Starling Travel

For the first time, we stayed in Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Arizona. I love the Arizona State Parks. They are so organized. I love the emails I get about a week before the trip, reminding me of my visit.

We stayed in the Red-Tail Hawk Campground for the Popup Portal Rally.

Our site was number 51 and it faced perfectly so that the afternoon sun was shaded by our camper.

Here is a shot of site 57. The sunsets are beautiful here.

Each site has a fire pit and some of them have BBQs as well. The camp hosts sell firewood.

While we were there, the campground was very windy. We had to take down our awning and thank goodness for the Martha Stewart grommet and bungee cord trick or our tablecloth would have flown away.

There was a nice playground over by the lakes and my boy liked the swings a lot.

It was a great place to stay and it was so close to Cottonwood and Jerome, so we were able to look at the shops and you could even taste the wines at the wineries in the area. Thank you for such a lovely weekend, Arizona!

I’ve finally done it. I’m finally done with my camper. My 1993 Jayco Eagle 8 has been rechristened The Tangerine Turtle.

Here is a video tour:

You can see some photos after the break: (Continue Reading…)

When I was registering the Jayco Tent Trailer way back when, I saw this GMC motorhome in the parking lot at the DMV. Even though I had just gotten what would be the best camper I have ever owned, I still salivated over what I consider my dream motorhome.

This is very much like my childhood toy, the Barbie Star Traveler. I had many dreams of traveling in a motorhome that looked like this, but bright, bright yellow.

It is nearly four years later and I still adore this motorhome, even though I love my tent camper with just as much adoration.

In the end, I can’t own ALL the campers. I have to choose one and the tent camper works best for us. The GMC Barbie Star Traveler will have to stay a childhood fantasy.

Back in August 2012, we stayed for a few days at the Bear Lake KOA. It was such an idyllic visit that we still talk about that camping trip today. I can’t believe I never wrote about it here, so I am posting some of the photos we took on that trip.

Bear Lake is in Northern Utah and we had to go over the mountains with our Prius and the Duct Tape Palace for the first time. It handled it nicely, but we were anxious the entire trip. We were inexperienced towing anything bigger than the teardrop, so we were nervous the whole time. There was nothing to worry about, though, because we got to the campground easily and quickly.

Read on for more: (Continue Reading…)

I came across this in my old photos the other day. Our first tent trailer, the Palamino, was so trashed that the canvass was literally held together with duct tape. We didn’t actually call it the Duct Tape Palace until AFTER we gave it away to charity.

Seeing this old photo of it, though, made me miss it a bit.

This photo was taken on our maiden voyage of that camper at Wasatch State Park, before any duct tape was employed to keep the windows closed. It was a very good introductory camper that taught us that we really did like camping in a tent trailer. It made the cost of the Jayco that we have now seem worth it. I don’t miss the Duct Tape Palace, but I’m sure glad we had it for as long as we did. Totally worth the $300 we paid for it!

Other posts about the Palomino Tent Trailer:

• Starling Travel – 1988 Palomino Pony Tent Trailer
• Starling Travel – Palomino Tent Trailers: How Little Has Changed

I liked these videos showing the modifications these folks made to their tent trailer. This is the first video with the easy modifications.

These mods from the same people are a little more intense, but the bike rack is a stroke of genius!

I have made so many little modifications to our camper, but I’ve never thought of putting all of them on video. Great ideas here!

I’ve talked about the brilliant design of the Trailorboat before here:

• Starling Travel – Trailorboat: A Rare Glimpse on eBay

In August of 2013, I was actually able to see one in person in West Valley, Utah. It was part of a beautiful rig.

Sometimes when it’s winter or when I’m trapped at home, I take my Barbies camping.

It’s not enough for me, but it does take the edge off a tad. I’ve never in my life found a real life camper as good as my old Barbie Star Traveler. The adventures I have in real life are never as grand as those I had in the backyard.

I took this photo on one of my walks with my dog.

This snail represents everything I love about camping with our little tent trailer. I love that I can carry my house on my back. My bed smells like me. I can cook myself some yummy food for dinner. It all feels so familiar because we have slept so many times in that tiny trailer. There is something so comforting about carrying my home on my back. That’s why I love traveling with a camper.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the anniversary trip Mike and I took in August of 2013 was The Last Prius Campout. We camped at Wasatch State Park in Northern Utah and had I known it was our last campout with that car, I would have taken more pictures.

I was looking through photos the other day and I found the few that I took.

We had a great time on that campout and I wrote about it when I talked about camping fondue: Starling Travel – Camping Fondue

Right after this, we bought the Crosstrek and we have adored it, using it for all our camping trips ever since, but the Prius was a great car for camping and it pulled that tent trailer like a trooper.

Here are a couple more shots: