Blog

First Cross Country RoadTour in the new Camper.

Dog and I headed west to Quartzite Arizona. The weather heading both west and them back home was brutal!  Wind, cold, snow, ice, it certainly movated me to keep moving.  However, “Q” was nice.  It was mild temperature and dry.  I didn’t take much time for photography as I met up with neighbors who also were making their first trip in their truck camper. We had a ball and promise to return.

Well, it appears the RV market has gone nuts…

Apparently this corona virus thing has motivated folks to purchase RVs to travel and vacation with. And why not? You can isolate while touring with all the comforts of home.
unfortunately RV prices have sky rocketed. That is if you can even find one. Believe me, I’ve been looking.

I guess I took too long building the place to put the camper.

After a wet and chilly winter, I finally finished my building. Whew. It was a lot of work for just two fellows and a dog. It turned out great.
Now I need to find a good deal on a slightly used Arctic Fox 865 Truck Camper and I can get back on the road.
Cheers. I hope the Corona hasn’t caused you too much trouble.

Greener grass is calling me.

What I’d hoped would be just a few short weeks without a mobile palace has become 6 months and the end is not near!

After my last trip west (especially through Montana) I decided I need to be much more mobile and agile.  I decided I would get a truck camper (TC).  In concept, it seemed like a simple goal.  Easy for me to say, huh?

I decided my first task was to purchase a truck.  How else was I to actually bring a TC home when I purchased one??  I decided to buy a 1 ton, 4WD, rear wheel, crew cab, short bed, diesel Ford.  YIKES!  Those things ain’t cheap!!  Yeah, I know.  People have said I need a dually or they’ve said I need a long bed or both.  I intend to use the truck as a pickup truck here at home when not traveling and I’m not going to drive a dually around town.  And, being a crew cab, even with a short bed it is longer than the average parking space.  No why I’d want the long bed version!

I finally located a reasonable deal on a 2016 with very low mileage (less than 10,000) and bought it.  It has most of the bells and whistles that Ford has to offer.  I like it.

Oh oh.  It is just an inch or two too tall to fit in my garage.  Darn!

I spent weeks trying to figure out how to add on to the garage to make a space for both the truck and the camper (when it is off loaded).  That would have just been too ugly and would interfere with my peaceful space on the back deck. So I decided to build a stand alone building.  

The challenge became where. Where to build the building which I’d decided needed a 14 foot tall door and needed to be a minimum of 24 feet by30 feet. I didn’t have much to choose from if I wanted the building close to my existing garage area.  I chose to move my woodshed and build the new building in it’s place.

Bring in the excavation equipment!

After removing several large trees (and some smaller ones) I hauled 6 loads of dirt in and graded the new area.  I poured the slab.  The end of the slab closest to my driveway required a 24″ retaining wall so I hired a block mason to build it.  Slab work is finished including the retaining wall and French drain.  I’ve spread most of a 14 ton load of gravel.  I ordered the trusses which are scheduled to be delivered today and I’m ready to have the lumber delivered.

WHEW!

Winter is here and I really don’t care to get out and do construction I the freezing cold.  So, it may be awhile before the building is finished.

I don’t want to buy the TC until I have a place to park it so I guess I’m stuck with day dreaming about roadt rips for now.

Cheers.