Starling Travel

When New York was hit by Hurricane Sandy, the residents were without power. The people at Biolite set up a booth on the street, offering free phone charging, using their Biolite stoves.

Keeping my iPhone charged when we are boondocking is the biggest problem I have. Usually, we have to plug the phones into the car and keep the car running until the phones are charged. I hate to just sit there with my car running while I’m charging my phone, though. Using scraps of wood to charge my phone is another method that I could use to keep my phone charged.

Here is a video showing the Biolite stove:

The Biolite isn’t the only option as far as this is concerned, though. There is another charger called the Cup Charger that could be used. Compared to the Biolite, it charges a lot quicker.

My biggest problem is that either way, we have to monitor the phone charging process. If we hook them up to the car and leave it running, we have to watch the car while our phones charge. Of course, we can charge ALL our gadgets at once when we use the car. With the Biolite or the Cup Charger, we have to monitor a fire and keep it from burning out or out of control. Additionally, about 70% of the time, we camp in places where fire is restricted for fear of wildfires, so we wouldn’t even be able to USE the Biolite or Cup Charger in those spots.

It’s looking like our best option would be to hook up a good battery to our tent trailer and make sure it’s charged before we go out camping (and can be charged up again with the car). Then, we’d have enough juice to keep our gadgets charged and it’s a little less work than keeping a fire alive and raging.

Photo via: Oh, Just Brooklyn Survivalists Charging Cell Phones With Camp Stoves As The National Guard Rolls By: Gothamist

I saw this camper on eBay, but photos and descriptions don’t last long there, so I wanted to preserve it.

• Vintage Trailer 1963 Little Gem Canned Ham Camper 9 ft & like NEW in RVs & Campers | eBay Motors

It’s a 1963 Little Gem Bug and it’s as cute as one:

Here is the description from the eBay listing:

1963 Little Gem Vintage Canned Ham Camper/Trailer. This is a beautiful, vintage 1963 Little Gem Bugg canned ham camper/trailer! One of only 35 built in 1963 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is 9ft 6” long x 7 ft wide. Total of 11 ft long including the hitch ball, and is so easy to tow a 4cyl car could tow it. It has a clear Michigan title showing a weight of 995 pounds!

This awesome vintage camper/trailer underwent a complete frame off restoration/renovation which was completed in June 2012. It is in extremely beautiful condition! Too much has been done and replaced in the renovation to list it all & mention it, but here is some of it. It has all new ¼” Canadian Birch wood interior, all new inner frame structure and all new .030 white metal exterior. All inner structure is screwed together and glued. All new stainless screws on exterior. It is completely sealed and has no leaks whatsoever. The 5/8” floor is new with period correct 12”x12” Tarkett tiles. All of the 110v & 12v electrical wiring and plumbing is new. Has a 35amp fuse box with 10.ga wiring from 35amp campground connector. A 20 gal fresh water tank is inside and a city water hookup for the faucet. It has new stainless steel 2 burner propane stove and a new stainless steel 110v fridge. Also has the original equipment options of a propane gas heater and propane wall gas light and both work wonderful.

Every inch of woodwork with this camper is brand new, with a countertop for the kitchen area and a table top with classic period correct formica, closely matching the new floor tile. There is a full size bed area for a mattress and there is head room standing inside the trailer for a 6ft. person.

New 12v interior & exterior lights throughout, with a beautiful 12v porch light overlooking the jalousie tinted windowed entrance door. It tows beautifully with all new exterior electrical wiring & lights with L.E.D. turn signals and brake lights. Also has the 7 way trailer plug and automatically charges the new 12v deep cycle battery when it’s hooked up to tow vehicle. The 3 NANCO ST tires are brand new and has period correct new baby moon hubcaps. The exterior has the City water hookup, the 35amp plugin for 110v, a cable TV hookup and the water storage tank fill port.

We had planned to use this trailer to go to various vintage trailer rallies and car shows. It looks great behind any car especially a classic car! You will definitely get a lot of attention and thumbs up with this beauty. This is an amazingly professionally rebuilt VINTAGE Canned Ham camper/trailer renovated to a much higher level than anything new in 1963.

This is ready to roll to the camping site and to be enjoyed & admired at the next camper/ trailer rally or car show! It is offered for sale at only $8700.

The Little Gem Bug is very rare, but I did find a photo of another one on Flicker:

There are lots more pictures after the break… (Continue Reading…)

Glamping is the mixture of camping with glamour. There is no reason to “rough it” if you want to enjoy the outdoors. Ironically, it was my husband, Michael, who introduced me to the concept. My sister, Stacey, wanted to go camping for her birthday. Mike begrudgingly agreed:

Ok, we can go, but we are doing this RIGHT. I want a REAL propane stove. None of this cooking on the fire stuff. It’s not going to be like in the boy scouts. I want an inflatable mattress and we are going to have a good tent.

Since that day, my definition of glamping has advanced to the point where I only want to camp in my tent trailer now. There are many times when I have said that camping in a trailer isn’t camping. I was right. It’s glamping. Kelle Arvay of Little Vintage Trailer fame, posted this video of her and Mary Jane Butters talking about glamping.

I love that we get to see parts of Kelle’s trailer that she has decorated so nicely. There are more photos of both her trailers here:

• Little Vintage Trailer: Buttercup and Jelly Bean

Next time you cringe when your significant other suggests camping, try glamping it up a bit. Add a propane stove instead of cooking on the fire. Bring a cot, inflatable mattress and REAL bed linens instead of that ratty old sleeping bag. Make an impressive camp kitchen that brings all the comforts of home. Find a cheap trailer and fix it up. Whatever you need to do to make it a good experience for you is what glamping is all about.

Check out this homemade A-frame camper I found on Gander Mountain’s Bragging Board.

The builder said,

My son & I built this in our garage over the winter of 2008. We used a 1968 Puma popup for the frame and body upper side wall sections fold in and both roof sections drop down for towing. vinyl siding and cedar shingles on the roof. We get alot questions while camping.

I love the idea of taking an old popup camper and making it unique and different!

When I investigated the perfect trailer for myself I did quite a bit of research on A-Frame trailers. They’re made by quite a few manufacturers right now and they are quite ingenious in how they pop up so easily. You can read about what I said about them here:

• Starling Travel » A-Frame Trailers

My problem with the A-Frame trailers is that they are so UGLY when they are all folded up and going down the road. I know I shouldn’t care about that because they are lightweight and easy to tow, but, honestly, I do. Part of the reason I’m attracted to having a trailer is having a cute dollhouse that I can personalize and decorate.

Well, now that I’ve actually OWNED a cute dollhouse trailer that attracted every onlooker in the RV park, I’m happy to live in anonymity. So, those A-frame trailers look pretty swank to me now.

I was surprised to learn, however, that these aren’t the first A-frame trailers to hit the market. Before Aliner, Chalet and Rockwood, there were the DualCraft Chalet trailers.

I learned of their existence from this pin on Pinterest: Pinterest / 1966 Dualcraft Tent trailer

Then I found Erin & Lisa Beckwell’s 1973 DualCraft Chalet posted on Good Old RVs.

Other than these two examples, I can’t find out any more information on these trailers. They’re not even listed in the Nada Guides. Fortunately, Erin and Lisa posted a BUNCH of photos of their trailer, so we can see how they were. (Continue Reading…)

Here are some pictures of the very rare 1951 Powell’s Palace Tent Trailer from OldTrailer.com Teardrop and Tent Trailer Pictures:

The website called it a Fallon Palace, which might be a brand name, but it looks like a homemade trailer with the name Powell on it, so I’m going with that.

I really would love to see this trailer folded up. I suspect that the two sides fold over and the middle drops down to cap the top. Based on this interior shot, that’s probably the case.

I also love the retro propane tank on the front with its squashed and round shape.

It looks like this trailer was at a vintage rally, so if anyone has any more information on it, please tell us all about it in the comments.

I was searching for some good ideas on how to store things in a tent trailer and I found this idea on Pop Up Portal posted by The Wunders. It’s a bed shelf that comes in three pieces to fold flat for travel

The Wunders said:

We built one of these for each bunk from scrap plywood and 2x2s. The side panels fit between the mattress and the bed rails. The side pieces fit snuggly between two pieces of 2x2s and are easily removed for flat storage. There is about 14 inches of space between the top of the bed and the bottom of the shelf which is more than enough room for our feet. Our clothing bins are placed on top along with glasses, books, etc. I have more pictures with measurements somewhere but can’t seem to locate them right now.

Do they get kicked off or fall down easily?

Having the shelves knocked down is not an issue. The shelves are so tight, it takes some muscle to disassemble them. Also, they fit down between the side of the mattress and bed rails, so they are very snug. We are able to put two large Sterilite drawers (side by side) on them and still have about two feet of available shelf space for other items.

I LOVE this idea not only for the extra storage it could give us, but it looks like it could double as a bed desk. I would like to make one with hinges or maybe follow this design that I found on Pinterest:

The more I look for good ideas for storage in our trailer, the more I am surprised and delighted by the ingenuity of people. I’m so excited to try this idea!

According to RT, Pythias Brown, the TSA agent who was convicted of stealing from airline passengers, said that it’s very commonplace.

A TSA agent convicted of stealing more than $800,000 worth of goods from travelers said this type of theft is “commonplace” among airport security. Almost 400 TSA officers have been fired for stealing from passengers since 2003.

But while Brown believes he might have been one of the worst thieves at the TSA, he imagines the agency’s culture makes it easy for others to do the same. Many officers don’t care about their work and complain about low pay and being treated badly, he claims, which prompts them to steal. To make it even easier to get away with, TSA managers also never search their employees’ bags.

From the near strip searches to the thieving TSA agents. From the HOURS of being locked in a plane trapped on the tarmac to the high cost, there is NOTHING that entices me to fly. We are going to Disney World in April and we’d rather DRIVE for five days straight than take a plane.

Retronaut posted an awesome photo of Disneyland’s backstage cafeteria from 1961.

I love seeing Snow White with a lunch tray. Right behind her is a spaceman and to the right is a cowboy. It’s all that I love about Disneyland all wrapped up in one photo!

I love this photo from Happy Trails on Flickr.

Here’s what he says:

This is the cover of a journal type book I bought several years back. I’ve been using it to document all the trips I take in the ’72 LeMans I own that my Grandma bought new. I have some old trip logs of hers from when the car was new just documenting gas stops, but I wish there were more details. I don’t ever plan to sell this car so maybe my daughter who will end up with the car someday will find it interesting to go back and read where the car has been during the time I owned it.

(It’s too bad they used an Interstate shield rather than the old style highway sign shield, but, it’s still cool – I’d sure like to own that trailer).