Why I love camping with my tear drop camper (with THREE kids!)
If you can possibly see beyond this adorable bed-head, this is our camping setup.
I love our teardrop camper. It is tiny. The inside is literally the size of a queen bed on wheels, with a hatchback kitchen space. Last year we met some people at a campsite who got a major kick out of how many kids crawled out of our teardrop camper–one, two, “wow, three kids in there!” Yep, three kids plus me, and my husband.
Our 2014 Little Guy Silver Shadow 6wide. Love it!
Here’s why I love it.
You don’t have to spend days packing. I love camping. I love outdoor cooking, I love hearing birds and breeze and reading and playing guitar and watching the sky change color. You get my drift. But with three kids it takes HOURS to pack. There is so much stuff! If it’s just me, then I can pretty much camp with just a sleeping bag and a hefty bag of trail mix, but my family of five needs SO MUCH STUFF to keep them well fed and clothed (mostly) and to well, just survive.. And there are so, so many things that if you forget your camp trip could be a total disaster. Like a pot for cooking, or children’s Tylenol, or a pacifier, or shoes (yes, those have been forgotten…)–we have a list of about 75 items that we need for a stress free weekend–anyways, the camper is stocked with all that. Its ready to go! Everything stays organized and accessible (versus having an avalanche of stuff fall out your car every time you need to grab just. one. thing.) Just fill the cooler and grab some clothes and diapers, and um, shoes, and well we are ready to rock!
Hard walls means the camper is warm and you are safer from bears if that happens to be a concern (some national parks require them). We have an attached tent for summer nights and some of us spill out into that. But on cold nights, it is so nice to have a hard walled, warm place to sleep. Its also nice to not worry about bears eating you (because again, hard walls), especially if someone sneaks fruit loops in their sleeping bag.
It’s really easy to haul and easy move around (you can move it by hand). I like the fact that I can confidently park it just about anywhere .
It fits in our carport and works as a storage place for our camp stuff. We don’t have a garage, or much storage in our home, so this is a major bonus for us.
It can go just about anywhere our car can go–so we can do dispersed camping more easily than if we had a bigger trailer.
It’s super cute. I’d like to say this doesn’t matter to me, but there’s something about tear drop that just makes me want to hit the road and go explore.
We cook outside. This to me is one of the best parts of camping. The hatchback kitchen area has all the cooking stuff ready to go.
It’s high quality compared to larger trailers. The few times I’ve been in a new larger trailer, they feel like they are about to fall apart. There is the fake wood trim, fake granite–and this serves a purpose, it helps make the trailer lighter. But, I love how we have birch cabinets, wood interior–everything feels solid and is going to last a really long time.
There is pretty much nothing to maintain. No bathroom, plumbing, plumbed in stove–after we had a cabin this was super important to us. We just want to enjoy wherever we go and not spend time fixing anything. Even if that means peeing in the woods.
It’s just fun! Cuddling with the kids, the memories we are making–it’s awesome. I love it. I love raising my kids in the great outdoors and watching them play outside and learn how to use a pocket knife or cook weird things on the camp stove, or hangout with friends by a fire.
There are cons. The obvious one being the size of it makes for sleeping to be a hit or miss experience–the main issues being a.) making sure its well ventilated with 5 people and b.) the fact that I have a two-year-old that literally spins like a pinwheel all night, which has lead to me having a foot in my face more than once. Also, not being able to stand up inside is not great–I know that’s a small thing, but putting on pants is quite challenging, and its not really a space you would hang out in. The side tent has addressed these problems though–we have more sleeping room if we want it (even though we still usually all end up inside!) and a place to change and keep extra stuff, and with New Mexico monsoons, a place to go inside while its raining has been pretty nice. So, in a nutshell, we love the tear drop with the side tent included. It’s made for some pretty epic trips this summer–we’ve gone out about every other weekend, and I don’t think I would have done that if I had to pack. every. single. time.
But hey, it is small, and maybe the putting-on-pants thing will get to me, and we’ll upgrade to a 40 ft RV… Stay tuned ;)!