People...

We started out tent camping as a family with our three sons. The first camping trip was to Isle DuBois State Park on Lake Ray Roberts and it was a primitive tent site. That means two things: 1. No power or water at the site. 2. You had to haul all your stuff back to the site! I made a lot of trips with a bike and kids cart hauling stuff to the campsite. That night a storm blew in and the tent was pretty much laying flat on top of us from the wind! Even with all that happening we were hooked.

We switched to Water & Electric Sites and that made things SO much easier. Just back the car up and unload. One of those trips we were headed to Cedar Hill State Park (still one of our favorites for a quick getaway) and stopped for dinner at Burger Street in Arlington. We went through the drive through and everything was fine until the bar telling you not to drive through with tall things lifted the bikes and the bike rack off the top of the SUV! Fortunately we got it back on the SUV and it was a fun weekend.

One day at an area garage sale there was a "popup" camper in the driveway, I asked about it and they said it needed some repairs - we made a deal and I took it home and rebuilt it. The first night the bed on our end kinda collapsed! We drove to a friends house and borrowed a screwgun and made repairs. This started the "never go camping without a screwgun policy". We then went to a bigger/better popup that was great until it didn't pop up. We used 2"x4"s and a drill (see - always have one with you when camping) and made it work. It was on that trip we saw our first Trailmanor and were hooked. It's a great design that is hard sided and kinda pulls into shape. One downside, you can't pull over and use the bathroom without setting it up. As is typical life changes and we moved to a different house and lost a back yard big enough to store the camper so we sold it.

Several years later we got healthy and to celebrate we decided to hike Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs. That got us hooked on elevation hiking and we've done Mount Whitney - the tallest peak in the lower 48. We planned a trip with another couple to hike a few sections of the Appalachian Trail. The day started out great but just as we were ready to setup camp it started raining. My buddy Jason and me hiked to the nearest water source to filter some water, it only took 30 minutes or so to rebuild the water filter that had been tested pre-trip. Hiking back to camp I managed to step on my glasses and pop a lens out which is a whole different tale. A big storm came through with heavy rain and lightening and tree limbs falling, we were in a very small 2-person tent and just prayed for daylight. The next morning Joann proclaimed we were through backpacking and tent camping. We hiked out and went to a hotel...

Some time later our friend Natalie was looking for a camper that they could tow behind their Honda Pilot which got me looking at campers! The first try was the Sylvan Sport which is an amazing camper but we quickly figured out that it wasn't the answer to our needs. Then we found the rPod and fell in love. We picked it up from the dealer and headed out the next day for a 9-day trip to the Grand Canyon. Great trip all the way around, I listed the Pod for rent and had our first reservation within 12 hours. From there every RV show somehow added to out fleet and now we've also added management for other so they can make money off their rigs.

We still camp and love camping, we just planned one with some friends (current count is 15 adults and 15 kids and 5 campers!). If you're not sure about camping renting is a great way to dive in dip your toes in the water.