Starling Travel

I’ve talked before about the benefits of camping in a redneck camper. You can see that here:

• Starling Travel » The Top Five Benefits of Owning a Redneck Trailer

I found ANOTHER one on our local classified listings and I was (again) shocked at the cost: only $250!

Now, this redneck camper is a little different because it’s a pop-up, so it’s a little more aerodynamic than the last one I found. Once it’s up, it looks really roomy.

Inside, it looks decidedly Seventies.

After the top is lifted, it appears quite roomy.

There is even a closet for a porta-potty! It’s kind of gross because it’s carpeted, but it’s nice to have some privacy for the privy.

Whenever I start to feel appalled at the prices for truck campers, bumper pulls or tent trailers, I fire up the local classifieds and my hope for a good camper is restored. It may not be the prettiest shelter at the RV park, but it’s warm and inexpensive. The next time you are wishing for a warm camper to extend your camping into the winter, take a look at your local classified ads and find yourself a redneck camper. You just might be surprised at what you find.

When New York was hit by Hurricane Sandy, the residents were without power. The people at Biolite set up a booth on the street, offering free phone charging, using their Biolite stoves.

Keeping my iPhone charged when we are boondocking is the biggest problem I have. Usually, we have to plug the phones into the car and keep the car running until the phones are charged. I hate to just sit there with my car running while I’m charging my phone, though. Using scraps of wood to charge my phone is another method that I could use to keep my phone charged.

Here is a video showing the Biolite stove:

The Biolite isn’t the only option as far as this is concerned, though. There is another charger called the Cup Charger that could be used. Compared to the Biolite, it charges a lot quicker.

My biggest problem is that either way, we have to monitor the phone charging process. If we hook them up to the car and leave it running, we have to watch the car while our phones charge. Of course, we can charge ALL our gadgets at once when we use the car. With the Biolite or the Cup Charger, we have to monitor a fire and keep it from burning out or out of control. Additionally, about 70% of the time, we camp in places where fire is restricted for fear of wildfires, so we wouldn’t even be able to USE the Biolite or Cup Charger in those spots.

It’s looking like our best option would be to hook up a good battery to our tent trailer and make sure it’s charged before we go out camping (and can be charged up again with the car). Then, we’d have enough juice to keep our gadgets charged and it’s a little less work than keeping a fire alive and raging.

Photo via: Oh, Just Brooklyn Survivalists Charging Cell Phones With Camp Stoves As The National Guard Rolls By: Gothamist

Glamping is the mixture of camping with glamour. There is no reason to “rough it” if you want to enjoy the outdoors. Ironically, it was my husband, Michael, who introduced me to the concept. My sister, Stacey, wanted to go camping for her birthday. Mike begrudgingly agreed:

Ok, we can go, but we are doing this RIGHT. I want a REAL propane stove. None of this cooking on the fire stuff. It’s not going to be like in the boy scouts. I want an inflatable mattress and we are going to have a good tent.

Since that day, my definition of glamping has advanced to the point where I only want to camp in my tent trailer now. There are many times when I have said that camping in a trailer isn’t camping. I was right. It’s glamping. Kelle Arvay of Little Vintage Trailer fame, posted this video of her and Mary Jane Butters talking about glamping.

I love that we get to see parts of Kelle’s trailer that she has decorated so nicely. There are more photos of both her trailers here:

• Little Vintage Trailer: Buttercup and Jelly Bean

Next time you cringe when your significant other suggests camping, try glamping it up a bit. Add a propane stove instead of cooking on the fire. Bring a cot, inflatable mattress and REAL bed linens instead of that ratty old sleeping bag. Make an impressive camp kitchen that brings all the comforts of home. Find a cheap trailer and fix it up. Whatever you need to do to make it a good experience for you is what glamping is all about.

Check out this homemade A-frame camper I found on Gander Mountain’s Bragging Board.

The builder said,

My son & I built this in our garage over the winter of 2008. We used a 1968 Puma popup for the frame and body upper side wall sections fold in and both roof sections drop down for towing. vinyl siding and cedar shingles on the roof. We get alot questions while camping.

I love the idea of taking an old popup camper and making it unique and different!

I was searching for some good ideas on how to store things in a tent trailer and I found this idea on Pop Up Portal posted by The Wunders. It’s a bed shelf that comes in three pieces to fold flat for travel

The Wunders said:

We built one of these for each bunk from scrap plywood and 2x2s. The side panels fit between the mattress and the bed rails. The side pieces fit snuggly between two pieces of 2x2s and are easily removed for flat storage. There is about 14 inches of space between the top of the bed and the bottom of the shelf which is more than enough room for our feet. Our clothing bins are placed on top along with glasses, books, etc. I have more pictures with measurements somewhere but can’t seem to locate them right now.

Do they get kicked off or fall down easily?

Having the shelves knocked down is not an issue. The shelves are so tight, it takes some muscle to disassemble them. Also, they fit down between the side of the mattress and bed rails, so they are very snug. We are able to put two large Sterilite drawers (side by side) on them and still have about two feet of available shelf space for other items.

I LOVE this idea not only for the extra storage it could give us, but it looks like it could double as a bed desk. I would like to make one with hinges or maybe follow this design that I found on Pinterest:

The more I look for good ideas for storage in our trailer, the more I am surprised and delighted by the ingenuity of people. I’m so excited to try this idea!

I LOVE the idea of the Pack-Away Bucket. It collapses and packs up nice and flat in the trailer.

Unfortunately, it’s only available for sale from companies in Great Britain (like Wacky Practicals), so the shipping costs as much as the bucket itself. It’s not quite worth the 64 bucks to have a flat bucket for waste water from my sink.

Instead, I’ve been using a small paint bucket that I found at Home Depot. It holds a couple of gallons and is small enough to store under the dinette table when it’s down in the bed position for travel. It only cost a couple of bucks, so I guess it’s worth the sixty dollars I saved for the extra space to store it.

Still, that collapsible bucket looks really cool!

Via: Starling Travel / Collapsible Bucket packs up nice and flat in the trailer.

I found this how-to on Pinterest today:

It seems like a lot of work for something that takes up as much space as a NORMAL air conditioner. I found this General Electric 5,000 BTU Window air conditioner at Amazon.com for only $87 (I’ve seen a similar one at Home Depot for fifty bucks).

It’s about the same size as that big red cooler, doesn’t require any tools and uses about the same amount of electricity with no need for frozen bottles of water.

Oh, and it gets your room MUCH cooler than a mere five degrees.

I’m all for do-it-yourself projects, but only when they make sense. A DIY project needs to make something that isn’t readily available or is more beautiful than what you can purchase in a store. It should at least COST less than the commercially made product you’re reproducing. This is one DIY project that isn’t really worth the effort.

I absolutely adore this drawing of a tent trailer from Life Is Good.

I would gladly buy this t-shirt from Life Is Good, but they only have it in white and in Men’s sizes.

I have been looking for good illustrations of tent trailers and before now, the best drawings I could find were these.

I especially like this one of Yogi and Boo Boo contemplating tearing open the pop up looking for picnic baskets. I just wish it were a better image.

I think my favorite is this illustration from Zazzle.com. I just don’t need any postcards or business cards.

I’m amazed at how quickly I went from “I guess it will do,” to “I LOVE my tent trailer.” We bought the tent trailer because our life changed and we had another human being to accommodate. I didn’t really WANT it. I HAD to buy it. Now, however, I LOVE our tent trailer and I am having a hard time imagining going back to a teardrop. How did things change so quickly?

Photos via:

• CAMPING & HIKING / Happy Camper
• Profile of babar
• Best of the Road – News, Information and Travel Tips from Rand McNally’s Best of the Road
• Profile of MIPeaceDudeCamper
• Profile of Raycfe
• Cute RV Vintage Popup Camper Travel Trailer Business Card Templates from Zazzle.com

I was watching this video showing how to put up the new Palomino 280LTD Tent Trailer:

Aside from cranking up the top instead of lifting by hand, very little has changed on the trailer compared to my Palomino Pony from 1988.

The floor plan has changed quite a bit, with a sink, stove and sideways dinette, which explains why the new version is TWICE the weight of my light little 1988 model.

I’m surprised at how much is the SAME however. The beds pull out the same. The supports under the beds look EXACTLY like mine. So little has changed that I feel a sort of comfort from Palomino RV. If I ever want to buy a brand new one, I might be tempted to buy this exact one, even though it’s so much like my current tent trailer.

There is something to be said for consistency. Automobile manufacturers change so many things from one year to the next that you can never buy the same car twice. If you really love your current car, except for the fact that it’s ten years old, you’re out of luck. They don’t make that car anymore. With a Palomino tent trailer, however, even if your beloved trailer is almost THIRTY years old, you’ll be able to replace it with one that works and looks almost exactly the same. I find that incredibly comforting!

This video made me laugh out loud!

It looks like a normal video showing his tent trailer setup, but once you get inside, you really see what he has done to make the place comfy!

Check it out for a good laugh!