Hi gang!
We are joining you from northern Ohio, west of Cleveland. We retired seven years ago, and have been semi empty-nesters the past two years while our youngest daughter is in college in Seattle.
Over the past couple of years, we've taken our daughter to college, taking six weeks to wander home the first year, and four weeks last fall, plus four weeks south last February. We'd often find ourselves deep in a national park or forest at dusk, and need to drive sometimes hours back to our motel. It sure would be nice if we could just stay somewhere local!
We went to the last two years of RV shows in Cleveland. We don't want a big trailer requiring a big truck to pull, nor do we want a big motor coach and need to pull our exploring vehicle. I had a Subaru Outback and now a Toyota 4Runner, and don't want to go larger than that. Roof top tents seem to be all the rage on adventure vehicles these days. But we don't want to have to climb down a ladder in the middle of the night when nature calls, and you can't leave camp in the evening after they are set up. Tent camping has long ago lost its luster, and especially out west where y'all have nasty creepy-crawlers. That gets a resounding NO from Deb.
So last Wednesday, we ordered a 5X8 Deluxe from Hiker Trailer in Indiana. Wes and Megan have been a joy to work with, and we are eager to get started. We went this route, because we intend to use the trailer for hauling our kayaks (it is quite a bit shorter than the 4Runner), as a cargo trailer, moving van for our daughter's stuff, and camper. The square roof lends itself to our needs more than a true teardrop. I hope that doesn't relegate us to "those people" status.
Unfortunately, we'll be waiting for a while. Adventure trailer sales have skyrocketed over the past couple of years, and especially the off-road style, and Hiker makes one of the most affordable off-road trailers. Plus, Outside Magazine posted a rousing review of the Hiker Off-Road a couple of weeks ago, so they have been inundated with requests for information and quotes. We should have started earlier, but I was working with Tennessee Trailer on building a custom trailer for us. Then a few weeks ago, they reorganized, ceased direct sales after nearly 60 years, and eliminated custom work. So I'd wasted three months. Now we are looking at a six month lead time for our new Hiker.
And that's why I'm here at T&TTT, and where all of you come in. I know that there is a wealth of information here, and that gives me six months to read through your modification, suggestion, and warning threads about how (and how not) to live on a platform slightly larger than a sheet of plywood. I'll try not asking too many questions, and I'm very familiar with searching on phpBB forums.
I won't have any photos to post for some time, but you can see some of our past travels in the links in my sig.I look forward to the day when we can meet some of you in campgrounds or along the road somewhere.
Steve
