I grew up spending the majority of my time outside. From around age 5 until I was 18 and left for college, I lived at summer camp. Yep, you heard me right, a real-life summer camp. Summer romances, drinking my first beer on the dock, arts and crafts, lifeguards at the pool and a lake full of things only Alex Olsen (Swamp Thing) could love. While I lived there I also joined the Boy Scouts of America where I would obtain my Eagle Scout before graduating high school. I would Later join the Army as an Infantryman and spend some time traveling in and out of the country. In all this time I spent maybe about as much time sleeping on the ground as I did in a bed and hiking more than I spent sitting. With not a single regret to be had, it doesn’t change the fact that my back stays as stiff as premium grade 2×4 and my knees snap, crackle and pop like a bowl of puffed rice cereal. The last thing I want to do is snuggle up on some packed dirt with a pine tree root messaging out those back muscles.
We looked into several options including several teardrop campers, rooftop tents, slide in bed campers and even one of our favorite options, the Tacoma Habitat from AT Overland. The process for ruling out certain types of sleeping/living systems was about as strenuous and well thought out as the Declaration of Independence. Rooftop tent: Yea, a thin mattress on a piece of plywood…NEXT! Slide in bed campers: Bulky, top-heavy and a permanent kind of option that Clark Griswald might have preferred, The Road King 2000. The Habitat: Combined the rooftop with the in bed camper but in the size of a large camper shell, mmm, hard to resist, but I’m packing some extra meat in the lunch box if you know what I mean (Hefty, Hefty, Hefty). This option just wasn’t big enough for us.
ENTER THE TEARDROP! This option combines everything we want. Full galley with plenty of room to store the munchy-num-nums, a great mattress to keep my old man back from killing me, storage for clothes and security with locking doors, windows and solid walls to keep out ole’ Yogi from stealing my Pic-a-nic basket. There are so many options when it comes to teardrops with some companies providing too much and some not providing enough. I know you’re thinking, “Can’t be enough when camping on the road”, and that might be true when you are whip’n around the US in a GMC 2500 Duramax but I’m driving a 4.0 V6 Tacoma. What we needed was something right in the middle, a camper that had some room for mods but was VERY well-built and light enough to be easily pulled by my truck without having the aerodynamics of an IKEA couch.
Once we narrowed down all the options, throwing out the too large, the over-equipped, the too small and the bare bones, we picked the TC Teardrop Offroad edition. After contacting Todd and Carol (owners), and explaining what we do and the trip we are taking, they decided to become one of our sponsors and worked closely with us building the perfect living space for extended travel. Before I get too deep into the complexities of a teardrop there are a few things you should know up front. If you want a teardrop that is suited for being pulled behind something like a van or Subaru, TC Teardrop makes it. If you want something to pull behind a stock height 2WD truck, they make it. If you need one that you can pull behind a Jeep they make it, and if you need one with a higher clearance vehicle, they do that too. Todd, Carol, their sons and the rest of their crew are a one-stop shop for literally everything you need to pick up a teardrop, stock it with groceries and hit the road. Not only do they build them but they test them by taking them out, boondocking them, traveling long distances and beating them up. Every question I had for Todd about being out in the wild, he could quickly answer because of real-world experience.
Now that I’ve sold you on getting a TC Teardrop and you’re back from their ordering page, you’ll have a few months to wait until you get it and plenty of time to read more of my blog. We purposely asked Todd to leave our teardrop a little plain and no, it’s not because they have a style we don’t like, it’s simply because we wanted to match the trailer to the truck. For example, we have round tube rock sliders on the truck and wanted to match them to have a uniform look. We also had some other plans for the roof rack, solar system, and front rack area so we didn’t get a toolbox, solar system or roof rack (all options available through TC Teardrop).
Besides all the super cool gadgets and options, we opted for a 5×9 foot off-road model that fits a queen size mattress, yea let that sink in, a real queen size mattress! This model comes standard with aluminum wheels, Jeep-style fender flares, heavy-duty torsion axle with electric brakes, 7 pin spade wiring harness, a series of 2″ receivers for accessories and one of my favorites parts of the trailer, the lock-n-roll hitch. This hitch allows for full articulation of the trailer. After being in the military for a few years, I’ve seen the importance of having a trailer that can move with the truck and not pop off or cause issues with movement. If you have ever had a trailer come unhinged, you’ll know how scary it can be and how dangerous the entire situation can get. With the lock-n-roll hitch, a t-shaped hitch drops into a u-shaped receiver and two covers flip over using a pin to lock them in. This provides the up and down movement to the trailer. Behind this mechanism, is the pin that allows the side to side motion of the trailer. These are two common motions of any trailer but the rotating mechanism or the “roll” part of lock-n-roll hitch makes this the coolest safety feature on the trailer. This allows the trailer to “flex” or in a more basic term, the left wheel can rise above the right and vice-versa without the trailer coming unhitched and making the teardrop a TRULY offroad trailer.
The Galley or as you home-lovers might know it, the kitchen, is huge! Really, who has ever enjoyed cooking on a multi-fuel, single burner stove? My good buddy Sam and I have hiked the NC section of the Appalachian trail and used an MSR multi-fuel, single burner stove and there were very few times when I looked forward to putting it all together, getting it lit, keeping it burning in wind and rain and only being able to cook one small pot at a time. Honestly, I’d rather choke down a toxic egg omelet MRE covered in old jalapeno cheese spread. Sorry, that’s an army/marine inside joke but you guys and gals know what I’m talking about. For everyone else, just eat an old moldy sponge with a melted piece of craft cheese. Well, needless to say, I’m not doing that craziness anymore or as my buddy, Jared would say, “Screw that noise”. This galley has storage that makes a warehouse jealous and well-built shelves to hold pretty much anything you’ve got. We found some great storage containers from the container store, a store that caters to us with severe OCD. We use these for food storage and because we got enough to fill the spaces in the shelves we ended up with waaaaaay more than we actually need and now have empty containers for additional food on our big US trip. We started out using a Coleman stainless steel belted cooler but after it made a complete mess on our first trip we decided to get a refrigerator. I will cover more of that in another blog post on improving the galley and your cooking experience. TC Teardrops includes a collapsible table that attaches to the rear of the trailer and provides ample room to prep food, eat on or just set groceries while you pack them away. All in all, I prefer the cooking experience of this trailer to my own home. The workspace triangle is perfect, you can basically stand in one space, chop up your mirepoix, braise the chicken and pull some heavy cream from the fridge.
Yea, yea, yea, so we got a teardrop trailer. I’m sure you’re thinking,”What now, quinoa, Teva sandals, knit hats and Buddhist prayer flags”? Get out of here, this thing is badass and ready to take on some trails at MOAB, back roads in Gila National Forrest, and still whip through city streets in Santa Fe to gobble down one of those killer red and green breakfast burritos from Tia Sophia’s. Another reason we went with a teardrop was because of a trip I took a few years ago with my friend Lauren. Fortunately, she is a boss and accumulated an immense amount of Marriott Points that needed to be used and she covered our hotel expenses. Knowing the cost of these lodgings and the frequency you will use them, compounded with restaurant costs because you don’t have a kitchen, will make your head explode. After you manage to Humpty Dumpty your head back together and realize that you spent a small fortune on lodging and food, oh and you don’t get to keep any of it, you might start thinking a teardrop is actually a good investment. Everywhere you go you can set up a base camp, unhitch the trailer and go explore the surrounding regions with the ability to return home, cook a good meal and get a good night’s sleep. Depending on the model of trailer you go with, you can access parts of the country or even the world that some people only dream of or can’t because their minds are too focused on 5-star hotels and Michelin star rated eateries. Why waste your money on 5 stars when you can invest in something that is yours and offers you the view of millions of stars in a new location every night?
So far we have thoroughly enjoyed our teardrop and plan on using it for years, accumulating thousands of miles and pages worth of stories. Hot or cold, we haven’t encountered conditions that could stop us from enjoying ourselves or being away from the hustle and bustle of modern-day life. We are truly excited to take you along on this journey, not only our local trips but across the country and one day, all the way to Prudhoe Bay Alaska. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us using our “contact page” and don’t forget to visit the TC Teardrop page. Maybe one day we will be camping beside one another swapping stories from the road.
-Will
Life in the right lane (Jesus, just pass us already).
DMG Exploration 