A late introduction

RogerL

As the 2018 camping season comes to a close, it’s probably time for an introduction (hopefully not too long).

My camping history: we had two pop-up campers when I was growing up. First, an Apache tent camper; then, after my dad got tired of leaks through the canvas, a Starcraft Constellation with a hard top and hard bunk ends.  My wife: no camping, but her family rented a cabin in Canada for a couple weeks every summer. We also camped a few times in the back of my blue 1985 Chevy S-10 pickup (prior to kids), and then tents (first 1 tent, then 2 tents as the kids got older). 

Kids? Both mostly out of the house now, son at Berkeley working on a PhD in Physics, daughter at Duquesne finishing up a Masters in Occupation Therapy.

My wife has always been our trip planner, with a daily itinerary of hikes, museums, etc., while I’m responsible for arranging transportation. 

So…summer 2017 was our 3rd northern California vacation in a row (yeah, I know, poor us) for 1. moving son, 2. first empty nest vacation, 3. why not visit him again. Our son and fiancé (now wife) had just driven across the country (MD to CA via Texas to visit friends), something we have never done, although we’ve seen a lot of the country by flying to more-distant locations. Sitting outside at Squaw Valley Resort in Lake Tahoe (and getting very relaxed), I mentioned to my wife that in 2 years (2019), we would have our daughter graduated (and hopefully employed), son married and employed in his PhD studies, and it would be our 30th anniversary – shouldn’t we do something crazy like driving across the country? 

(This might the time to mention that we had visited an RV show when the kids were in middle school and they were impressed, of course, by the huge motor homes and our son wanted us to buy one.  I told them that if he got a full scholarship to college, we might rent one for a couple weeks and drive across the country...as it turned out, he got a full ride to the University of Maryland, but had lost interest in driving across the country at that point.  Also, I had driven buses in college, so I’d gotten that manly urge to drive something huge out of my system early.)

We didn’t really want to do the hotel/motel thing, so maybe keep it very simple with a teardrop trailer, so we could stop anywhere.  We also own a 2015 Subaru Outback (4-cylinder), so that was limiting the amount we could tow (and I don’t like daily-driving large vehicles).  I started looking at teardrops, and was really impressed by one called the Vistabule, but my 58-year-old body started to tell me that a bathroom would be really nice to have.

Maybe a popup?  Friends who also have a 4-cylinder Subaru Outback bought an Aliner, but I wanted to be able to get into the trailer without any setup for roadside stops, rainy check-ins, etc. (another side note – they’ve had multiple leaks in the 2 years they’ve had it).  

We looked at T@Bs (particularly the 320 CS-S for the clamshell kitchen and the inside storage) and the Aliner Ascape at our local dealer, but the T@B would have pushed the limits of our Outback (I know, many others here love their Outback towing a T@B), and the Ascape, while towable, just didn’t seem to be put together well, the “bathroom” was a turn-off and its height with A/C increased beyond the 8’ limit of our garage (yes, we live in a community with an HOA and wanted to keep the trailer at home for convenience and security).  So, I stopped looking, thinking this would be something we’d hold off on until retirement….however…

Around Christmas time, my wife asked me, “So when are we getting this trailer?”

Since my last excuse was the inability to tow without over-stressing the Subaru, she wisely suggested that we get rid of the Miata (which I was only using as a commuter car anyway, and the trailer would take its place in the garage) and get a bigger tow vehicle.

Driving past the local GMC dealer, we saw a blue 4WD Canyon sitting out front (remember the blue S-10 I had?), drove it, liked it, and said “this could work…”. Advertised the Miata, sold it to the first person who called (an older gentleman who wanted it for date nights with his wife), and bought the truck.

Back to the RV dealer, bought the T@B in March, and have taken 7.1 trips this summer (the 0.1 was our initial “driveway” camping in the garage, since the HOA would have frowned on us sleeping in it in the driveway).

About 2100 miles total, the shortest being 50 miles round-trip and the longest about 750 miles over 5 days.  Mostly long weekends to state parks – hiking in the morning, relaxing in the afternoons at the campsite, sometimes cooking at the campsite, other times out to a nice restaurant.

• Greenbrier State Park, MD (coincidentally, Facebook reminded me that we had been hiking here exactly 5 years before)
• Greenwood Furnace State Park, PA
• Pine Grove Furnace State Park, PA
• Rocky Gap State park, MD
• Lakeview Campsites, Keuka Lake in upstate NY 
• Deep Creek Lake State Park, MD; Hocking Hills State Park, OH; Swallow Falls State Park, OH
• Lancaster, PA (moochdocking at the in-laws)

Taking the advice from this site, we didn’t buy a lot of extras to start (just the BAL leveler, a lug wrench and the Rhino drain hose).  As needed, we’ve added:

• Pour-over coffee filter holder to replace the old French press we took on tenting trips – much easier to clean
• 10x10 popup shelter with sidewalls
• Zero-gravity chairs
• Front spare tire mount
• Ball mount with more drop (started with 4” to get the oft-times quoted 16” ball height, but ours is a little lower than that)
• Generator (not necessarily only for camping, but my wife has been bugging me for years to get one in the event of power failures at home, so I finally relented. A Westinghouse 2500-watt inverter – a little bigger than what’s needed for the T@B, but should be adequate for emergency power at home)

Highs?

• The size. Fits in our garage, easy to tow, limits what we can bring to just what we need.  We’re taking these long weekends to de-stress and get away from things, not bring it all with us.  Also, I can’t imagine maneuvering a larger vehicle around the campgrounds we’ve been to.
• The quality. I’m still fascinated by the dovetail joints, screws instead of staples, and the general solid feel. No leaks even though we’ve driven through torrential downpours, 
• The clamshell kitchen. Plenty of room to stand up and spread out, no cooking smells inside.
• The trips. Sitting next to a lake in the morning, drinking coffee while watching the mist rise as the sun comes up and having your wife tell you “I’m really glad we bought the trailer”.

Lows / problems? None to speak of.  When I picked up the trailer, one of the taillights wasn’t illuminating completely, so a new one was ordered and installed (which took 2 months). We had a flat tire on the truck (in the rain of course), but after changing the tire, it was nice to just jump in the trailer and change into dry clothes! I also wish the refrigerator would last longer when not connected to shore power (or have the option for a 3-way in the clamshell).

Already planning next year’s adventures….

 

Sharon_is_SAM

Welcome @RogerL and Mrs. RogerL!  Nice intro and so glad you are happy with your choice.  Thanks for sharing and hope you continue to participate!  Looks like you will be planning a cross-country trip in the near future!

dragonsdofly

@RogerL, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your trailer. Sounds like you made a great choice. We're sure you have many adventures to come. We'll wave if we see you on the road sometime.  Happy t@bbing!