A Trip Down Memory Lane

We started this journey back in 1988 after a series of very cold nights while we were tent camping. Those nights were spent in upper Michigan during the month of June, so we really never expected freezing temperatures.

Tammy and I had been regular tent campers for years up to this point. Once the kids were born and able to go camping we would jam the back of our 1976 Chevette hatchback with camping supplies and take off for primitive camping. We loved tent camping for the most part, but there were some definite disadvantages.

1. The amount of stuff we carried took up an enormous amount of space in the car. There was the camp stove, the screen room, the cabin tent, the portable tent heater, cooking supplies, clothing, the kids stuff and more that I am probably repressing at this point.
2. Walking the kids or Tammy to the bathroom in the middle of the night was not the most fun I’ve ever had.
3. Everything in the morning felt damp.
4. Cooking over the fire was fun but everything would smell like smoke.
5. Tearing everything down at the end of the trip just to take it home and dry everything out was a pain.

Well, back to June of 1988. Jennifer was six years old and Jeff was three. We wanted to go to Mackinac Island for vacation. So we booked a campsite at Straits State Park in St. Ignace, Michigan. Since it was June I had no reason to bring the tent heater, or so I thought. The first night was so cold Tammy and I stayed up all night just making sure the kids were OK. The next morning we heard that the temperatures would be below freezing that night. That was all I needed to hear, I turned to Tammy and said “Pack it up…we are going to a motel”!

On the way home Tammy thought of an alternative to what we had experienced. She suggested we should try camping in a travel trailer. Not something expensive, just something to try it out and decide if it is something we want to do. Tammy had been taking vacations with her family in a travel trailer since she was small and so she already knew it was something she would enjoy.

This sounded great to me as I was getting tired of packing, and unpacking, and all the other stuff that goes with tent camping. As a result we went to a nearby RV Dealership and found a 1971 Jayco Jaywren. After getting it fixed up we started with a trip to the black hills. After one week of camping in that trailer we knew this was the direction we wanted to go.

So today I wanted to take a quick trip down memory lane and talk about the campers that have come and gone in our 34 years of the Travel Trailer lifestyle.

1971 Jayco Jaywren

First up is our 1971 Jayco Jaywren. 1971 was the first year that Jayco made a travel trailer. It was build like a house for a 16′ foot trailer. This trailer was solid as a rock, and as a result, very heavy for its size; weighing in at 5000 lbs. Of course when we purchased it, the Jaywren needed quite a bit of work since it was 17 years old. Tammy reupholstered the cushions and made new curtains. I replaced the tires, and painted the fading exterior.

The furnace and small fridge worked well. There was no bathroom therefore no black holding tank. As a matter of fact there was no grey tank either. If you used the kitchen sink, the water went from the drain to a hose in a bucket outside. The fresh water hose connected to a line that directly fed the kitchen faucet. The power inside the trailer was powered by a regular extension cord to a 120 plug at the pedestal. This was a very basic but efficient travel trailer.

The couch in back folded out into a bed, as did the dinette. Over the couch was another bunk that dropped down. I am not sure if we ever utilized that.

There was a lot to love about that trailer, and quite frankly I wish I still had it just for the nostalgia. After a few years we knew we needed to get something with bunk beds and a bathroom.

The 1990 Mallard Sprinter

We fell in love with this Travel Trailer the minute we saw it. It was much longer at 26 feet and had bunk beds for the kids, and a really nice bathroom. Unfortunately, it did not have an air conditioner or an awning. This trailer saw a lot of the country during its two years of life. Just days before its last trip we added an awning and unfortunately never got the opportunity to use it as the trailer was completely totaled along with Tammy’s Ram Van in an accident in Kentucky. If you would like to read that story click here.

After cramming all our belongings into a Ford Aerostar Mini-Van after the accident, we found another travel trailer on the way home while driving through Indiana.

The 1992 Fleetwood Prowler

This travel trailer was almost identical to the Mallard Sprinter. However, it also had air conditioning and an awning. It weighed 4730 pounds so was quite easy to tow. It also had a unique Teflon siding that was really easy to clean so the trailer always looked brand new.

It was during this time that we had a new addition to our family; Shana, our white shepherd. Shana absolutely loved camping. Having Shana was like having another adult in the family. There will never be another like her. She accompanied us on all of our camping trips, from the black hills, Yellowstone, Florida and more. After each trip when we would get home, she would jump out of the Van, take two laps around the house, and then jump back in the Van as if to say “Let’s go!”

We had the Prowler until 2000 when we moved to southeastern Wisconsin. Since the kids were now older and just not that interested in camping with us, the layout just wasn’t what we needed. We soon adopted a playmate for Shana. Enter Kaela, a Lab/Shepherd who also enjoyed traveling. Now we would need to find something for the four of us.

The 2001 Trail Cruiser

The 2001 Trail Cruiser by R-Vision was a 26 foot travel trailer. It was incredibly light for its size weighing in at 3570 pounds. It was the first trailer that we owned that had a fiberglass exterior. While this trailer was incredibly well made, the exterior fiberglass was a challenge to keep shiny. It was also the first trailer we owned that had a sofa. The sofa was on a slide out room that was manually cranked in and out. It also had a huge wardrobe by the back bedroom.

This trailer served us well for the next 6 years. However, it became a bit of a nuisance having the entry door right at the kitchen. So when anyone would come into the trailer if you were working in the kitchen, you would need to move out of the way. Also, the storage for food was a cupboard at counter level that had two shelves; but was so deep you might as well crawl in there to grab your food.The awning arm was directly over the bedroom window, so you couldn’t close the awning if the window was open. Well actually I was able to, but it broke the window. I replaced that window with a slider so it wouldn’t happen again.

We decided in 2007 to look for something with more storage space, and more floor room.

The 2007 Coachmen Captiva

I have to say that when Tammy found this trailer on the Dealers Lot, it really blew us away. This would be the largest travel trailer we had purchased at this point. It was 35 feet long and weighed 4987 which was really light given its length.

The kitchen was larger than you could imagine with so much storage we were unable to utilize all of it. It had a large slide room that bumped out the dinette and the couch. This opened up plenty of floor space for us and the two traveling puppies. Shana had passed just before this trailer was purchased but we added another white shepherd, Hannah, to our camping pack.

In 2015 I started talking to Tammy looking for something smaller than the Coachmen Captiva. I was not happy with how this trailer had aged. The exterior of the coach was really starting to show its age, and the decals were peeling. In addition we have never had a trailer as hard to maneuver at gas pumps as this one. I believe the location of the wheels – almost dead center – caused the majority of our issues.

However I will say this about the Coachmen, I doubt that there will every be a kitchen as nice as that one in any RV.

The 2015 Jayco White Hawk 24RBS

This trailer ended up being our first real mistake in purchasing a travel trailer. We knew we wanted to go smaller because the coachmen had been such a pain at the gas pumps. So we looked at some Jayco models online and then went to a dealer lot to look at the 24 foot model. It had a floor plan that we thought looked great.

The sad part is that it all could have been avoided had either I or Tammy said “It’s too small”. We were both thinking that exact thing when we did the walk through. However, I thought Tammy liked it so I didn’t say anything. Meanwhile Tammy was having the same conversation in her head. So since both of us though the other person liked it, we purchased it.

Kaela had passed at this time but now we had a new German Shepherd, Kendra. So we were still a family of four travelers. The problem really became one of space for the puppies and us. Had it only been Tammy and I, it might have been the perfect trailer – who knows. It had a huge bathroom which was a big positive. Again, small enough so that you never had any concern at the gas pumps.

So whats the moral of the story? Don’t over react in downsizing and always vocalize your concerns to your partner. After only one year of traveling in the 24′ Jayco we threw in the towel.

The 2015 Jayco White Hawk 27RBOK

This was a really well constructed Travel Trailer. It was 31 feet long and weighed 5958 pounds. It is one of my favorite trailers.

My first thought when I saw this trailer was that the outside kitchen was a waste of space for us. I was totally wrong as I ended up loving that feature. It also had an enormous bathroom with plenty of cabinets for towels and clothes. Needless to say there was plenty of room for Hannah and Kendra.

We put an incredible amount of miles on this trailer and loved the way it towed.

The downside to this trailer was that the seating was just a couch and the dinette. If you wanted to watch TV you had to turn your head at a right angle to make that possible. I started talking to Tammy in 2017 about retrofitting the seating but we ended up at an RV show where we found a trailer that checked every box for us (except an outside kitchen).

I also want to say, of all the trailers we have owned, the Jayco trailers had the strongest body. No one, and I mean no one, making travel trailers has a roof as strong as Jayco. If you walk on a Jayco roof you will immediately notice just how strong it is. It feels as if you are walking on a stick and brick house. That is not to say that other trailers don’t have strong roofs; it is just that the Jayco roof is much better.

The 2017 Grand Design Imagine 2950RL

We have owned this trailer now for five years. I love the residential feel inside the trailer, and the layout is perfect. It has two AC units, a really nice bathroom with a door from the bedroom and hallway. The girls enjoyed camping in this trailer with all the floor room but sadly both Kendra and Hannah passed in late 2019. Now we are down to one Shepherd, Eva, and she loves camping as much as all of her predecessors. Actually she behaves better camping than she does at home.

We have made a number of improvements to the trailer over the last five years, many that you can read about in earlier posts. Also, Tammy and I had to replace the furniture last year as it began to peel. I would love to swap out the refrigerator at some point to a 12 volt only model. There is nothing wrong with the current fridge, I just think a 12 volt only model is a safer and more efficient option.

Unfortunately I also learned how to replace a schwintek motor in 100 degree heat (click here for that post). There is some comfort in knowing your trailer as well as we know this one. The more you understand how your trailer works the easier it will be for you to maintain and repair it. I have tried to take that approach with each trailer we have owned.

So as you can see, we have had quite a few trailers over the last 34 years and always enjoyed them. It has been fun to watch the changes that have happened over the years as technology changed. It has also been disappointing to see a drop in manufacturing quality. The earlier trailers that we owned were basically trouble free right from the dealers lot; and for as long as we owned them. Once the competition thinned after 2008, quality took a back seat to production numbers. That lack of quality is even worse today, but that is a topic for another day.

I hope you found the trip down memory lane interesting. We have had an awesome time traveling across the country in our trailers. I can’t imagine not traveling this way.