Why the Truck Camper (Jim)

Note: Originally written a couple of weeks ago in Newfoundland, but only now getting around to posting it.  I blame Canada

The weather has mostly been glorious during our two weeks here in Newfoundland, but she has seen fit to grace our last couple of days with a more seasonal rainy weather pattern.  We will not complain - in fact it has been a good excuse to allow ourselves a couple of lazy days having spent so much time in the great outdoors.  As I sit here on the bed, the staccato of rain drops on the camper is reminding me that yes, it is OK that you splurged $30 on a campsite for a safe place to plug in and read away an afternoon.  And shower.  Damn, did we need to shower.

One of the persistent questions we have fielded by friends, blog readers, and fellow travelers is why we decided on a truck camper as a means to do our road trip.  Having been on the road in it for well over a month now we have had an opportunity to experience all the pros and cons and are generally pleased with how it has functioned.

Why on earth would we do this to ourselves?

There are as many ways to travel as there are travelers.  At various points in the evolution of this road trip, we considered many different options including but not limited to:

1. Towing a tear-drop camper behind my beloved (and sorely missed Accord) or upgrading to a bigger vehicle and doing the same.
2. Towing a camper trailer or fifth wheel behind a truck or SUV
3. Driving a big SUV or van and packing a big tent to set up in camp sites and staying in motels
4. Driving a Class C motor home (think van package on a truck chassis)
5. Driving a Class B van (think conventional van with more head room and utilities)
6. Wearing a backpack and hitchhiking using sad wet golden retriever puppy eyes and/or having Lindsay flash truck drivers to get lifts (OK only one of us considered this)
7. Hold out for a Vanagon in decent shape, meanwhile growing dreadlocks and shopping for underwear made only of hemp

We want to look like this after the road trip, not before

Ultimately, there were a few reasons that the truck camper option was the one we settled on, although if the right Class B van had come along we might have made that work.  In our part of New England however, decent used Class B's were very rare and brand new they are ludicrously expensive.

We want to be comfortable, dammit!  This is 'Into the Mild,' not 'Into the Wild' for a reason.  Do you remember what happened to the 'Into the Wild' guy?

This happened.  BEFORE, you know, dying and stuff

This is our home for at least six months - we literally do not have a permanent home right now.  Little things like having a bed that does not have to be made, a kitchen (however tiny) that we can cook and clean dishes in whenever we want, a fridge, a central heat source, and a bathroom (incredibly tiny) go a long way in making us feel that we have a refuge wherever we go.  We have 'camped' on busy city streets (thanks Newport and Halifax for the free digs!) and in parking lots - with the shades drawn, any place we can park has the potential to afford us privacy and a few (cramped) comforts of home.  While motel rooms are comfortable, they would not be a home and neither of us wanted to pack every night.  So, the tenting / car camping / motel options were out.

Never under estimate the importance of this....

...to make even the wasteland behind the grocery store in Port aux Choix, Newfoundland a home on a 40 degree foggy night

We don't want to tow anything.  We wanted to be able to go down any road, in the city or boondocks.  Towing anything, even a wee tear drop camper immediately complicates this.  We couldn't have done this with a trailer....

....I'm not saying we SHOULD have done this, of course

We still want some flexibility.  So we settled on some form of RV.  Class A's are so big you can only park in specially designed lots and you have to tow another vehicle just to get around towns and parks and get about 7mpg.  Class C's are commonly used but usually have been rotting in driveways for years and are full of raccoons, crusty fluids of unknown origins and shame, and are notorious for leaks.  Class B's (the smallest RV option) were a strong contender but did not have the storage we needed.  Also, all of these options have low ground clearance and not much power.  We wanted a vehicle that could handle some off road and mud in a pinch.  This pushed us in the truck direction.  Truck can get places RV's cannot.

We wanted to be able to do this, which is hard to do with a bus-sized RV

We have to consider the stupid precious dog.  This was a huge and non-negotiable part of the trip.  Keira had to come.  This meant that we needed a place for her to ride with us while on the road and a safe place to be left when she was not with us.  An extended cab pickup provided extra storage and plenty of room for her to sit with us along with a home (the camper) to leave her in - with the battery powered fan and AC when plugged in, we do not have to worry about leaving her in a car (ironically, the gal is a big fan of leaving dogs in cars.) 

Shut up, Keira

We are a wee people.  Our camper is a generous 60 square feet and 6.5' high.  There are precious few advantages to being short people, and goddammit we are going to luxuriate in this one.  Not only are we small, but we are nimble and do not mind clambering around on top of the bed to make it or hopping in and out of the thing without bothering to put the stairs up every time.  One advantage to being under-aged RV'ers (most of our peers these days are retirees) is that we are still on our original hips.  Plus, being hobbits gives us a stealth bonus, great when boondocking.  Bottom line, we don't need all the space provided by bigger RV's or trailers and truck campers work better for small young people.

We're like this, except more platonic. 

The miscellaneous intangibles.  Intangibles!  My favorite sports statistic (along with 'scrappiness,' only applicable to short white players that probably play for a Boston team) applies to this.  The truck camper concept just felt right.  We were able to shop around for just the right camper, and then shop around for just the right truck.  At the end of the trip, we have a viable vehicle to get us through the short term (and can use it to move).  The camper, not having axles, does not need to be registered and costs us no extra in tolls or ferry fares (this has literally saved hundreds of dollars so far).  Mechanically, there is less that can go wrong and while maintenance for both the truck and camper are expected, an issue with one or the other will not leave us stranded AND homeless at the same time (neat!).  Also, it is just small enough that it really forces us to have our shit together, only pack the essentials, and make sure everything goes back into its place - kind of like when backpacking.  Finally, it allows us to crash with friends (and strangers!) without feeling like we are imposing TOO much...since we just need a driveway to park in, we are low maintenance guests. 

Truck Campers are like the Danny Woodheads of the RV world....leading the league in scrappiness

Disadvantages.  Yes, there are some.  The biggest by far is the gas mileage.  Did you know that F250's kind of suck at this?  Kind of makes you wonder why so many dipshits drive trucks just to get around (probably the same assholes who drive Harleys).  Well, our camper must be hauled and a truck is required.  Our budget assumed a worst case of 10 mpg and $4.00 a gallon, we are so far getting about 12.5 mpg.  Gas is our biggest expense by far, we decided to accept this disadvantage because of what we save on camp sites, hotel rooms, or eating out.  And unless we bought a Prius and hauled nothing, it would have been hard to do much better than 20 mpg for a trip like this.  Say La Vee.  Another disadvantage is the height - we sit about 10' 6'', just high enough to have to keep an eye out for low overpasses or, much more likely, low hanging tree limbs.  Most recently, we could not drive into Baxter State Park because it has a maximum height of 9'.  We also had to be cautious driving around Acadia, which has some low arched overpasses.

I had to leave the camper behind to get into Baxter State Park, so I could take Lindsay here, so she could do this to me

Bottom Line.  This model works for us.  We do not really understand why more people in the US did not converge on this option and instead stick to the conventional ones of trailers or big RV's.  When touring Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, we saw many more truck campers with Canadian plates.  (I guess this makes us honorary Canadians eh?).  Some of these were headed to even grander adventures in Labrador, Nunavut or Alaska - places where having a truck is simply a matter of safety (trucks are polar bears natural enemies).  We are not sure if we will keep our setup after the road trip or if this will be the start of a lifetime of searching for the perfect truck / truck camper setup, but at this point all of our options are open.  Right now we are excited to be heading out west - Badlands here we come!!!