I've lurked on and off for years but am finally getting serious about acquiring, probably by building, a teardrop.
Our first RV was a 39 foot Diesel Pusher. We only kept that a little over a year and traded it in on a 45 foot Renegade. This was great for us when all the kids were with us and we would take long trips to "destinations" like Disney, or the Beach, or such. Wasn't so great for anyplace that was wooded. I'm sure you can imagine the challenges of something so large. Oh, I also pulled my full size crew cab behind it
we were about 70 foot overall.We got rid of that a few years ago and didn't replace it with anything. That was actually nice for a while. Going on vacation and staying in a real structure was a nice change. Then I got the itch to go camping. I mean (semi) real camping in the woods so I started looking at small tow behinds that I could take in the state parks. I stumbled across the R-Pod and thought it was the perfect fit. As I researched it more I found the teardrops and fell in love. Unfortunately as we researched it my wife also loved the idea. Only when we went and looked at the R-Pod she went the other way and next thing we know we are looking at 24 to 28 foot travel trailers. They were great and would really meet our needs well as a family but not my desire to be able to just get out in the woods, still too big. We will probably end up with one some day but for now I am concentrating on something small.
Having not come to agreement on a travel trailer we just put that idea on hold. That was fine but didn't get me to stop thinking about a teardrop. So I did the next best thing. I converted my full size 15 passenger van (no longer needed to haul lots of kids, only two at home now) in to somewhat of a camper van. Built a sleep platform that converts in to a dinette. Added an inverter and battery tray along with power distribution. I have plans to add water as well but haven't quite got there yet. This is great but still hasn't satisfied the itch for a teardrop.
This year I have resurrected an old Jeep Grand Cherokee that I had for the kids to learn to drive with. They no longer needed it so it just sat. I decided to give it a mild lift and do any repairs needed to make it my "expedition" vehicle. Not that we have any vast area to explore here in Virginia it is fun to get out.
So, that brings me back to the teardrop once again. My desire is to create something that can be towed behind the Jeep so we can camp out of something other than a tent. I would also like to be able to tow it behind the van to supplement what we have there. We can only sleep two (comfortably) in the van so it would be great to be able to sleep four for those trips when everyone wants to go. I am still working on needs, desires, wants but am ready to get started.
I am looking forward to being part of this group and have already gained tremendous knowledge from what everyone has shared.
pax,
JB
