Teardrop Trailers

I’ve had this post in the pipe since March. So it’s a little out of date. Evernote hid it from me. That’s a lie. I had it weirdly filed. I hid it from myself.

Let’s hop into the way-back machine, shall we? We just bought a new-to-us SUV because the car that the husband was driving wasn’t nearly big enough for him to easily get in and out of. Come to think of it, it wasn’t really big enough for a family of 5 and all of our stuff anyway. Then again, my Mazda 5 isn’t really big enough either using that as the requirement.

So anyway we stumbled into an amazing 2005 Toyota Sequoia with hardly any miles on it at all. About the same as my 2009, and I’m under the national average for yearly miles too. The Husband feels it’s because it was a single owner, and that owner had it when gas was $4.00+ per gallon, so they probably weren’t driving it too much. Their loss is my gain! This gorgeous beast came with a tow hitch already installed, and a roof rack, and it played right into my absolute must-have-someday dream of traveling the U.S. (current day interjection: see, this is not a new obsession, it’s just mutated over the last six months)

This led to me being super manic (no, really, the husband told me I was getting a bit manic. I said that’s when things get done) and looking at teardrop trailers, building plans, buying a cheap retro pre-1970’s one that could possibly be refurbished, and even pricing a new smallish Airstream, which is a ridiculously huge amount of money. Unless you have that kind of money to throw around I guess, but I sure don’t. That’s why we got a *used* vehicle and not a *brand spanking new off the assembly line* vehicle.

So instead I saved searches and individual web pages, I joined mailing lists, I started reading blogs, and we’ll see what happens in a few years. I told the husband that I could build one. He gave me a look. I told him this over the phone, but the look was that strong I felt it via the mobile phone lines. I said remember Dan Connor on Roseanne? And his boat in the basement? This teardrop trailer is going to be my boat, except it’s going to be in the garage. If it takes me five or 10 years that’s okay because it’s kind of the timeframe I figure I’m working with anyway. E needs to be at least out of high school before this happens. That is at least eight years of trial, error, more trial, and eventual success.

There are some seriously sweet teardrops out there. I saw one that boasted a bathtub! I’d be happy with one that has a toilet and a shower, forget about a bathtub. I’m not so much looking for a full on camper to live in as something smallish that we can sleep in, bathe in, cook in (just a stove top, not an oven), and otherwise relax in when not on the move. (Yet another current day interjection: See? Fully mutated dream. It’s six months later and I am totally looking at a full on camper/tiny home to live in.) I’m not looking to park it somewhere for too long, and honestly I don’t want to get something we could potentially be “that comfortable” in or store that much junk in. I’m going sort of for zen minimalist traveler chic. Give me a bed, give me a few changes of clothes, make for damn sure my laptop has internet and my car has gas, and off we go!