Nice to meet Tom and Janice while camping at Hahn’s Peak Lake CG. They said they liked the idea of tear drop trailers and were going to look into them. I hope they do. They have lots of experience traveling and living on a boat. We compared the similarities to traveling with a tear drop.
Hahns Peak Lake campground
Came here to watch the solar eclipse on August 21. Very cool! Very nice campground with huge sites. Solar panel did its job too.
Simon watching the paddleboarders on Hahns Lake
Setup in site 16
North Fork Lake
We took a ride up to North Fork Reservoir since we were spending a number of days down at the Angel of Shavano CG. Rough road, but beautiful spot once you get there. Four wheel drive and high clearance is recommended.
North Fork Res. is high enough altitude that Simon was able to find snow! He loves snow.
Camping close to home again
This our set up at Mt Shavano Campground in July 2017. We spent like 5 days here. You’ll notice there are two vehicles parked in the space. That’s because we were making trips back and forth to town. We’d go back to town for appointments or new supplies or from a bike ride then come back up for the evenings. It was really quite comfortable. It rained almost everyday. I think this was one of our better setups. Even during the rain we were able to move about the site and stay dry. You could go from the back of the truck through the 5 x 7 and into the kitchen dining area without getting wet.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison, South Rim CG
June trip
All set to go. We’re heading to Black Canyon of the Gunnison South Rim. Just as I was about to drive off I remembered to take a photo for a point in time.
Bill and Tucker
We met Bill and Tucker the first night we got to Rianna Campground. They were out walking and stopped to say hi while we were setting up. Bill and his wife Pam are full time RV’s. Later on our walk Bill and Pam invited us into their trailer. It was huge! She said that with the car in tow the whole rig is 65 feet long. They have trouble sometimes finding places to park. She said that campgrounds built by the Army Corp of Engineers are always built the best, so that’s the kind they look for.
Bill and Dee
Bill and Dee were very curious about our trailer. We opened it up for them to see inside front and back. That’s Bella. Simon seemed to like her.
Getting good at backing in
Was able to back in the trailer without unhooking from the truck. Usually we just pull straight in, unhook, move the truck and wheel the trailer back into place. I was feeling fairly competent this day and backed the trailer right in without a single correction. Thought is was worth marking this as a moment in time. I’ve only been pulling our tear drop trailers for three or four years now. I kind of noticed on this trip that I was starting to get a hang of backing it up.
Day 8 — Pagosa Riverside Campground
We had heard good things about this campground from online reviews and folks at our last stop. It didn’t disappoint. This is site 55. Nice hot showers with clean bathrooms. Good thing we set up the canopy cuz the skies opened up all of a sudden around 6 pm and it rained and hailed hard for about 15 minutes. We enjoyed peace and quiet again on our last night for this trip. In our haste to get to bed, we forgot our bin of bread, english muffins and other goodies. The racoon had a feast. You think we would know better!
Day 7 — Riana Campground, Abiquiu Lake
Finally we decided to try and get to Pagosa Spring today via the backroads. Once out of the campgrounds we headed up 14 north, to Santa Fe then I-25, to 84 north. When we got to the top of this hill and saw there was a National Park service campground we decided to investigate. It was another 100 miles to Pagosa and we were starting to get a little tired. This place appears well kept and we are delighted to stumble upon it. There are hot showers, flush toilets, and very spacious and spread out sites. This is site #23.
Beautiful views over the lake. But it’s very windy right now.
View out the door this morning
It was a quiet evening, after the kid on the 4-wheeler stopped making laps around the campgrounds. All we could do is try to drown out the noise by turning up our stereo as loud as it would go. We left a comment card at the gate to suggest they not allow 4-wheeling in the campgrounds for no good reason. He even took a bunch of laps this morning right after this picture was taken. Sheesh. We left camp this morning about 9 o’clock with no real destination. Just headed north looking for a grocery store. Our supplies are running low. We’re surprised at how long they lasted. We have not been in a restaurant or shopped for groceries until today.
Day 6 — White’s City to Red Canyon Campground Cibola National Forest
Here’s our stumbled upon site for tonight. Again we were headed to a state park and found a national park right near it. We must have made a wrong turn, but we ended up here. We’re feeling more at home at higher elevation and in treed site. This is site 17.
We must remember why we don’t like to camp on weekends and this place reminded us why. Although we were away from where the families were camping, they had four-wheelers and one young rider was allowed to ride it around the campground loop over and over again. Rick finally gave him the stink eye as he passed our site and then mom came out on her four-wheeler and then it was over for the night. We left a note with our $3.50 payment that perhaps there could be signs about no four-wheeling in the CG. Tip: don’t camp on weekends.
Tired of desert camping
We were going to stop at Valley of Fire National Recreation Area today. There’s volcanic rock all over the place. I think we are tired of hot and dry. We decided to keep going until we can get some higher elevation, shade, and maybe a little less wind. We figured if we have to sit inside to get away from the wind we might as well be sitting inside the truck driving to someplace more pleasant.
I Had To Pee and Didn’t See
We stopped in Mayhill, NM for a little break. There’s a nice little park there with a well kept lawn, shade, and ready doggie bags. Simon loved it. But I had to relieve myself too. Across the road was a cafe/restaurant. About fifty yards up the road was a convenience store. I thought it only fair to use the store since I didn’t plan on eating.
As I approached the entrance I noticed the sign with red letters about needing to buy something if you’re going to use the restroom. No big deal I thought I’ll just get a candy bar or something. I rushed in and found the bathrooms. One was out of order and one that I used had the hot water turned off and no way to dry my hands. No big deal. I just shook them dry. I found the candy bars and got one of the smaller Snickers. I was surprised when the older man with greasy hair rung up my purchase as $1.38. Expensive I thought for the small candy bar. I felt like making a comment about it but thought it wasn’t that big a deal and just paid. When I stepped outside Susan asked what being in there was like and pointed out the other signs all over the windows. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see them before I went in. If I had I might have just peed on the side of the building.
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We were offended even though we believe in everyone’s right to free speech. I would not have gone into this store if I had been paying attention.
Tip: Look before you patronize.
Day 5 — White’s RV Park and Carlsbad Caverns
If you like desert camping then you’d probably like this place. Hot, dry, and windy. This is a private campground. There seemed to be no one here until very late in the day when some other tent campers showed up. At least there was plenty of sunshine for our solar panel. The fridge started showing an error light probably due to the heat. In reality it wasn’t that hot, it was only 87 degrees. But for us that was hot. We kept hitting our heads on the metal awning, so we put our table and strung a cloths line to keep us from walking that way. Susan kept walking into the other side. Hot showers and clean bathrooms. We do have sketchy wifi though.
There’s this drumming kind of sound in the distance that we can hear when mostly everything else is quiet. We can’t quite figure out what it is. Sort of sounds like a pressure release valve, or an angry, rhythmically challenged, adolescent trying to express himself. We could hear it all night. If it had had some sort of rhythm to it we probably could have gotten used to it.
Carlsbad Caverns is a site to see. You can take an elevator down to the really good stuff, but we chose to walk the original path. This is well worth the stop. The kennels for Simon were filled and not very nice anyway. Since there was a strong wind blowing and not very warm, he was happy to stay in the truck and wait for us. I have so many pictures that I’ll have to come back here and create a gallery.
Note: on the way north the next day, we saw a gas pressure release valve that was most likely the cause of the drumming sound.
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View at sunset in Guadalupe National Park campground
Pretty quiet here in Guadalupe mountain national park. Not too hot either which surprised us. Everyone is already in their campers for the night. The campgound here is basically a converted parking lot. At $4 though, it’s a bargain. Everyone respected the quiet hours and space. Nice place to wash dishes. If we were big hikers, this would be a great place to stay. Not much else to do here but we did take a short walk around the visitor’s center garden. Nothing there we hadn’t seen before.
Sunset Over Bottomless Lake State Park
We were treated to a nice sunset on Simon’s evening walk. I thought about taking a swim. Wish I had. The showers in this state park were not very clean. I probably could have refreshed myself with a dip in the lake. The water was crystal clear and relatively warm.
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Judith
Judith acted like she’d never seen anything like a tear drop trailer before. She was trilled to know you can actually get one yourself! She was very gracious to let us take her picture for our LG Inquiries category. I told her about golittleguy.com where she can learn all about their tear drop trailers.
Simon’s spot
We didn’t set up our 5×7 where we intended Simon to sleep. Now that his skin has cleared up, he doesn’t scratch or lick anymore so he’s welcome inside at night. He starts here, then moves around ending up between us in the morning. There’s plenty of room for all of us.
Strong Winds
We’d just settled in for the night, when Susan said, "It should be calm tonight." Just after she said that the wind started picking up and got stronger and stronger and stronger! I jumped out to check and started tossing things that could blow away into the back of the truck. There was the ground cloth, Sterilite plastic containers, chairs, towels, our fold up table, and various assorted items just thrown in. We even had to put the solar panel away for fear it would get damaged.
Well I guess we’re all packed up and ready to go this morning.
Tip: don’t temp fate unless your ready to deal with it.
Roswell Museum and Research Center
So we stopped at the alien museum and research center in Roswell. It was hot so we were very happy that Simon was welcome inside. The displays show what happened there in 1947, the eye witness descriptions, photos and the alleged government coverup. We got there too late to see the movie. You could spend alot of time there and then deciding for yourself what to believe. Simon was creeped out by the aliens that created smoke and noise, so we left.
Thought we’d treat ourselves to a DQ since it was Happy Hour. If you are ever in Roswell, don’t go there.
Day 3 — Desert Campground, Bottomless Lakes State Park, NM
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It’s a lot warmer than we are used to. At least the solar panel is charging great. So good that we’re afraid it might be doing too well. We asked on T@G Your It FB group if it’s possible to over charge the battery. We got a reply that yes it is possible. So now we’re investigating something called a solar charging regulator. Who knew!?
Day Two — Spring 2017
We decided to stay an extra day here in Black Canyon Campground, Santa Fe, NM. Rick rode his bike up the Canyon, a long 7 mile climb out of the campground up to the Santa Fe Ski Area. Beautiful weather and fun decent. Susan and Simon went on a short hike. We slept well last night. It was so quiet and dark. Well at least after the kids up in one of the group sites finally went to bed. The quiet time in this campground is supposed to be 8:00 pm to 8:00 am. Guess the camp host, if he was here at all, was still getting a handle on his job. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning to Roswell, NM. Hoping to see some aliens.
Kevin and Nancy
Kevin and Nancy are from Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University, Susan’s alma matter where they work! Not only that they are happy T@G owners too! What are the chances? We had pleasant exchanges of routes, places to visit, camping with a T@G tips and tricks. Really cool seeing others T@G folks.
Day One Heading South — Spring 2017
Left about 11:30 am May 1st. Arrived about 5:00 pm at a campsite near Santa Fe, NM. Here some random shots along the way.
We planned to stay at Hyde Memorial State Park just outside Santa Fe. As we approached the entrance, we saw a USFS campground sign too. We checked out the state park first but were unimpressed due to muddy roads and snow covered sites. We went back to Black Canyon and were delighted with the paved roads and sites. And there was another T@G there! A bit chilly the first night but we slept so good (unusual for the first night.) Decided to stay a second night – for $5a night we couldn’t resist.
All set to go, finally.
Not as organized as usual.
A dying breed.
We like the Safeway in Alamosa.
Stopping regularly to stretch my back.
Simon thought this place was interesting.
Site No. 18 in Black Canyon Campground, Santa Fe, NM
Tillie
This is Tillie the golden- doodle. She belongs to Kevin and Nancy. She wanted to play with Simon but he didn’t want to.
Site 18 in Black Canyon Campground Santa Fe NM
We are in site #18
Nice Campground
This USFS Campground was a pleasant surprise. We were heading to Hyde Memorial State Park right next door. But after finding all of the RV sites taken and the regular sites were muddy and snowy we hopefully went back to this campground ⛺️. We’d recommend it again. Nice flat sites. Wooded. Paved. Clean. Quiet this night. Vault bathrooms. Priced right with our senior pass at $5 per night. At least this time of year it was great. We imagine lots of folks would be here more in season.
Back Front Chef
Our first outing of the year. Packed up in less than 45 minutes and we were on our way to Penitente Canyon Campground in the San Luis Valley. Going to see Sandhill Cranes tomorrow. This is sort of a shake down cruise for us. We forgot a few small things but we are amazed at how self contained we are. Set up our new 5×7 side room fairly quickly but had to adjust a couple times to figure it out.
Back View
Front View
The Chef
Camping on Thanksgiving
Even though we winterized our T@G we took advantage of the mild warm November weather. We joined our friends at the valley view hot springs in the San Luis valley for turkey, trimmings and of course soaking. The weather was “balmy” for November but we knew it would be cold at night. Two down comforters and thermal layers and Simon kept us warm too. We opened the vent and cracked one window but moisture inside turned to frost by morning. We know now that we can survive down to probably 20 degrees and may just do it once more before the snow flies!
Camp Land, Burlington, Colorado
Not too many places to choose from which seems to be the way it goes for us on our last day of sleep on the road. This place had great reviews so we called ahead and told her we were coming. It’s basically a parking lot with electric hookups and wifi. But be warned, byob (bring your own bathroom.) Good thing we brought our porta potty which we hadn’t used until this place. If we had known, we would have stayed in goodland Kansas at the KOA we stayed in last summer. For $5 more dollars we could have had it all. We didn’t even take a picture.
We are road weary and with just 250 miles to go we are ready to see our lovely town of Salida again.
Marysville, Kansas Super Walmart
We stayed in this exact spot three years ago in our Silver Shadow. This pic however was taken on October 13, 2016.
It is a nice quiet spot in their lot, well as far as traffic goes anyway. No cars drive by this corner. After staying in a few Wally Worlds this trip we’ve learned that the way to tell if a Walmart is good to stay in or not is if there are other campers or RVs parked there as well. If there are none, there might be a reason. There were a couple tractor trailers and a camper van already parked in this lot when we arrived. By morning there were like eight new trucks. Some leave their engines idling, but it’s become white noise to us by now.
Visit to Missouri Teardrop Trailers
Took a slight detour to visit Dana Parsons, the guy we bought our T@G from. It was time well spent learning a couple more things about our trailer and how to get it winterized too. He had some of the new offerings from Pleasant Valley Trailers which were fun to look at. Just makes us appreciate our unit and happy we made that choice.
Finger Lakes State Park, Columbia, Missouri
Campsite 32 is a primitive site and cost is $11. We bought $6 worth of firewood which ended up being enough to last all night. It felt heavy like it was still green, and it was difficult to get stated but seemed to burn a long time. We even threw a couple of pieces on it in the middle of the night and it was still burning in the morning. The temps that night got down into the was into the 30s. The campground is back in the woods and like the other places, hardly anyone here. Nice bathhouse with hot showers. Simon liked it here cuz he disregarded the leash law and followed Susan to the bathhouse. Guess he’s learning to be a criminal on this trip. We are heading west and south to meet up with Dana parsons at Missouri teardrop trailers where we got our T@G last summer. Maybe he’ll help us with a couple of “mods” we want to make to the trailer. It’s Rick’s birthday after all.
Weldon Springs State Park, Clinton Illinois
$20 for electric hookup and picnic table. Again hardly anyone else here.
I seem to have a system where we back up to the end of a picnic table and set up the umbrella tied to the table and small bungees to the latches of the galley lid.
We were surprised it stated raining right after we settled in for the night. I jumped out and threw Simons bed back in the car and propped up the chairs so they wouldn’t get filled with water. The rain lasted maybe 10 minutes but repeated through the night with short bursts.
Over all a pleasant park. There’s a large pond nearby that we rode our bikes to, running Simon.
We stopped at the Clinton IGA grocery store before heading to camp. We thought the prices were a little high, a perspective we attributed to having shopped at Walmart’s most of the trip.
Susan thinks the town of Clinton feels like a step back in time. Old, tired, stuck in their ways. The camp host said he’s lived here his whole life. It seems like the sort of place kids would move away from and where you’d not want to move to. Guess living a farming life is just foreign to us.
The sunset was pretty though. This pic doesn’t do it justice.
Timber Woods Camping Resort, Van Wert, Ohio
While driving in we sarcastically wondered if we’d find a level place to park at this campground. Obviously it would not a problem based on the surrounding terrain. Lots of farm land here with no horizon, at least like we’re used to, as far as the eye can see.
Beautiful grassy primitive camp sites. We’re the only ones here. There are lots of RVs over in the full hook up section but there seem to be very few people around.
We did get a visitor that stopped by for no apparent reason. Kevin just sort of pulled up and started talking to us. He asked where we were from and had lots of the usual questions about our trailer, how many does it sleep, how much did it cost. He did leave after a while.
Overall this was a nice place to stay. Firewood from a high pile was available and it was quiet and peaceful. The only thing that bothered a little was the light smoke from a nearby smoldering pile. I doubt it would’ve been burning during regular camping season. And the smell of cigarette smoke in the bathroom/showers was a little offensive.
Visit to Pleasant Valley Tear Drop Trailers
Since we’re in the area we stopped in to say hi where our T@G was born. Thought we’d ask a few questions that might make our lives easier. We had the the great pleasure of talking with Austin at their service center. He was able to help us with all the questions we could think of on the spot. He told us how to install extra charging stations near the front inside of our trailer. And he helped us upgrade our rear galley latch handles. We talked about tire presure, tongue weight, inside structural design, grease in the hubs, battery usage, refrigerator use, engineering wizards (Michigan Mike), and lots more. We probably spent an hour and a half with him. Susan and I agreed afterwards that it should probably be a requirement of all new tear drop owners to have a meeting like this. We came away feeling like we are much better and prouder T@G owners.
We’d highly recommend taking a visit if you can. Just the drive through this beautiful part of the country is worth it. Maybe it was just because it was such a beautiful day, but this part of Amish country is breath taking. It’s no wonder they named their company Pleasant Valley Tear Drop Trailers.
Clay’s Park Resort, Canal Fulton
After two nights in Four Mile Creek State Park it was hard to stay in a Walmart parking lot last night. So we decided to head down to Clay’s Park. It’s a little pricey but not too bad for a “primitively site” at $35. But sure could not beat the peaceful, quite serenity of our surroundings. We discovered that parking under the trees alleviated the damp wetness of the morning dew. When we stayed here a few years ago we woke up to much condensation inside our cabin. Not this time though.
Here’s looking out our doors this morning after a super great nights sleep.
The peacefulness was only disturbed by our watching the presidential debate last night. Fortunately our surroundings allowed us to relax and forget about the craziness.
Since we didn’t even unhook last night it was easy packing up this morning. We headed on down early to Pleasant Valley Tear Drop Trailers. They’ve got a beautiful new location sort of near where they were before, but that’s another post.
Walked to Canada Today
Visited Niagara Falls today and decided to walk over the bridge to Canada. We were only slightly concerned since we had been turned away in 2010 and we didn’t have vaccination papers for Simon. Worth a try though.
The sort of friendly border agent asked about our previous entry denial but apparently our answers were ok so then she turned to Simon. He’s current on shots, eh? Yep. No papers required. So we got into Canada today and enjoyed the view from that side and the incredible gardens.
We’re tired tonight after walking from country to country. Simon is worn out from nearly catching the overly friendly squirrels that were everywhere.
Rainbow at Niagra Falls
From the American Falls.
Our Little Guy Travels 