crop craftsman measuring wooden plank

The more we discussed out travel dreams, the more places were added to our bucket list. What started as a short trip, eventually grew into a 20,000 kilometer road trip.

During this period, we noticed our trailer search evolved by two foot increments to match the growing adventure. It was time to create a list specifying our needs.

  1. Standard Size King Bed – it is rumoured that Russel is a princess and likes his sleeping space. Who wants to sleep on a travel trailer queen bed – which is much smaller than a regular queen bed. One has to curl up like a squirrel to avoid limbs dangling over the sides. Who wants to be thumped across the face in the dead of night when we’re having dreams of grizzly bears stalking around the trailer. The rude awakening would likely result in a trip to the laundromat to clean up the big fright.
  2. A Bathroom and Shower – to avoid the catastrophic pee bucket situation. Susan wanted a flush throne and we both want a regular sized shower. We both like a shower after a dusty day of hiking trails before retiring for the night.
  3. A Spacious Kitchen – with ample grocery, implement and beverage storage to sustain us for at least five days in remote areas.
  4. A two door Fridge/Freezer – that’s bigger than a shoe box, but not full size like a domestic unit. Again, it must be adequate to supply us for at least five days in remote areas.
  5. Adequate Water Storage – to supply us for at least five days of short showers washing the nooks and crannies after a dusty hike, and following the toilet flushing rule of – if it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.
  6. Manageable Trailer Length – up to 30ft to fit all our requirements, and be easy to back up into most campsites. We want to avoid the flared tempers, and being the amusement of other experienced campers watching the spectacle unfold, as we back up into trees, campground tables, and fire pits.
  7. Double Axle – for better weight distribution and safe handling.
  8. All Season Capable – sufficient thermal insulation with adequate cooling and heating systems to allow all season camping in -10 to +40 degree Centigrade.

With this list in hand, we resumed our search, looking at just about every distributor in the Fraser Valley, then in the evenings we would watch countless YouTube video reviews, eventually narrowing the search down to a few configurations, and trailer weights.

We realized a Toyota Tacoma, despite being an awesome pickup, only had a 6500 pound towing capacity, and we were looking at trailers around 7500 pounds.

During our research of towing vehicles, we liked the Ford F-150 3.5 litre V6 Ecoboost engine. The towing capacity exceeded the trailer weight by a comfortable safety margin. As luck would have it, a second hand truck came on the market when we visited Ocean Park Ford. We didn’t experience any sales pressure, took the vehicle for a test drive – and immediately fell in love with the truck and it’s 9,500 pound towing capacity.

We put a deposit down, slept on our decision, and happily paid it off in full the next day.

Susan giving the thumbs up from behind the truck

We narrowed our trailer search down to two configurations, and Susan found one I liked at Travelhome in Abbotsford. When we drove onto the lot, the agents visibly breathed a sigh of relief, that we had come to our senses, and upgraded towing vehicles from the Jeep.

While looking at the trailer in person, I realized the layout didn’t have the storage we needed. Susan mentioned a different unit that we were thinking of looking at in Kamloops. The agent said they had just taken delivery of the one that very morning. It was at the back of the lot, waiting to be cleaned and inspected after it’s trip from the Oregon production line.

We asked if we could look at it, and no sooner had we stepped inside, we both felt it was the perfect layout for us, and best of all, it met all of our criteria.

We felt good about our choice and realized our adventure was possible.

 

"Two-feet-i-tis" - By Russel Robertson - - Comments Off on Two-feet-i-tis Comments