The new camper

We bought our rig, fixed it up, and used it for our three month, 6000-mile journey. It served us extremely well.

Our plan was to purchase something inexpensive and use it for awhile to learn about what we needed to fit our lifestyle.

We now know exactly what would fit us.

After much reflection, research, talking with other camper owners, and discussion, we decided that we have only a few years to be able to do what it is that we enjoy the most, and that given this fact we needed a camper that had updated features. We want to see all of the National Parks in the country, and all of the parks in Canada. We want to hike to see glorious places like we did the past three months.

Within a month of moving to Whidbey Island, not knowing anybody here, I had found out about the Mountaineers and had been on my first hike, after purchasing all of my equipment in one visit to REI. Since that time I have taken many hikes in the Cascades, although only a fraction of the number I would have taken without three foot surgeries.

Now my foot is healed, but for how long I don't know. I want to use the time I have left.

Vicky, too, has always loved hiking. It is remarkable that although we found each other on a dance floor we both also enjoy the outdoors so much. Part of that is probably due to our childhoods, where both of us lived near the country and spent most of our days in open fields--Vicky riding her horses and me "hunting" with my bow and arrow (although I never actually shot anything, except once, and then felt so guilty I never did it again and am still haunted by the image).

Hiking and dancing give us both the same feeling of magic, of being transported to another world. It is such a wonderful feeling to work hard to get to a high mountain lake, or to a high vista, and then to sit and enjoy nature unspoiled by our industrial society. Both dance and hiking involve moving at a steady and leisurely pace, one that feels natural and is not imposed on us. Such a feeling of peace.

So we need a camper that is fully winterized, and one where we can easily and quickly remove it from the pickup so we can drive the pickup to hiking trail heads. Many trail heads are at the end of rocky roads, and those roads are exceedingly hard on a camper. We had to pass up several opportunities on our trip for this reason. We don't want to have to make those choices, though. With the new types of jacks one can remove a camper from a pickup in 10 minutes AND just leave it set up at the campsite.

In other words, the new campers are designed so you can use them and sleep in them while they are off of the pickup. So we could find a campground, in essence "park" the camper, stay there for 4-5 days, and have the pickup free the entire time to drive to trail heads for hikes.

New campers also have roof storage, and ladders to reach the roof. These ladders are set up to carry bikes, so we no longer would have to remove our bikes from inside the camper when we are done driving to a campsite. A real time-saver and headache-saver.

We'd like a working refrigerator instead of an icebox. Things like that.

New or used? A new camper, properly maintained, should give 20 years of good service. That's the outside limit of the hiking years we could hope to have.

What brand? We decided on Lance, mainly because they appeared to us to be the largest truck camper manufacturer. About half of the campers we saw at campgrounds were Lances. I subsequently found the official figures: 40% of pickup campers are manufactured by Lance. That's really an incredible domination of a market. I wanted a camper from a manufacturer that is still making a lot of money. I figure they have a long-term investment in keeping customers happy.

Lance now makes a camper with an aluminum frame and a fiberglass body. The aluminum frame makes it light, and less susceptible to rot. The fiberglass body is less susceptible to denting.

We also wanted the smallest camper we could get that had the features we wanted. We found we had plenty of room in our Chinook, being very comfortable living virtually all of the time within 6 feet of each other. One really couldn't do that if the other person got on their nerves for any reason.

One reason for a small camper is the issue of weight. Our pickup is designed to carry a specific number of pounds, and we wanted the camper to be light enough that we could safely transport grandsons in it to camping trips.

So last week we emptied out our Chinook and I took the rig to have it weighed. Then we removed the camper and we took the pickup to be weighed. This told us how much we could carry in terms of a new camper, people, and supplies. With the new Lance we will easily be under the weight limit with our grandsons.

We also found that some campgrounds would not allow rigs that were over a certain length, usually 24-25 feet. Those were some of the best campgrounds, so we wanted to be small for this reason. Some roads were also limited to rigs less than 25 feet in length.

Here we are at the dealership with our new camper. Isn't it snazzy?









Our plan is to be "on the road" 7+ months of the year. Maybe more.

Last night I put the Chinook on Craigslist. We are asking a reasonable price for it. It is a very serviceable camper for someone who has occasional uses for a camper. It has a lot of years left in it, and with the improvements we made could be a very good deal for someone. We both felt a pang of regret, and almost betrayal.