I'm Janis from Sharpsburg, Maryland. The spouse and I used to be tent campers, but over the years the prospect of breaking down a wet tent started to lose its allure. We've been wanting a trailer for a long time, but differed sharply on what we wanted. My DH would start talking about 25' jobbies and I'd ask: Where will we store it? How will we haul it? Not to mention, how will we pay for it?
We considered pop-ups, but we both have not-so-fond childhood memories of family camping trips in mildewy pop-up campers. No thanks! Plus, I want to be able to take an impromptu break in my "cabin" without going through a big rigamarole first.
This week, I discovered teardrop trailers and began spending hours reading many, many threads here and drooling over the galleries in the Hall of Fame.
Today, though, I pried myself away from the computer so that the hubs and I could take our kayaks for a lake outing up in the mountains (hoping to beat the holiday crowds). We usually take my Subaru Forester, but DH had a new roof rack on his car, so we decided to try it out. We took a highway test run with the kayaks on top yesterday and everything was fine, so we hit the road for the mountains today.
About 45 minutes into the trip, we were starting to feel pretty relaxed when our kayaks, along with the new roof rack, flew off the roof of DH's car and bounced on the highway before landing mostly - but not entirely - on the grassy median. Somehow, we managed to stop, retrieve the kayaks and roof rack and reattach everything to the roof of the car. Traffic had been pretty steady when the kayaks fell off and it was a miracle that no one was hit. However, our confidence was feeling pretty shaken and we just wanted to find a place to pull over until our adrenaline levels had amped down a bit.
We took the first exit and limped into a service station to re-check that everything was fastened securely. While we were there, what did we see but someone with the very model of tiny trailer that my husband and I have been thinking of for our starter trailer*! He very kindly chatted with us about his trailer and even let us step inside for a look around. As it turns out, he has restored four of these trailers and is thinking about selling the one he showed us so that he can focus on building his own.
We exchanged phone numbers and felt that our meeting him was very fortuitous!
So! More about what makes us tick:
1) We hope to be first-time TTTers soon so we can enjoy camping again.
2) We'll probably go with a basic starter trailer, rather than build from scratch or do a major remodel.
4) For me, part of the charm of camping is being creative so that you can enjoy the experience while keeping it simple.
5) I like to cook. A good - but simple - galley is important to me.
6) We like to kayak - flat water and open water (not white water).
7) DH is usually a lot more careful when he loads the kayaks on the roof rack!
* Model to be revealed later as I'm somewhat superstitious.
