Starling Travel

I wish I could personally talk to Patricia Moyes and explain camping to her.

It reads:

I simply cannot understand the passion that some people have for making themselves thoroughly uncomfortable and then boasting about it afterwards.

• Patricia Moyes

She might not have been talking about camping when she wrote that, but MANY people believe that camping is something that is thoroughly uncomfortable. And they are right in some respects. I remember nights freezing in the mountains of Northern Utah. I remember nights when the air mattress had lost all its air and we were sleeping on the hard rocks and packed earth. I remember sweating while pounding in tent pegs in the same hard ground.

But you know what?

I ALSO remember waking up, opening up my tent and seeing rabbits eye me warily. I remember a ground squirrel so friendly that we seriously considered taking him home with us. I remember waking up at midnight to go to the bathroom and seeing more stars than I could ever see at home. I remember dipping in the cool water just to take the edge off the heat before popping out again for more relaxing on the beach. I remember snorkeling in a man-made lake and being delighted by the most boring of fish in my gaze. I remember eating burned food out of a foil-wrapped hobo dinner and it tasting better than a dinner at a fancy restaurant.

When I am camping, I experience “hardships” that I could easily avoid by staying in a hotel, but at the same time, I experience beautifully zen moments that I would never see from the comfort of that hotel room. The thoroughly uncomfortable is redeemed by the inexplicably beautiful.

THAT is why those people boast about it afterward.

I found some ADORABLE camping chairs at K-mart. They match my camper perfectly, so I had to have them, but I HATE the stupid bags to hold and carry them.

So I added a clasp to keep the chair closed and a handle to carry it. If you want to do the same for your chairs, here are the directions.

(Continue Reading…)

As cool as Stacey and Dan’s Teardrop looks, I can’t help but love this Jeep Action Camper!

Here is a video slide show of it:

Here’s how easy it is to get from the cab to the camper (if you’re bendy).

I like this design and I love that it turns a Jeep into a compact camper. So awesome!

I found this trailer on KSL Classifieds and I’m strangely impressed with it.

I’ll leave Mark to the description:

This unique New Trailer design is perfect for the sand dunes or hunter that wants a warm place to sleep and haul a 4 Wheeler with ease!

You can also take out the bed and haul things with the back ramp that lowers and it has a sliding door to get inside from the front as well that way you leave the ramp closed!

You can also just put a Hammock and a couple of chairs inside and have a little living space!

It comes with full size bed and buddy heater!

I used it on the deer hunt and stayed nice and warm with the heater! Come and check it out! I am also renting this unit for $100 a day so call if interested! Mark Home 801-706-2406 and Work 801-706-2406

Toy haulers are an entire category of campers that I have neglected mostly because I don’t like to ride “toys.” If however, it’s just you and one other person, this camper might be perfect. A bed and a way to haul your four-wheeler is all you need sometimes.

You might recall that in 2012, Mike and I traveled the country in a teardrop trailer that I adored. When Sean came to live with us, however, there just wasn’t enough room for all three of us in that tiny trailer, so we sold it to Stacey and Dan, my sister and brother-in-law.

They now have the PERFECT tow vehicle to match it!

Here is another photo from the other side.

Even though that Jeep can haul WAY more than that tiny teardrop, they look absolutely perfect together and I die of jealousy every time we go camping together!

You can see this camper in full here:

• Starling Travel » Tour of Our Teardrop American Outbacker

This photo just made me wish so hard for a time machine.

I really believe that if I invented a time machine, I wouldn’t use it to kill Hitler. I would use it to travel to a Yellowstone that was filled with bears and retro campers. Is that wrong?

I have finally done it. I have made a good awning, that is lightweight, adorable and sturdy in the wind!

Here it is from another angle:

If you remember, I had some trouble with my awning before. You can read about it here:

• Starling Travel – My Homemade Awning on a Jayco Tent Trailer

I fixed the problem of it falling down in the wind and made it even more portable. Read more to see how: (Continue Reading…)

This video is EXACTLY why I love my tent trailer and would rather stay in it than a hotel room.

Here are Chuck’s reasons RVs are better than hotels:

• You load your luggage once. No packing and unpacking in each city you stop.
• You have your own closet and sleep in your own bed.
• You have your own stocked refrigerator, not a mini-bar with overpriced items in it.
• You can cook healthy meals in your RV and save money.
• You know who slept in your RV bed the night before.
• Your RV is cleaned by you, so you know how clean it is: no bed bugs, strange bodily fluids or uncleaned glasses.
• Hotels are not always near the places you want to visit.
• No elevators or long hallways to negotiate with luggage. Just pull into your spot and go.
• You meet cool people at campgrounds.
• Campfires!!
• RV campsites cost less than hotel rooms and are sometimes free.

This is a great list, but it’s kind of skewed toward luxury RVs, which are EXPENSIVE!!

We have a tiny tent camper with no bathroom or fridge. You can see it in this photo compared to a large fifth-wheel next to it:

How does it compare to a cheap hotel room?

EVEN BETTER! Here’s why:

• Easier to park than a huge camper. We literally can ROLL it into the campsite by hand if we need to.
• A spot near the campground bathroom is WAY better than emptying a black water tank.
• We only spent $1200 on the camper two years ago. No payments. Those inexpensive campsites really do cost LESS than a cheap hotel room because we didn’t pay a ton of money for our camper.
• We can still sleep in our own bed and cook our own food.
• We get 25 mpg with our car pulling our tent camper, so gas is as cheap for us as it is for a hotel traveler.

I have no desire to go back to hotel traveling. Whenever I have to stay in a hotel, I feel put out and miss my little tent trailer. If you feel as if camping in an RV is roughing it, you have the wrong idea. If you WANT to rough it, then I understand how sleeping in an RV might not feel right, but if you just want to travel the country and enjoy beautiful views, then an RV is the best way to go.

This video is a nice and quiet walkthrough of the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN.

I so want to go there and look at all the old trailers in person!

This quote about beauty reminded me why I love to go to the mountains.

It reads:

No synonym for God is so perfect as Beauty. Whether as seen carving the lines of the mountains with glaciers, or gathering matter into stars, or planning the movements of water, or gardening – still all is Beauty!

• John Muir

This is why I go camping and hiking, to experience that overwhelming spiritual feeling of pure beauty. When I go too long between camping trips, my feet become eager to leave home behind and go in search of the mountains.