Well, the winter holidays are approaching and I kinda feel it’s time for one of those end-of-year “this-is-what-we-did-this-year” kinda letters to family and friends. I’ve never written one myself but there’s a first time for everything, so here goes.

On January 1, 2022, we slept late, watched a lot of TV, and ate too many leftovers.

On January 2, 2022, we…..

Naw! Just kidding with ya’! I wouldn’t put you through all that. Lol!

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The MOST important thing we did this year that’s relative to this blog is…
WE SOLD OUR BELOVED HOME-BUILT TEARDROP TRAILER!!!

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I truly never thought we’d do that, but never say never (said some guy somewhere). Hubby and I had such a deep connection to our home-built trailer. We built it TOGETHER which is something we’d never done before nor since. We enjoyed every moment of the ten years we camped in that trailer, four years of it spent with our beloved family member, now passed–our beautiful, lovable 80-pound Labrador Retriever / German Shepherd. A week after she passed, a sweet little 8-pound Miniature Pinscher / Chihuahua adopted us and has been joining us on camping journeys for six years now (Wow! Has it been six years already?), all in our home-built trailer.

But everything changes. After all, CHANGE IS the only constant in life!
All good things come to an end, leaving room for other good things to come along.

Hubby met the soon-to-be new owner of our little trailer–a wonderful young woman who, along with her sweet daughter, already has a love for camping but wanted to be able to do so safely and with some protection from the elements. Her daughter is at an awesome age for absorbing the lifetime vibe of spending time in nature as much as possible through camping, just like my hubby and I did when we were kids. We couldn’t be happier for this mother-daughter pair and wish them Happy Trails as they endeavor on a lifetime journey of heart-connected adventures together!

HAPPY TRAILS!!

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The SECOND most important thing we did this year relative to this blog is…
WE BOUGHT A LIGHTLY USED NU-CAMP TEARDROP TRAILER!

We made a trip from Arizona to Colorado early this year to pick up the new-to-us trailer, taking five days to get there, solidify the purchase and drive it back home. We encountered snowy conditions along the northern route from Phoenix to Colorado Springs, so rather than deal with that on the way back with a trailer we weren’t yet familiar with, we took the southern route back home to Phoenix–down to the bottom of New Mexico, then west toward Tucson, and onward and upward toward Phoenix from there. We booked campsites on the fly, using the RV PARKY app on my phone to seek out camping options, which worked out really well.

We were happy to find $14 campsites at New Mexico state parks. Some were kinda bare minimum campgrounds, but hey, $14… can’t argue with that! After crossing the border to Arizona, prices went up to $30+, but the parks are lovely and worth it.

Special mention goes to:

ROCKHOUND STATE PARK near Deming, New Mexico.
This is a super sweet campground with very spacious campsites on nicely maintained gravel ground. Bathrooms are very clean. Views around the campground are really nice. We grabbed a last-minute reservation with no hookups on what would be a very cold night and were super happy that after a quick mention to the camp host, we were able to be moved to a site with electric. Didn’t have time to explore the trails, but could tell it was worth coming back and checking it out. Again, $14 campsites! Beautifully kept campground. Definitely worth staying a couple of nights.

KARTCHNER CAVERNS STATE PARK, near Benson, Arizona.
This is such a beautifully maintained, picturesque campground. We got a last-minute reservation for a pull-through site, which was paved and very neat. Plentiful trees laced the immediate surrounding landscape, making us feel like we were camping in a grove. The best reason for camping here is the main attraction–the caves. However, we were traveling with our dog, so could not partake in any cave tours. We would definitely camp here again.

So, our travels now continue in our Nu-Camp teardrop-style trailer. Just like our home-built teardrop trailer, the new-to-us Nu-Camp model we purchased also has an outdoor kitchen (hatchback-style). This was perhaps our main requirement, because we are still deeply connected to our tent-camping roots and want to be outside the trailer more than inside it.

The new trailer has an especially cool feature–a pass-through cabinet area between the outside kitchen and the inside cabin.

That’s me at the pass-through, cabin side!

It also has…. (drum roll, please!)… a BATHROOM!!!! Yes, indeed. We now can pee in full privacy! LOL!

And, along with that, to state the obvious, it means we can stand up inside the trailer, kinda sorta. Stepping inside the trailer, I have enough clearance above my 5’6″ self to stand up once I step up and into the main cabin. That’s about it, though. Heading in any direction from this one spot requires ducking a bit. Hubby is 6′ tall and has to be mindful of the ceiling, BUT we can mostly stand up, which is pretty darn nice.

There aren’t too many choices once stepping into the trailer. Either one takes another step forward into the bathroom or a step left into the dinette/bed area. The dinette has a cool swivel table able to be positioned just about anywhere you need it to, and then, as usual for small trailers, it transforms into the RV version of a Queen-sized bed, which is not quite 6-foot in length. Just like in our home-built trailer, our little dog sleeps between us, often down around our feet. We all manage just fine.

I’ll make a point of sharing some photos in the coming months of our Nu-Camp trailer.

In the meantime, here we are in yet another new chapter of our teardrop trailer adventures. We miss our old trailer, we truly do. But like any camping configuration we morph through (whether backpacking, car camping with tent, or trailer camping), we are making this version our own. Hubby has already made many fixes to the trailer, along with upgrades and modifications that suit our individual needs and style. We feel spoiled right now in this slightly larger trailer, can’t imagine having a need or want for something bigger, but hey, like I said earlier, never say never.  😉

Hope y’all have a beautiful holiday season that warms your soul. I’m so happy to have you along for our journey and hope you are making time for connecting with the outdoors, with nature, and generally keeping balance in your life. We all need time away from it all. We truly do.

Happy trails to you! Hope the new year brings you more good than you can possibly imagine.

Peace,

Check out my other posts related to this one:

Photos of Our Own Home-Built, Custom Teardrop Trailer

Building Our Teardrop Trailer From Scratch: Learning by Doing