I spent a fair amount of time camping, fishing, hiking and backpacking out west while growing up. A lot of that time was in the High Sierras, the San Gabriels, the desert and a bit in the Pacific North West. All of it with tent, in a tent or under the stars. My wife Claudia (Cloe for short) on the other hand camped a bit in a tent but mostly in their converted VW Bus.
When my dad got a little older, he bought a Ford conversion van with one of those fiberglass roof extensions so you could stand straight up. It had a stove/oven a stainless steel sink, hot water, a port-a-potty that sat in the middle of a tiny shower/closet and a dining table that dropped down and turned into a bed as well as a large overhead storage area that also turned into a bed. This was also when gasoline was only about .49 a gallon.
My mom and step dad on the other hand had a 32' fifth wheel trailer and a big Extended cab Ford truck to pull it around with. I use the term "pull it around with" loosely because I can not remember it really be pulled around or going anywhere. I really think they got it to park on their property for when guests came to visit. And thats okay, at least it was never parked at a "Store-Your-Stuff-Here" that I am aware of.
I believe that we learn by observing and by life lessons. And, I know me. As great as it is to go to Recreational Vehicle Shows and get all pumped up on the latest and newest trailers, in the back of my mind I am always thinking, do I really want to go into debt for something I will not use all of time? Do I really want to spend a day loading up a trailer, go for four days and then spend two days unloading and cleaning it? Do I want to have to purchase a bigger truck to pull it with? Do I want the added expense of insurance on both a trailer and a truck? Well, the answer in my head is always no.
About four years ago Cloe told me I needed to be on Pinterest. I'm like "what is Pinterest" and why would you possible think that I should be on it? She showed it to be and I thought it was just stupid. It was crafty things, cooking things, flower arrangements and kid stuff. Maybe a year or so past before I looked at it again. This time one little thing caught my eye. It was a teardrop trailer. I clicked on it to see what it was about. It was an old article someone had posted from Popular Mechanics Magazine about Building your own teardrop trailer. Of course this intrigued me so I asked Cloe, "how can I find other things like this on Pinterest?" She showed be how to search (that was a mistake) Pinterest for things of interest. WOW, a whole new world just opened up. I had no idea how many different teardrops, mini-camp trailers and off road trailers there were out there. Not to mention the seemingly large populous of folks and clubs for such things. Yup. . . I got hooked. Ha, both on Pinterest and the idea of building our own mini-camper. One thing that really intrigued me was the fact that most of the people either building these little wonders, where doing so in their garage or under a carport, even in their backyards. If that is a fact I thought to myself, then a person could surely store it there when not in use.
Everything about this new found mini-camper idea is a positive, at least in my mind anyway. Next step was to sell Cloe on the idea. I started by talking about it. Then getting excited about it. Then sharing things on Pinterest with her about it. Pretty soon she's sharing things with me about mini-campers. She's hooked too!
Wow. That was a little back story that leads to "on our own terms". We sleep in a queen size bed, so it has to sleep queen size. We like music, so there has to be a nice system. We like our AC, so it has to be cool. We like our cozy, so it has to be warm and pleasant while we are sleeping in it. We do not like to be wet, so it can not leak. We like to cook, so it has to have a nice exterior galley. We like to binge watch things on occasion, so it has to have a nice HDTV flat screen. It needs to run on AC / DC power. We need to take our bicycles and our kayaks if we decide to do so. It needs to fit on a 4' x 8' utility trailer, It needs to fit in the garage and last but not least, when we decide to go somewhere, it needs to be fully ready with exception to food, water, appropriate clothing, us and our SUV. In other words, we do not want to be owned by our Recreational Vehicle. We just want to enjoy it when we want to.
This would be the 32" Smart TV with remote control that we have chosen. We picked this it up at Walmart for $99.00 on sale. More about the installation later.
This is the 6,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner with remote control that we have chosen. We picked this up a "Ollies, Good Stuff For Cheap" on sale for $115.00. A bit of an overkill for 160 cubic foot camper but could not pass up the price. More about this installation later. I think you will like what I'm doing here. Remember, no leaks!
#minicamptrailer #diycamptrailer #1stCutMini-CampTrailers #offroadtrailer
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