Teardrop Trailer Camping

Summer is a very busy time at my job.  Not surprising since I coordinate a few different informal science programs for kids.  Last year we were short staffed and had taken on a new program that was very overwhelming.  It was a hard and long summer.  I promised myself (and my husband) that this summer would be better.  He insisted that I take some time off to enjoy my summer and didn’t weed the garden every day off I got.  While this hasn’t exactly happened, I did decide to take some time to do things for my own enjoyment this summer.  My first attempt was to go and listen to a lecture about Urban Bats.  Unfortunately, a delivery of teaching materials got majorly delayed and I instead spent that day putting together everything locally that didn’t get shipped.  

My second attempt was this past Tuesday.  I decided to attend a lecture at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas on Teardrop Trailer Camping.  This lecture was part of their Brown Bag Series that takes place during lunch time.  Attendees are encouraged to bring their lunches along and eat during the presentation.  This time, I was determined that nothing was going to get in my way and luckily the stars aligned and I was able to attend.  I even brought a coworker and her daughter along for the ride.  The main thing that drew me to this presentation was a desire to see the inside of a Teardrop Trailer Camper.  I love camping and I am always interested in seeing how others do it.  I knew that a trailer like this would never work for our little family of three and our two big dogs, but they seem so cute and vintage. (I love vintage anything.)

Here is the Teardrop Trailer Camper.  It's about 5 feet wide and 10 feet long with a dry weight of about 1000lbs.

Diane Pierce a BRIT volunteer and Master Naturalist was the presenter for this lecture.  She teaches the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s “Becoming an Outdoor Woman” classes.  These classes help women develop camping and outdoor skills as well as creating a community of women who camp and enjoy the outdoors together.

Diane's camping map.  She marks all of the places she goes camping.  We've talked about doing something like this.  She had her map especially made by a company in Dallas.  I may need to get in touch with her to get specifics.

The presentation started off inside with talking about how she came to acquire her camper.  Diane had always loved to camp and was always a tent camper.  After a few joint replacement surgeries, crawling around in a tent on the ground wasn’t as much fun as it had been.  She knew she needed to switch things up.  She still wanted to keep things simple and had never pulled any kid of a trailer, so she knew she wanted something small and without bells and whistles.  After some research she settled on a Teardrop Trailer.

Teardrops first started showing up in the 1930’s and became very popular after World War II.  IT was a cheap and easy way for families to see the Unite States.  Over time, these “Canned Hams” as they were called were replaced by the bigger and more elaborate RVs we see today.  Recently there has been a resurgence in interest in these trailers due to the practicality and easy set-up.

Some extra storage Diane added to her trailer.  We've been talking about doing this modification to our pop-up.  It would be a great place for the portable fire ring, chalk blocks, BAL leveler and some of the other dirtier things that we don't want near our clothes and bedding during transport.

Teardrops still aren’t very common and none were available in the area when she wanted to purchase hers.  Often people resort to building their own.  She ended up buying hers in the northern United States and having it shipped to a local RV dealership as sort of an extra (it fit between the larger RVs).  When she received it, all she got was the title, a receipt, and two sets of keys.  She has amassed a lot of information about her particular model and camping with a teardrop in general.  A lot of is relevant to many kids of camping.

The kitchen area.  Diane served cake to all of us.

The second part of the lecture was outside.  Diane had basically set-up her campsite in the BRIT parking lot.  It was great to see her gadgets and cooking equipment up close.  I loved the galley kitchen on the trailer and would love cooking that way if it was mine.  We don’t typically cook inside our popup and even went as far as to remove the stove, sink, and water storage tank, so it really is similar to using our new camp kitchen.

You can see where Diane was able to personalize the decor of her camper a bit.  It looks very cozy.

You can see the star gazer window here in this picture.  Whoever came up with idea was a genius.

We also go to look inside the sleeping compartment.  Diane’s model had a queen size bed that takes up the entire space.  There is some pretty good storage inside (under the mattress, behind the pillows, etc.) but it wasn’t the easiest to access.  The best thing it had was a star gazer window.  Diane paid extra for this and it is worth it.  It’s a small window that allows you to look out at the night sky while you are lying down in bed at night.  You can get an “add a room” type of a tent if you need additional space, but this sort of negates the ease of set-up.

Overall I’m really lad I took the time to attend the lecture and I loved seeing the trailer and hearing about her camping experiences, but while I love the kitchen set-up on the teardrop trailer, I don’t not like the sleeping area.  Clearly it is not the camper for me.  Right now I’m happy with our pop-up and it serves us well.