One the road again - part II

Picking up from our overnight in NY, our journey continued south and we stopped in Maryland to visit with our children, North Carolina, a return visit to a winery campground in South Caroline, Georgia and finally our destination in central Florida.

For me, once we got on to the NJ Turnpike, I felt I was able to enjoy the trip a bit.  Granted we were travelling in separate vehicles so we both were driving, but still, there was something about getting the traffic headaches of northern NJ and NY behind us.

We returned to a few campgrounds we had stayed at on other journeys and arrived at our Snowbird Nest in time for Halloween.  Two weeks after we arrived, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and purchase a truck camper for our future travel plans and adventures.

All summer long we had been looking at various camper options to accommodate our plans to travel to Alaska next year.  From the research we were doing, it seemed to make sense to us to leave our 5th wheel camper in Florida and to acquire a smaller unit for "camping".  We looked at truck campers (the type that slide in to the bed of a pickup truck), small travel trailers and smaller Class B & C units.  Needless to say we are very specific in our wants and needs and although we thought we found the right unit numerous times over, we'd quickly realize a feature or two that took that unit our of the running a few minutes later.

One truck camper that caught our eye was in NH and we saw it in early September.  It had 3 features we found rather intriguing; first, the kitchen was in the rear of the camper, including the fact that the fridge and stove were on a slide room that went out the back side.  The sink was on a fixed island and the kitchen was usable even with the slide in.  Second, besides a booth dinette, this camper also had 2 recliners - theater style seating which made being indoors and watching tv a lot nicer option than from the dinette only.  The third feature we really liked was in the bathroom.  The entire bathroom roof was a domed skylight.  Generally the bathroom has a very small vent in the ceiling and that is the only place a tall person can stand up straight.  This bathroom's full dome meant that both hubby and I could stand up straight while showering or doing our teeth.

We were concerned, however, about the camper's overall weight and put it on the back burner of our thoughts as we continued to look at campers.

Fast forward to our arrival in FL.  By then we had made an offer on a smaller truck camper at a dealership in TX - only seen to us in photos on the internet.  We were not able to come to an agreement on price and decided it wasn't meant to be.  I mean, we hadn't even seen the inside of a similar unit with the same floor plan to know if it would work or not.  So I was glad to let that one go by.

After visiting a few more dealerships and looking on the internet, we realized that we were comparing all possible contenders to the one in NH.  So through emails and phone calls we made an offer and soon found ourselves planning a trip back north to pick up the camper.

Mother Nature is a very evil being and decided to time a Polar Vortex during our journey.  We made our 1400 mile trip in 3 days since we didn't have a camper behind us.  We definitely felt a lot of stress and strain from pushing ourselves each day to do our distances.  The temperature kept getting colder and more miserable the further north we went.  The morning we were to take delivery of the truck camper there was sleet and freezing rain.  Not weather we snowbirds were really looking forward to.

We spent 3 nights at the dealership, learning how to operate slightly different features from our current rv.  While we were there we added a few more options to both the truck camper and the pickup truck to make camping better.  Leaving NH we took 3 more nights to return to FL, stretching our trip out to 4 days on the road.

Another two weeks later and we set the truck camper up on the pickup and headed back up the east coast to Maryland for the birthday of a grandbaby.  We spent a total of 10 nights in the new truck camper on this trip and continued to learn more about the truck camper and our wants and needs while camping.

We've been "home" to the 5th wheel for 5 days and already we're talking about where we could go for another mini trip this winter, never mind the real reason we bought the truck camper - to fit in to smaller campgrounds and cut down on our overall length and tolls.

Accessorizing

Because of my current location while using my computer today, I’ve decided this post will be about  an accessory we’ve acquired for our campsite.  It’s a typical mid-December afternoon in central Florida, so I’m in a screen room that is extremely spacious by most screen room standards.  Earlier this year we bought a Coleman Instant Screened Canopy: a hexagonal, easy to set up screen room.  I’d seen this room a few times at campgrounds and one of the principle reasons I liked it was it’s over all size - listed as 10’ x 12’.  Photos on the internet show a picnic table inside the footprint of the screen room AND room for people to walk around.  While we don’t have a picnic table in ours, we have had 4 folding chairs, a recliner, 2 small tables AND a dog bed with 5 people and a dog and plenty of room to move about.

Another feature that sold me on this unit was the doorway height.  Chuck stands 6’1” and both of us have had to duck under the canopy of most square screen room / shade covers.  Not here.  If we fully unzip the doorway, we can walk right in, no ducking required.  There are two walls with zipper panels and four with full screens.  Because of the strength of the FL sun and for a bit more privacy, we’ve zip tied an additional screen tarp  to the frame of the room.  The breeze comes right through, but the sun’s intensity is lessened a bit more, making it very comfortable for hanging out. 

The entire unit fits compactly into a travel case for easier transport to where ever it might be needed.  The screens and canopy have well thought out design features; clips into grommet holes on each post of the frame, extra pieces of material for wear points on the canopy, velcro type attachments to hold things snug.  Even the tie downs and spikes worked well on this unit.

The first time I put the screen room up, I did it alone, using ingenuity and a few rocks to help stabilize one leg allowing me to maneuver the diagonal side of the frame to open it to it’s full size.  While it can be done solo, it truly is much easier with a second person.

For added comfort in “my queendom” as we call the screen room (Chuck says I’m holding court when folks come by and visit) we acquired 2 folding rocking seats.  The chairs have flat leg bases allowing you to put them on any surface.  The back leg though has a piston  and the forward part of the leg base is on a pivot, allowing you to “rock”.  They quickly became our favorite seats and we leave the stationary seats for guests.  

While they don’t fold up as much as our other portable chairs do, the rockers do compact a bit for transportation, something very important to our and our lifestyle.