Starling Travel

Mike and I have just returned from an epic journey that I really can’t believe we achieved with such ease. We drove from Utah to Arkansas for a class for Mike and his father.

The trip was originally planned as a camping trip with the Springbar tent, but after the disastrous wind, rain and cold incidents of the Disneyland trip in March, we decided that we needed a trailer.

We took the newly restored Teardrop American Outbacker trailer. I am still amazed that it worked so well. Both Mike and I slept like logs in the teardrop, despite humid heat in Memphis and bitingly cold wind in Cheyenne. Of the twelve days on the road, we spent eleven in the trailer.

When we planned this trip, we fully expected to spend some days camping and some days in hotels. Mike had looked for hotels and motels along the way, especially in Little Rock, Arkansas, because he was worried about sleeping well for his class. After the first night in a hotel just east of Denver, we never needed a hotel again. In fact, we only stayed in a hotel that first night because Mike had to work and needed a guaranteed Internet connection and a nice desk to sit at all night.

Every other night was a cozy dream in the teardrop together. By the end of the trip, when we were freezing our buns off in the Cheyenne, I had no problem just huddling in the tiny trailer all night. It had become my haven and den, keeping out the cold wind.

The best benefit to the teardrop is that we got such good gas mileage when driving it. The first day, we almost hit 34 mpg.

When we hit the massive headwinds in Kansas (and then again in Nebraska), our gas mileage got as low as 29 mpg, but that still was a phenomenal rate. At the worst mileage of 29 mpg, our cost for gasoline was approximately $365. If we had done the same journey in a motorhome or a big truck pulling a fifth-wheel trailer at 12 mph (which is generous), we would have paid approximately $957 in gas.

Ever since I was a little girl, playing with my Barbie Star Traveler, I wanted to take a cross-country trip in a trailer or motorhome. The practical side of me never allowed that to happen because of the cost of owning a big motorhome and, even worse, the high price of gasoline to drive one. Our little teardrop trailer made this journey possible for both the childhood dreamer and the practical accountant sides of me.

I can’t wait to tell you all about it!