently tow are only around 10-12 percent of the miles that get put on the truck. I had a 00 GMC Z71 with a 5.3 that would tow these little trailers with no problem and get a average of 17 around localy and as much as 20 on the open highway. I realy miss that truck now that fuel is jumping. My diesel only gets 15-17 local and 17-18 on the road if i keep it under 65. On the other hand ther is ABSOLUTLY NO WAY I could have done what I did a couple weeks ago. It was time for my anual trip to Colorado riding and there where 6 of us this year. We thought abought taking 2 vehicles but at current fuel prices opted to rent one BIG trailer and stuff all 6 of us into my truck for a 882 mile trip one way. We rented a 25 foot enclosed trailer and squezed all 6 machines and all the food and cloths and supplies 6 people need to survive for 7 days in the mountains with out going back to town. When we got all loaded up we put 5 of us in the truck and ran down to a local elevator and wheighed us as near as we could to total travaling wheight. We tipped the scale at a few pounds shy of 19,000 pounds and we still had 1 more person and a little more luggage to load. I ran an average of 82mph all the way across Nebraska and the flats of Colorado. The best we got was a little over 12 and the worst we got was a little over 10mpg. I dident look when we started the mountains. I was pleased with the way it climbed the grades to. If no one got in front of me i could downshift to 5th gear and climb the grades at what ever speed I wanted. The truck would hold 70-80 with no problem. The only trouble was when some dome car would pull out in front of me and make me get out of the throttle. Then if I lost momentum I could only manage 45-55. It would not speed back up. I dont have any clue what the grades in Calli are like that you people are talking abought but the ones going west out of Denver up and over the continental divide are up to 8 miles long and as steep as 9% . Thats a LONG STEEP hill for this flatlander. There are abought 100 miles of this up and down like that before I get off the inerstate and head down blacktops that are steeper but shorter(only 3 or 4 miles at 10%+). For these ocasions I will keep my truck. I am just glad there was 6 of us to split the cost of fuel. Total fuel for the 1900 mile round trip was just over $400. Thats why I say if the price goes up any more I wont be able to do these trips or even shorter ones on my own out of my own pocket.

 

Cuesta is a few miles long and I think 6%. So it's not too bad. Then you have the Grapevine which is steeper and longer.

For me to head to Pismo though, I'm on 2 lane roads where 70-80 will get you a ticket real quick like (55 MAX). THere's a good 60 miles of twisting hilly roads with some turns that you can't hit more than about 40 with a trailer.

You can't maintain speed in a truck with a trailer without either a big gas motor (and then probably only the GM 8.1L). I have a friend who gets sucked down to 35 with the V10 (but he's pulling a 40' TH) on Cuesta.

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I've been looking myself. Check out Starcraft RT series too which has a very nice looking unit.

I've thought about the car trailer idea too. Buy a pop-up and just mount a ball hitch on the front of the trailer to hook the pop-up hitch to, then tie down both rear corners of the pop up to the bed of the trailer and load ATV's behind that.

Another option for those with h/d pickups would be to buy a deck for the pickup bed and load 2 atvs on top of that. There are at least a few companies which make such a thing for snowmobiles.
Then pull the camper behind your truck as usual.