Our first Travel Trailer

About a year ago now, Andi and I were camping at Lake Del Valle Campground.  It was our first time camping together and with Sparky.  Let’s just say, it was an “adventure”.  Sparky wasn’t really into sleeping in a tent (I don’t think Andi was either).  Camping in the site next to us was a very nice couple (and their small yappy dog) with this new, small teardrop shaped camper trailer.  We chatted with them quite a bit throughout the weekend, and on Sunday when everyone was packing up to leave, they invited us over for a tour of their trailer.  It was quite impressive and I was sure it was super expensive.  After a sheepishly asking what one of these might cost, I found out it was quite a bit less than I expected and quite reasonable.

Now I am an Eagle Scout, and spent most of my childhood camping in tents and backpacking.  The idea of sleeping in a trailer seemed like cheating.  Also, the idea of owning a trailer brought me back many years to when my parents co-owned a Coleman pop-up trailer from the 70’s.  That thing was quite a nightmare, and more trouble than it was worth.  But this seemed very, very different.  It was much nicer on the inside and no need to crank up the pop-up.  Just pull up and unhook.  Plus it was small enough to fit in most tent sites, or we could go with an RV site and get full hookups.

The wheels in my head started turning, and I knew that getting a trailer like this would be the only way I was going to get Andi (and Sparky) camping with me again.  After a lot of research we headed down to Pan Pacific RV in Morgan Hill.  After even more haggling (which Andi doesn’t have the stomach for) we drove home with our brand new 2015 R-Pod 178.   This turned out being a great decision, as we have taken it camping many times and both Andi and Sparky love it!  I have to admit, after sleeping on the ground for years, this thing is pretty sweet.  When we bought this trailer we just assumed it would be great for all of our local camping needs.  Then we came up with this crazy idea to travel the world.  Now we have to live in this thing for two months at a time as we drive back and forth across the country!  I knew that it was going to need some “modding” (as my friends from high school know, I don’t “rock stock”).  Stay tuned for my next post about all of the upgrades we are doing.