Hi from Indianapolis, IN

[Verna]

My name is Verna and I love to camp. I almost bought a tear drop earlier this year, but my sister told me she would never camp with me in it--something about claustrophoia, so I didn't buy it. My sister has owned two different pop-ups in the past and I have owned tents and camped with her in my tent or in her pop-ups.

But anyway, I took a 3 1/2 week "tent-camping" trip out West in May/June of this year. Well, I only tent-camped 4 nights, stayed with friends 5 nights, rented KOA Kabins 4 nights and the rest of the time was spent in motels. It was either too windy to put the tent up (you should have seen me in Kansas chasing my tent when the 30 mph winds made it into a sail), too rainy, too snowy or just too cold to tent camp. I did have a fun and enjoyable vacation, but my nephew is now the proud owner of my tent!!! I know I would have camped every night if I had owned a camper then.

A few weeks after I got back, I was checking out Craig's List and found a small camping trailer that is perfect for my sister and I. It's a very gently used 2008 12' SideKick. Very simple on the inside: two beds, dinette that is also the double bed, stove, range hood, sink, microwave, some storage, and most importantly to me... a combo A/C, heater, fan. I won't apologize for wanting to be more comfy than the tent was.

Anyway, I looked at the SideKick that same day, and my sister looked at it that evening. We bought it the next day.

I've camped one weekend in it, and found what modification would make camping simpler. So, I've added cabinet doors under the smaller bed so I don't have to remove the cushion, then the plywood just to get to the "stuff" under the bed. I've added a shelf over the smaller bed for a storage for bedding, etc. The cabinet along the back wall had a cabinet door at each end, but none in the middle--it now has a cabinet door in the middle.

The dinette table seemed heavy and awkward to me, and made it difficult to reach the cabinet on the rear wall. So I'm replacing it with three pieces of plywood that can stack on top of each other during the day, making the seating area into a U-shape. We're going to be using a lightweight plastic table.

I still need to cut part of the counter top off and put it on a hinge so it's not in the way of the small bed. And, I need to finish a charging station for our cell phones.

So anyway, I've found this spot while cruising the Internet looking for small campers. It seems to be a nice spot, and I hope to gain knowlege and learn about some more space-saving ideas from the members.

Thanks

Verna
Indianapolis, IN

[kinto]

welcome from a fellow newbie! you'll find there's a ton of great information and a lot of awesome people here.

kent

[jerry101jlh]

Verna welcome and see you've already found part of the fun of a small trailer, customizing it so its truly yours!

[bobhenry]

Verna, Congratz on your new find !

The Indiana chapter of tearjerkers will have our fall gathering 10/14 near Peru IN we hope you can join us!

[Verna]

Thanks for the Welcome!!

Bob, I was looking at that October gathering last night, and I haven't made up my mind yet. We'll see.

Thanks