Humble beginnings...Where it all began

[jsb5717]

Seems like most of us on the forum have been hauling trailers for many, many years. I just retired and was reminiscing about life back in the day and was curious about some of our stories about when we first started trailering.

DW and I have been married 39 years. Right after we tied the knot she informed me that her idea of roughing it was Motel 6. We both grew up tent camping but she wasn't having any more of that. We didn't have a lot of money and our first towable was a disreputable, ancient, tent trailer. It was old and ugly but we used it for 2 seasons. About year 3 of marriage we bought our first TT. It was a 23' 1977 Layton. It wasn't fancy but we were delighted to have it. It served our young family well and made many great memories. We used that thing for 10 years and sold it for what we paid for it. Not bad. Our next rig was a 5er and we've been pulling 5ers ever since.

We have loved trailering since that first TT and look forward to more of it since we have both retired.

Anyone else? How did it all begin?

[Canonman]

I had always been a "dirt camper". Sometimes a tent was used and sometimes a tarp. The DW had grown up hard-side camping. She; "I'm not camping in the dirt". Me; "I'm not pulling a motel room behind me". She won of course and we bought a used travel trailer, "just to try it out". Our first real trip that year was 5 days dry camping in the San Juan mountains near Ridgeway, Colorado. It was late fall and we had rain, snow and hail every day. The trailer had hot and cold running water, thermostat controlled heat and a queen sized bed. I was SOLD!! No more cold, wet, sleeping on the ground and cooking in a storm for me.
3 years later we upgraded to the Cougar. It's a little bigger than I wanted but the DW says "it's just right". Who am I to argue

[geeman]

Originally Posted by Canonman

I had always been a "dirt camper". Sometimes a tent was used and sometimes a tarp. The DW had grown up hard-side camping. She; "I'm not camping in the dirt". Me; "I'm not pulling a motel room behind me". She won of course and we bought a used travel trailer, "just to try it out". Our first real trip that year was 5 days dry camping in the San Juan mountains near Ridgeway, Colorado. It was late fall and we had rain, snow and hail every day. The trailer had hot and cold running water, thermostat controlled heat and a queen sized bed. I was SOLD!! No more cold, wet, sleeping on the ground and cooking in a storm for me.
3 years later we upgraded to the Cougar. It's a little bigger than I wanted but the DW says "it's just right". Who am I to argue

Where are these photos?? That is beautiful!!

[LewisB]

We started camping on my Honda motorcycle. Two sleeping bags on the fender, a 2 man backpacking tent, and some food and cooking stuff in a pack hanging on the sissy bar - that's all we needed. My only regret is not having captured a photo of that first "rig". Shortly after, we moved up to a hard sided rig - talk about "hog heaven" - we were IN!

Attachment 31480

[blubuckaroo]

Originally Posted by LewisB

We started camping on my Honda motorcycle. Two sleeping bags on the fender, a 2 man backpacking tent, and some food and cooking stuff in a pack hanging on the sissy bar - that's all we needed. My only regret is not having captured a photo of that first "rig". Shortly after, we moved up to a hard sided rig - talk about "hog heaven" - we were IN!

Attachment 31480

Great stories.
What car is towing the little camper?

[Sarge2]

Originally Posted by blubuckaroo

Great stories.
What car is towing the little camper?

Almost looks a bit like a 51 or 52 Chevy jmho..

[BPOP]

That is a sweet looking Ford Bronco, late 60's early 70's, nice ride love to have one like it today!!

[blubuckaroo]

Originally Posted by blubuckaroo

Great stories.
What car is towing the little camper?

Our '77 Bronco. We're the original owners. It's still my daily driver.

Before the camper, we would pull a utility trailer made from an old Chevy LUV bed. It carried a bunch of camping and recreation gear.

[Sarge2]

Sorry I thought you were asking about what was towing the trailer in post #3...
I'd never mistake a Old 50's car for a Bronco...LOL... at least until I get older..

[LewisB]

Originally Posted by blubuckaroo

Great stories.
What car is towing the little camper?

In Post #3, that was a 49 chevy sedan! The trailer even had on awning! Took about an hour to set it up. Shortly after that picture, we purchased a new Ford Maverick - 71 I think. It was a towing beast (ha-ha). Had a 170 ci 6 cylinder. It ran so hot going up the hills that I routed the windshield washer hose to a spray nozzle on the front of the radiator - when going up a hill I turned on the windshield washer to spray water on the front of the radiator. At the top of every hill, I would stop and refill that little reservoir (maybe 2 quarts?).

Ah yes...those were the "good old days"!

[Phil Saran]

Ex wife and I started out like others, tent camping. We even took our
first child (son 3 months old) tent camping up to Vancouver BC.

After two kids and a bunch of years we moved up to a hard side pop
up that friends sold us for $$1.00. Needed tires and a good cleaning.

Used that for a few years and then the in-laws bought a 1985 Ford
Class C and we used that more than they did.

In early 2000's we bought our first TT a early 80's 23 footer.

In 2004 we got divorced and she bought me out of the house so I went
looking for a place to park the TT, found out it was too old for most parks
so I bought a 2003 Terry 27' TT parked it in a small RV park near the beach
in SOCAL since I was still working and commuting to Los Angeles.

$500 a month plus electric and I had a home to live in.

A couple of years later I met my wife and a few years later we sold the
TT and moved up to a nicer 2010 Keystone Springdale 30' TT.

In late 2013 we sold the TT while getting ready to move to Colorado.

We moved in 2014 and in 2015 we bought a Thor Hurricane gas class A
and sold it in 2018. I did not like driving the MH and the wife hated being
in the MH driving in wind.

Later in 2018 we bought a 2012 Ram 3500 diesel truck and in 10/2018
we bought our current 2019 Keystone Cougar 30 RLS 34' 5th wheel trailer
and we are very happy with it.

[Weldon]

My parents had a very used PUP when I was growing up. The only "roughing" it was done at Lake Martin, 45 mins from our house. Fast forward, before marriage, I had an GA state park map and would literally throw a dart Fri after work. Wherever it hit, I camped in a tent with my dogs that weekend. Did that for several years. Ever seen a Yorkie chase a black bear 8 miles deep in the woods? FF again, we started my kids in a tent in our backyard, then to Cheaha SP in Alabama. After a particularly rainy weekend, the DW said no more tents. I bought a 93 Skamper PUP (what my kids named "minion") for $500 cash and we used it for a yr and sold it for 4x our initial investment. I love camping with my family, but miss my "dart days."

[dutchmensport]

Motorcycle and a sleeping bag. Nothing else except a hand operated can opener and a fork and spoon. I would open a can of Pork n Beans, put it in a fire, warm it it, and eat right from the can. The can served as a cooking pot and a dinner plate all in one. I also carried a cloths hanger wire I could use for a hotdog stick. I had a lot of fun back then, but that ground sure did get cold sometimes!

You know, there's an old saying you can tell how happy a motorcycle rider is by the amount of bugs on his teeth! I had a lot of bugs on my teeth, face, cloths, knees, ......

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by dutchmensport

Motorcycle and a sleeping bag. Nothing else except a hand operated can opener and a fork and spoon. I would open a can of Pork n Beans, put it in a fire, warm it it, and eat right from the can. The can served as a cooking pot and a dinner plate all in one. I also carried a cloths hanger wire I could use for a hotdog stick. I had a lot of fun back then, but that ground sure did get cold sometimes!

You know, there's an old saying you can tell how happy a motorcycle rider is by the amount of bugs on his teeth! I had a lot of bugs on my teeth, face, cloths, knees, ......

DW and I had some wonderful times on our bikes in the 60s/early 70s. That comment about bugs in the teeth etc.....which we heard back then, sort of morphed on a trip we were taking across the OK panhandle into the mountains of NM. Cruising along, having a blast, old style helmet, no shield; turned around to yell something at DW, turned around and a big beetle hit me in the corner of my eye and embedded there - stuck! Bikes were fun, and I loved them.....but I wore a shield from then on.

[Sarge2]

I swore when I exited the Army in 1972 I'd never live eat or sleep on the dirt, be in the bush or battle insects.... I also swore I'd never stand in line to eat...hence no buffet restaurants.. over the years I did try some much larger tents and learned to live with buffet restaurants..
Fast forward to 2018 when I borrowed my friends travel trailer and took a long weekend at a campground... I and my DW of 40 years enjoyed ourselves immensely.. It was the next year when we made the move to get our TT....

[revrusty]

DW and I bought a Sears canvass tent at a yard sale for $15 in 1989. Married for one year with little money. She cut the awning off and used it to patch some huge holes in the roof with a repair kit that cost about $5. It was about 18 feet long. 3 separate rooms. Stayed at the national park campground near Oregon Inlet, NC for $10 a night. 11 days at the beach for $100.
Next a backpacker special. 2 sleeping bags, 2 air mattresses, and 2 person nylon tent. Started backpacking and sleeping on the trail.
Some years later a friend gave us a 1965 Airstream he used only for sleeping and cooking as a hunt camp. Lots of work later and we were on the road. Now on our 5th TT and finally able to get away several times a year.
Good memories. Thanks for starting the thread.

[B-O-B'03]

The DW and I started dating in 1975. I had a '73 Dodge van that I had fixed up with paneling, shag carpet, bed and a Sony quadraphonic 8 track.

We camped in that for many years and pulled the Honda 750 around on a trailer or drove the bike to a location and stayed in cheap hotels.

After a couple of kids we purchased a Coleman 2 room cabin tent and family camped in that until the kids were 10 & 11.

We bought a Starcraft pop-up trailer and drug it allover, until some guy rang my door bell and asked if I want to sell it. By that time the kids were too cool to camp with mom and dad and were camping with friends, so we did not do much camping until we bought our current camper in 2015.

Our current rig is just perfect for the 2 of us and the 70 pound dog.

-Brian

[Ken / Claudia]

As a young boy, my parents had canvas tents. We used those on hunting trips. We had several family members who lived or had beach property on Oregon coast. So camping was during big game hunting seasons.
As a teenager they got a pop up trailer and we used that maybe 10 years. With that we visited more of the Oregon and Washington coastal areas. Still used tents and the trailer while hunting. When 15 and I had only a driver permit, Dad let me drive part way home from Eastern Oregon. Those trips took maybe 6 hours each way. At some point while still in Eastern Or. on a 2 lane narrow road. I drove through a curve and a group of mule deer where standing all over the road. No way drive around them and they were not moving. I braked hard and steered to keep control and on the road. That was the 1st time pulling a trailer and 1st time I experienced driving while trying to keep control while hard braking and having a trailer push the tow vehicle all over the road.
When they got the 1st hard sided travel trailer, I was out on my own. In my mid twenties I purchased my families 1st travel trailer. I have owned 5 TTs,3 truck campers and 1 40 ft park trailer. Barrowed a 5th wheel and pickup for a weekend to try before buy. I did not buy them. Barrowed Dads largest MH a 34 fter for a 2 week trip on the Oregon coast and Crater Lake. That was a fun trip, but we did not have a dingy so, no sight seeing outside of the campgrounds. I still have had canvas tents for the more rugged places I sometimes go to hunt elk. Places that no RV should be pulled. A canvas tent with a wood stove burning, sleeping on cots is not to bad.

[vampress_me]

Growing up, my family’s camping was done in motels. Hubby’s family camped his whole life growing up. When hubby and I got married 26 years ago, we did tent camping around Laramie, WY on the weekends sometimes so we could fish for fun while in college. And then the one weekend - thunderstorm came through at 11pm, and hubby was packing up a tent in the rain while I huddled in the car because I’m a chicken when it comes to thunder (lightning doesn’t scare me, the thunder does - go figure ).

After that, we would camp occasionally with his parents in the mountains while work/ kids/ life took over.

Fast forward to 2014. Hubby wants to go look for a TT so he could go fishing in SE MN (trout area) and we would be comfy with him if storms came up. Looked at TTs and I wasn’t impressed. Took one step into our Cougar X-Lite and it was the one. No ifs, ands, or buts. We now have a seasonal site down in SE MN that we stay at most weekends except if we head out west, and have taken the camper to NY state and out west back to MT and WY more times than I can count. We love the camper/ camping and I wish we would have gotten back into it much sooner when the kids were younger.

[Badbart56]

Having grown up open and tent camping in the 60's and 70's you would have never convinced me that we would one day spend over $60K on a camper and another $60K on a truck to pull it..... Yet here we are.