The Story of Getting Our r-pod

Hello fellow r-podders!

Everyone has a story about getting their r-pod. This is ours (apologies for its length):

We live in Colorado. Several years ago we bought a small teardrop camper (5x8, 800lbs) made by Preston B. in Logan, UT. Our '98 Honda CRV did ok towing it. We loved the teardrop and camped in it in CO for 3 summer/fall seasons. We were very happy!

Then a life changing event... I quit my job of 27 years and was hired to work part-time by a small 2-person company. I can do my job remotely over the internet and don't have to be in an office. I bought a new iPad and over the winter, Melinda and I realized, Hey, we have a lot of freedom... let's go camping for weeks instead of days. I can work wherever there is good cell or WiFi. We planned a five-week trip for the Spring.

We left for the TX Gulf Coast in early April 2012. Our dream was to camp on Padre Island. We are also birders and were excited by the prospects of seeing some special birdies. When we arrived in Corpus Christi and got out of the car at the Laguna Shores RV Park, we could see the Island across the Laguna Madre from our site. Beautiful. Our plan was to stay a few days and get situated before heading to Padre.

Reality hit us in the form of 30-50 mph winds:  non-stop, with some gusts into the 60s. Welcome to WINDY season along the Texas coast! There were wind surfers from around the world (eg, Czech Republic) staying at the RV Park, delighted with the persistent extreme conditions. Of course, the humidity was also somewhat high (above 80%) and the lows at night were around 80 degrees. Our 15-year old doggie was suffering mightily but heroically (as dogs usually do). When we left CO, the daytime humidity was around 5% and nighttime temps were in the mid-30s.

The kitchen area of the teardrop is outside. It was nearly impossible to make the most simple meals in the high winds. Trying to eat outside was also challenging and occasionally slapstick humorous. We began to get more and more take-out food from local restaurants and often ate in our car with the AC going.

Hanging-out during the day was tough. After an hour or two in the wind, it was hard not to feel like going inside. But "inside" for us was the sleeping chamber of our teardrop. It had no AC and was usually around 1 billion degrees F (approximately).

After about 5 days we headed over to Padre Island. The camping sites were small with no privacy. And of course, it was windy. Very windy. We stayed 4 nights, enjoyed the Gulf shore, the shorebirds, and our fellow campers.... all in various RVs with indoor kitchens, eating areas, and AC. We considered moving out of the campground and onto the beach, but conditions were too harsh. Plus about 15 feet of seaweed had blown ashore onto the beach and it was stinky.

When we got back to Laguna Shores, we realized the obvious:  while we had dealt with harsh camping conditions before for a few days here and there, we now wanted to travel and work and camp for weeks at a time. We needed to upgrade and get infrastructure that fit our new lives. We began to shop online for a RV.

After reading reviews, we focused on the r-pod 177. It seemed to be the Goldilocks Trailer - just right! Amazingly there was a dealer only about 3 miles from where we were staying in Corpus Christi. He had ordered 3 of the 177s from Forest River. Delivery 2 weeks. We put $500 down, signed a contract, and went back to our teardrop.

You can probably see the problem:  in 2 weeks we were going to have 2 trailers located 1200 miles from home. Our CRV was rated for a towing max of 1500 lbs, so it couldn't even pull the r-pod. No worries tho, we continued camping along the coast (Goose Island, Mustang Island) and had a great time. Soon it was delivery day. The owner of the RV park towed our new trailer to our site and we began living in the luxurious, air conditioned, wonder of "La Vida r-pod".

As the end of May approached we drove home to CO with the CRV towing the teardrop. The '98 CRV was traded in for a 4WD 2012 Honda Pilot. I sold the teardrop to a new happy camper and then we headed back to Texas to fetch the Poddy (we haven't officially named it). We stretched the trip to 3 weeks and stayed on the Gulf as well as at several more Texas State Parks (eg, S Llano River, Palo Duro Canyon). We weren't fighting the weather anymore... we could work with it.

We are very happy!

Warm regards,

Dan, Melinda, and Inti

PS We are planning a 5 week trip for this fall - a swing into southern New Mexico then Texas during migration season. Hope to see a fellow r-pod or two.

PPS Already have learned much from the forum. We bow before you all. Love the good humor, information, and support. We are really clueless about RVs. Yes, some rookie mistakes have been made (eg, I managed to destroy the battery) but we've been learning.