Camping with older travel trailers

[Lizbeth]

Raunie, congrats on finding your canned ham! Someday I would love to have one in addition to the Boler. We have a 1972 Cardinal Lowliner that we are letting our godson bunk in, don't know when we will be able to get it away from him to finish it. He's grown very fond of it.

I'm a renegade SOTF. Sister #74 if Maurrie hasn't retired my number.

[Gigi]

Just an update! Picked up my 1952 10' Rainbow trailer with all original interior, no mods, no water damage on the wood inside. The outside is another matter! It will take elbow grease, paint and stain remover, and many hours to take the "pink" paint off the outside and return it to it's aluminum finish!

I drove from Albuquerque through Santa Fe, Mesa Verde, Moab's arches, Wal-mart's, and Cabella's in Utah. When I was at Camping World in Orem, had two couples come up to me to make their "inquiry" -- what do you plan to do with it!

I think everyone "needs" two trailers -- vintage eggs and vintage canned hams! Anyway, I have my project for the rest of the summer -- our next caravan is in Kansas in October. Hope to have her finished by then.

Hey, Raunie, Congratulations! Glad to hear you found one! It sounds like a fun project. But, why not leave the pink, the wilder the better on SOTF campers, no?
Will you paint a character on it? Pictures please!

[Judith Kennedy]

I never gave a good dang whether other people aproved of my stuff, but I have been highly amused by the comments I heard when we travelled in our tiny homebuilt airplane.-----

Tucumcary N.M ----" Your'e flying from Virginia to San Fransisco in THAT?

At an airport in N.C.----" What did you do with the rest of the materials from the kit?

I never let it bother me and invariably thought it to be amusing.

Now, after seeing all the sights in the US from above, we intend to examine them up close.

Looking forward to meeting you on the road!

[Tom U]

Tucumcary N.M ----" Your'e flying from Virginia to San Fransisco in THAT?

Judith,

I got a lot of that when I was ferrying BeachCraft Skippers and Piper Cubs from the East Cost to CA. What kind of Homebuilt? Bet its an RV....

Our first (and so far only) trip in our Fiber Stream was from Central California to Phoenix. Everywhere we stopped we got comments typified by the lady who walked up and patted the trailer while I was gassing up the tug; "It's soooo cute!"

We stayed in a really posh RV Park in Scottsdale and were surrounded by ginormous motor homes and permanently anchored mobile homes. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. Lots of curiosity. There were a few "Everyone has to start somewhere, you'll get a real one soon." comments but they were tendered with a smile and words of welcome.

We will be on the road again soon after an almost completely new interior. These comments have been really helpful.

[Joy A]

There's been a couple of times when I've gotten my nose out of joint wih a campground. It's when the best sites overlooking the lake, stream or whatever is saved for the Big Rigs.

I look over a campground before going in to check in. I ask for one of the "good" sites. If I'm told they are for the Big Rigs, I say "aren't all the sites the same price?" If they aren't willing to give me one of the "good sites" I just say "Thanks but no Thanks" and move on. I figure it's their loss. A Big Rig or anyone else might not show up that night and they lost revenue from me. I might even have saved money because I end up dry camping in a WalMart. or a nice little muni park that allows overnighting with all flora and fauna I want.

I end the day being a very happy camper in my tiny weeny Marshmallow with all the comforts of home.

[Rick Harmer]

I have to add my comments,although these are from our pre-Boler days.We had a 1994 Nissan pickup,with canopy.This was our bedroom,storage area,etc.you get the picture.We used it several times to go to California to visit family.Typically,we would pull into our site,unload everything(Coleman stove,cooler,food,pots and pans),whip up dinner,then sit back in our camp chairs and watch the big rigs roll in,so so large they needed someone to walk in front of them to find their site!!We,on the other hand,enjoyed the "gypsy"style of camping.Our dog thought it was great.And,until Oregon,all went swimmingly.We were near the beach(and the only ones from the RV camp to visit it!),wonderful.Silas(our dog) loved the long runs on the sand.So,on the morning were to leave,Silas,finding the campsite to be on the biggest pile of sand he'd ever seen,started digging a hole.A BIG hole,so large that only his tail and back legs were showing.We finally convinced him that there were no bones there and he sniffed a satisfied sniff and walked away from this monster pit.My wife and I tried to fill the hole.There wasn't enough material to do the deed.What to do?Well,we packed up..quickly(!),moved the picnic table over the yawning hole,partially filled but still a danger to anyone who walked into it,and drove calmly away.We figured that it's now a tourist attraction("Did a meteor hit here?").
Moral of the story:Be small,be fast!

[brendaross]

Wow. Someone brought this string of notes back to life. One thing I love about Scamps is to me they all look alike. I get a big kick out of the 50's and 60's campers we see at our weekend seasonal site. I figure those folks are camping cheap or are going to restore a wonderful camper. Who cares how you roll. Isn't it all about having FUN?

[Bryan B.]

Hi all, I roll with three different campers a 97 mallard (white box) a 86 fiberglass captain and a 60 canned ham. For some reason I really sit higher in the seat when I pull the Captain or the Ham. Maybe it is because you can't just walk into a showroom and buy one.

[floyd]

Nearly all of the antique trailers we have owned have drawn favorable attention where ever we have gone...
1] Our 1969 Thorobred stickbuilt was done in a Route 66 theme, people took pictures and showed interest everywhere we went.

2] We were in southern Florida just about to the Keys when we stopped for gas. A man came over curious about our 1973 LoveBug.
He said... " My wife and I were talking about that thing, and we were wondering, is that a camper or some sort of watercraft??"
I said... "We get that a lot, actually it's an experimental submarine and we're on our way to Key Ohio to take it out."
He looked puzzled , then we laughed and gave them a tour!

3] We were just about settling in for the night about 9:30PM at Maggie Valley NC.
We heard a timid knock on the door of Eggy-Sue our 2004 Scamp 13.
I opened the door to see a nice lady from the bulgemobile a few sites away.
She said... " My husband and I are leaving at first light and I just could not resist coming over to see your adorable little camper, I hope you don't mind."
We gave her a tour and she was amazed.

4] We once went to a Scampcamp at a campground that had a policy to deny entrance to any camping trailer over ten years old??!!??!. They welcomed the fiberglass group without asking about age. Who could tell anyway?? Besides I think it meant more business than they were willing to turn away![lol]

5]At Myrtle Beach we were given a nice spot only a few spots from the ocean during a busy time, because there was a tree at one end of the site and all the bulgemobiles were afraid to back in. We drove around the tree and set up with our TV parked alongside our Scamp.

6] At Key Ohio we arrived without a reservation and were about to be turned away when the owner saw our LoveBug 13. She said... "Wait, I do have a spot next to the water storage tank right on the gulf , it is small so we usually don't use it since evrything is getting so large and it only has water and electric"
The spot was GORGEOUS! We jackknifed our LoveBug with the door facing the water.
There were two palm trees framing our view of the water. We felt like we had our own private island!

I have towed just about everything towable, and we had just about decided to never tow an RV trailer ever again, when we found the LoveBug! We could have our cake and eat it too with a trailer big enough to offer all the comforts ,yet small enough to tow with something still fun to drive.

[David & Leslie]

As 'brendaross' stated, it's fun to have this thread brought up again, and Floyd's stories remind us of a similar experience in St. Augustine, FL.

We seldom make reservations since we never know where the "whim of the road" might take us or where we'll end up at the end of the driving day. We picked out a promising Passport America RV Park (Indian Forest ... very nice) and turned in. First question, of course, was "Do you have a reservation?" - Oops. Unbeknownst to us, it was the weekend of the Daytona 500 and the park was filled with bulgers who drove to Daytona in their "toads". Then she looked past us thru the windows and asked " Is THAT your trailer? We have a tiny site which is usually empty so you can pull right in!" It was wonderful and we stayed a week!

We sense this is what happened when we arrived in Santa Fe, NM today ... the park is filled up for the Albequerque Balloon Fiesta (50 miles away), but we sneaked in again. Gotta LOVE that small 'egg' footprint! Take care all - L 'n D

[Ricky 4]

When we had our 13 ft Casita-sometimes we would end up between 2 big rig rvs at the campsite.
Some looked down their noses at us-some wanted to see inside the camper and some became our friends.
We preferred to be away from others but sometimes you have little choice.
Last summer we ended next to a big rig-the man came over and said he had always wanted the simple camp life like we had-easy towing and simple set up. His wife wanted all the bells and luxuries. We made friends with him he joined us at our campfire and shared the evening visiting-his wife stayed in her mobile mansion.
I would never enjoy pulling or driving something that is as big as my house.
We enjoy roughing it-many times no water or electric hookup-no a/c. We do stop at a KOA or similar to spend the night when we feel we need to- so we can shower and wash
clothes.
Love the simple life!

[Jan P]

I had one fellow remark during a tour of ours. "I don't see any room for complaint here!"

We just acquired an original 73 13 ft Boler from my Uncle, One owner, used once, sat outside for 36 years. Put new tires and wheel bearings on it and towed it back to our home 4000 km ( 2500 miles) to our home. Also was given an 1985 Dodge Ram Truck with 60,ooo km on it, that would be lower in miles and used that to tow the Boler. All we did was wash down both and away we went through 2 provinces and ten states. Every time we stopped or filled up with gas, there was always someone asking what are you towing? I have never seen anything like that before, wow how old is that truck, boy they don't make them like that anymore. I was just as proud as can be of our little Boler and old Truck and I was one of those folks that owned a 34 foot Deluxe Class A with all the bells and whistles.
One comment that made us laugh was one fellow at a rest stop wanted to know if we were hauling dead bodies in the Boler, and I think he was serious. YIKES!

We are going to put a hitch on our Vintage Corvette and haul the Boler to the Car Shows....they are becoming really popular with the Car Show crowd and everyone wants to see the Boler inside.

If any campground owners would frown on my Boler being in his park, I would just say, I won't be running your power bill up $50.00 a day, and draining your water supply, so you should be happy to have me here, maybe you should pay me to stay here LOL! I will be an attraction and this is how camping should be, down to the basics, when people spoke to people in the campgrounds. Most people that make nasty comments are usually just jealous or envious that they don't have something as unique as a vintage trailer. Even at Car Shows there are a
few jerks that always have something negative to say, we just smile and say "and don't you just wish you had a car like this, pity you can't afford one". That usually sends them packing!

I agree with the previous post, as long as you keep your campsite neat and tidy there is absolutely no reason not to be able to camp anywhere. We had more problems with our Big Rig, being too large, or too long for a lot of campsites in Canada. So how could you be too small???
Happy Trails, Cheers to all!

[Frederick L. Simson]

We seldom make reservations since we never know where the "whim of the road" might take us or where we'll end up at the end of the driving day. We picked out a promising Passport America RV Park (Indian Forest ... very nice) and turned in. First question, of course, was "Do you have a reservation?" - Oops. Unbeknownst to us, it was the weekend of the Daytona 500 and the park was filled with bulgers who drove to Daytona in their "toads". Then she looked past us thru the windows and asked " Is THAT your trailer? We have a tiny site which is usually empty so you can pull right in!" It was wonderful and we stayed a week!

We are planning to spend a few days in Portland, Oregon visiting Robert's brother, after attending The Oregon Gathering. The RV park that we find is most convenient to the city states in their website: "We do enforce a standard of excellence and [b]allow 1996 and newer RVs while viewing older RVs for admission." I have noticed that this "inspection upon arrival" policy seems to be the new norm.

• A "Resort" in Las Vegas, NV insisted that even though reservations were required, they reserved the right to exclude us upon arrival, and would not consider a photograph attached to my reservation email request. A later scheduling conflict caused me to cancel, [b]forfeiting all of my up front camping fee, which I chose not to contest.

This Resort in Troutdale, OR did [b]not state that reservations were required like the Las Vegas Resort did.
I emailed an availability request for a mid-week time period, describing my trailer as "vintage" and included a photograph as before.



I received a very nice phone call from the office who wanted to confirm that there was no peeling paint or broken windows/screens.
I told him that I had displayed the trailer at several shows. I got a reservation with no deposit or payment-in-full up front required.
I figured that a Monday through Thursday 3 night stay would not be problematic for them. We'll see how it goes in July.

[Pamela S.]

We just took out our "new" 1984 Fiber Stream for its maiden voyage this weekend. When we told the campground host that it was a 1984, he did a double take. I'm pretty sure he thought it was quite a bit newer than that.