Starling Travel

I came across this in my old photos the other day. Our first tent trailer, the Palamino, was so trashed that the canvass was literally held together with duct tape. We didn’t actually call it the Duct Tape Palace until AFTER we gave it away to charity.

Seeing this old photo of it, though, made me miss it a bit.

This photo was taken on our maiden voyage of that camper at Wasatch State Park, before any duct tape was employed to keep the windows closed. It was a very good introductory camper that taught us that we really did like camping in a tent trailer. It made the cost of the Jayco that we have now seem worth it. I don’t miss the Duct Tape Palace, but I’m sure glad we had it for as long as we did. Totally worth the $300 we paid for it!

Other posts about the Palomino Tent Trailer:

• Starling Travel – 1988 Palomino Pony Tent Trailer
• Starling Travel – Palomino Tent Trailers: How Little Has Changed

I liked these videos showing the modifications these folks made to their tent trailer. This is the first video with the easy modifications.

These mods from the same people are a little more intense, but the bike rack is a stroke of genius!

I have made so many little modifications to our camper, but I’ve never thought of putting all of them on video. Great ideas here!

I’ve talked about the brilliant design of the Trailorboat before here:

• Starling Travel – Trailorboat: A Rare Glimpse on eBay

In August of 2013, I was actually able to see one in person in West Valley, Utah. It was part of a beautiful rig.

I went to the Salt Lake Farmer’s Market in July 2012 and saw this AWESOME camper turned food truck. It’s called Ramblin’ Rose Cafe.

Their camper is adorable and they were so friendly.

The next time you are cruising around Salt Lake City, check out the Farmer’s Market. You might just find the Ramblin’ Rose Cafe.

Sometimes when it’s winter or when I’m trapped at home, I take my Barbies camping.

It’s not enough for me, but it does take the edge off a tad. I’ve never in my life found a real life camper as good as my old Barbie Star Traveler. The adventures I have in real life are never as grand as those I had in the backyard.

Back in March 2012, the Sahara Hotel was closed and we snapped a few photos of it while we drove past on the strip. I thought people might like to see them to remember for old times’ sake.

In its spot, they now have a hotel called SLS. They really just washed off all the personality and reused the building. They tore out the roller coaster and made everything white and boring. I really miss the Las Vegas of the Nineties and wish they would go back to the kid-friendly thing. Since I’m basically just a grown-up kid, all this “sophistication” is just lost on me…

I found these photos of The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada in my collection and I thought I’d share them with you.

I don’t know why we keep visiting The Luxor Hotel over and over. There are hundreds of hotels in Las Vegas we could stay at and have a different experience. I guess we like the familiarity of a hotel we’ve stayed at before.

Then again, I don’t know why we keep visiting Las Vegas over and over. Part of it is location. It is close enough to be not too long of a drive and far enough to feel like a get-a-way.

I keep thinking we should visit someplace else, but how can I when Las Vegas is as beautiful as it is time and time again?

I took this photo on one of my walks with my dog.

This snail represents everything I love about camping with our little tent trailer. I love that I can carry my house on my back. My bed smells like me. I can cook myself some yummy food for dinner. It all feels so familiar because we have slept so many times in that tiny trailer. There is something so comforting about carrying my home on my back. That’s why I love traveling with a camper.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the anniversary trip Mike and I took in August of 2013 was The Last Prius Campout. We camped at Wasatch State Park in Northern Utah and had I known it was our last campout with that car, I would have taken more pictures.

I was looking through photos the other day and I found the few that I took.

We had a great time on that campout and I wrote about it when I talked about camping fondue: Starling Travel – Camping Fondue

Right after this, we bought the Crosstrek and we have adored it, using it for all our camping trips ever since, but the Prius was a great car for camping and it pulled that tent trailer like a trooper.

Here are a couple more shots:

When we went to Legoland last year, I snapped some shots of the RVs that they had built in their Legoland towns.

If you would like to make some campers like this with Legos, they have made some sets:

• LEGO Friends 3184 Adventure Camper at Amazon.com
• LEGO City Town Car and Caravan 4435 at Amazon.com
• LEGO Friends Summer Caravan 41034 Building Set at Amazon.com
• LEGO Creator Volkswagen T1 Camper Van 10220 at Amazon.com
• LEGO City Great Vehicles 60057 Camper Van at Amazon.com

We might not be able to own the RV of our dreams, but we can build one from Legos!