I’ve posted about camping, but never really talked about our camper and why we chose a pop-up. Growing up, my parents had a class C camper (you know, the kind with the bunk over the cab) and I have lots of happy camping memories. Fast forward to when John & I had our first baby. We had talked about getting a camper, but just weren’t sure. I was sure I wanted a class C, but the cost seemed prohibitive (and this was before gas prices spiked!). The other problem was we really didn’t have a place to park it at our house, so there would be the added cost of paying to park it somewhere else. Plus, I really thought we would want to have a car with us rather than having to drive the RV everywhere (my parents never towed so if we went somewhere, they had to unhook everything, stow anything that was out, and then when we got back, hook everything back up again…seemed like a lot of work to me!).
At my parents recommendation, we went to the RV Show in Harrisburg, PA. Wow!! We saw all kinds of very expensive rvs! There weren’t too many class C’s, but we did have fun looking at the million dollar class A’s. We didn’t buy one and put it on the back burner until we moved to a place that had room for a camper. Fast forward a few more years and we have three kids and a new-to-us house with lots of room to park a camper. We started talking about buying a camper again. John was really interested in a pop-up. He had been camping in one a couple times and thought it would work for us. I wasn’t at all sure! However, the price was definitely better! Also, we found out that our Explorer came with a tow package, so it was already to tow (I’m sure that was mentioned when we bought it, but at that point we were mostly interested in a 4WD vehicle). The idea of getting to a campground and being able to set up once and then take the car where ever was very enticing! I can remember my parents unhooking everything when we wanted to go to a museum, the grocery store, the laundry, anywhere really. It seemed like a lot of work to me even as a kid. So, off to the local Coleman dealer we went. Actually, it was a used car place that also sold campers. The model they had there was a Yuma which is not the smallest, but pretty close. There are no tip outs, no bathroom/shower, a tiny kitchen, and enough beds to sleep 6-8 people (OK, probably 5, but we’ve had 7 in there with no problem). I loved it!! It somehow seemed perfect for our little family. So, we ordered one. They were made at a plant about an hour and a half from where we live (it has since closed). I think the salesman was a little surprised that we bought one so fast. He had no idea that this decision actually took about 6 years!! We knew nothing about towing and asked a bunch of questions trying to figure out what we needed. Finally we determined that we needed a ball mount and that it should only have a 2 inch drop. Our next stop was at the auto parts store to pick up a ball mount.
About a week later we got a call that our pop up was in. We got a quick lesson on setting up and tearing down and then they helped us get hitched up for the first time and we were on our way.
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