Starling Travel

The cutest thing about vintage trailers are those adorable awnings, but feeding them through the C-track can be difficult. Just watch this video showing how hard it can be.

Remember that she had practiced putting up her awning before doing this video and she needed a large ladder to get it on. Halekini, on YouTube, however, has found a really easy way to do it using a pulley on the C-track.

This is a brilliant way to to make setting up your awning all by yourself. Here is a closeup of his little pulley setup:

If you are thinking of getting a vintage awning but are daunted by how difficult they are to put up each time, try this clever little trick to get your awning on its C-track without a lot of hassle.

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!

Mike and I have found ourselves with child… A ten year old child who will be coming along on all our camping adventures. No matter what we could do, we just couldn’t figure out how to take him in the teardrop trailer. Most RV resorts won’t let us put up a tent next to our trailer, and we couldn’t find a way to squish him in the cabin of the teardrop with us.

So, we bought a tent trailer…

We’re still driving the Prius, so we were really restricted as far as what we could tow, but we found a Palomino Pony tent trailer that weighs only 855 pounds. It pulls even better than the teardrop (probably because the tires are slightly bigger) and our gas mileage was the same, despite the extra weight.

I am currently in the process of cleaning everything and making it camp-worthy before our maiden voyage this weekend. This camper is in MUCH better shape than my Teardrop American Outbacker, so it will need hardly any work to get it up to par.

Our garage is packed FULL of trailers right now, and I need to decide if I’m willing to let the teardrop go. My sister is considering buying it, and I would be so happy if it could stay in the family. Otherwise, we’ll have to sell it on eBay.

I was able to find the Owners Manual for the trailer, so that should come in handy.

• 1988 Palomino Pony Tent Trailer Owners Manual at Pop Up Portal

I love this trailer because it has an exterior lifting mechanism instead of a crank. It will be a lot easier to fix the lift if it breaks than if the cord snaps on a crank tent trailer. I also love it because there is no sink, stove, or any plumbing in the trailer. Those features being missing makes it light and they’re things that I don’t really want, so they would be in the way if they were there.

I used to think, why would anyone want a tent trailer? I now know. So many RV parks and resorts don’t allow tents, but they’re perfectly willing to let you have a tent trailer. There are so many places on our Epic Journey last season that we wouldn’t have been able to stay at if we hadn’t had the teardrop. The Palomino Pony will do the same for us.

My biggest worry is camping in the mountains when it’s cold. We might not be able to test that this weekend, since the temperatures are pretty high this summer, but when September rolls around, we will be able to see how warm the tent trailer can be. I’m pretty sure it’s just not going to cut it.

We got this tent trailer for only $500, so it really falls into the Redneck Trailer category for me. It’s ugly as sin with a Sears Cartop Storage container riveted to the roof, but it was cheap and it will be good enough to get us into any trailer park from here to Florida.

I can’t wait to take it on an epic journey!

Update 08-29-12: Here are some photos of it from our campout at Wasatch Mountain State Park.

My sister DID buy my teardrop trailer, so that freed up my garage a bit and felt good to keep my beloved little teardrop in the family. When we camped at Bear Lake last weekend, the temperatures got down to 46 degrees, but our little heater kept the tent plenty warm enough for us. I’m so excited to have many adventures in this trailer!

At the Salt Lake Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago, I saw this old canned ham trailer.

The girls who owned it used it for their catering service. They had converted one of the windows to serve food.

I was so happy to see the new life in such an old trailer and they had done such a good job converting it. Lovely!

I found this unique little hotel room here:

• A Caravan Hotel Room at Huettenpalast Berlin | decor8

Instead of your standard hotel room, Huettenpalast Hotel recycles camper trailers and refurbishes and fits them to an indoor space for 40-60 Euros a night!

The room looks adorable!

I love how they have “trees” in the room to give it an outdoorsy feel.

I would love to stay at a hotel with this kind of theme, but travel to Germany isn’t in my near future. I guess I’ll just have to hope someone does something like this in the States.

The biggest complaint I hear about teardrop trailers (after claustrophobia) is, “Where do the kids sleep?” Until I found this recent teardrop, the answer was, “The kids sleep in a tent.” Yesterday, I found this teardrop trailer on Google Images. It’s the Two-Story Scad-A-Bout.

They were built in the 60s and were meant to sleep parents and the kids. Technically, the kids are still in a tent, but it’s on top of your trailer, so it’s a little warmer.

I like how it has an awning that can attach to the top for shade.

I can’t find out much information about these trailers, so I don’t think many exist on the road today, but if you’re making your own, you could certainly borrow from this design to create a teardrop trailer that can sleep Mom, Dad AND a couple of kids.

More photos after the break: (Continue Reading…)

I found this teardrop trailer on Brian Greenleafs Blog.

Here’s what he said about it:

I saw the epitome of “tiny” travel trailers. No, this is no novelty.  After some coaxing, the owner climbed inside to show us that he can, indeed, sleep stretched out in this little marvel.  With the advent of more lightweight building materials these days, anything is possible.

The first picture I saw was this one, and I thought that it wasn’t that small.

But then I saw what was hauling and realized that it was SUPER TINY!

There is a name on the trailer that says, “Serro Scotty Sportsman,” but that trailer looked like this:

That name plate must have been a spare part added after the owner made the trailer from scratch, because I don’t think Serro Scotty ever made anything that small.

The next time I’m worried about how small my teardrop is and how I’m going to fit everything, I’ll remember this one.

I found this trailer in Arco, ID right before Independence Day. It has been retrofitted to sell fireworks.

Does anyone know the make of the trailer? It kind of looks like a Lil Loafer to me, but I can’t be sure.

I want to go to Disney World. I’ve never been there and I really want to experience all Disney World has to offer. We live in Salt Lake City, Utah, however, so every time I bring it up, everyone in the family says that we should just go to Disneyland instead. It’s almost the same and it’s so much closer.

In order to convince them, I have to do RESEARCH. How inexpensively can we do this trip? Today, I did that research for a trip in February and what I found, surprised me. (Continue Reading…)