So, I Bought a Camper...

 I've always like camping. We camped in screen shelters and an ancient pop-up camper as kids with the family. We camped in tents and pooped in the woods as boy scouts. Camped at Big Bend in high school. Even camped as a young adult from time to time, but then life has a way of happening and suddenly one day you realize that it has been years since you've gone camping...

It was about 10 years ago that I got the camping bug again. I made plans for a very late Spring weekend trip and started gathering supplies, as I pretty much needed "one of everything".  I got a truck tent (the kind that assembles and attaches to the bed of a pickup truck), an air mattress, sleeping bag, chairs, fan, table, etc. By the time I spent several hundred dollars and several days acquiring everything I needed, the weather had turned and I lost interest. That, and I was embarrassed by the fact that I snored - loudly. There was no way I could have camped at a state park in a tent, mere feet away from others, and not have gotten ran out of town on a rail, or tarred and feathered.

Oddly enough, I didn't know that I snored. In fact, I would have bet money (real money) that I didn't. It wasn't until someone help up a phone and played back a recording of what sounded like a tornado, saying "that is you, snoring" (literally a recording of me) that I began to accept it. After that intervention I made an appointment with a sleep doctor and got tested. Now with the use of a CPAP machine I can once again claim that I don't snore.

However, being tied to a CPAP at night makes camping a bit for difficult logistically. And, at that time portable power stations and solar panels were not around. If you wanted portable power 10 years ago you had to lug a car battery around and have some way to charge it as well. So eventually I got busy with life, and forgot all about camping.

Fast forward to 2022 and I really started getting interested in camping again. I decided I wanted a camper, especially one with air conditioning. My budget and truck towing capacity pretty much limited me to a popup camper. 

I started poking around on Craigslist and other sites looking at used popups, but all of the ones that caught my eye (size, price, location) seemed to have a fundamental flaw in some way or another. Usually it was "selling for friend so I don't have the title" or "everything works except for that big giant hole in the roof" or "yeah there's a couple of rats living in it, but they're really nice rats". 

Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and just get a new one. That way I'd know that everything worked, and I wouldn't be pondering various mystery stains or wondering just how much mold you can inhale and not die.

After checking out various popup campers I stumbled across the A-Frame style of camper. I liked that it folds up, like a popup, but has solid walls instead of canvass. This makes it a lot more insulated, sound proofer-er, and sturdy. Of course, that also means it's twice as expensive as a popup too.

Anyway, I went ahead and purchased a 2022 Aliner Ranger 10 (at the end of 2022) since it was on year-end closeout and discounted by about $5,000 or so. I figured I'd put some money down, finance the rest, keep it a couple of years and then sell it before it lost too much value. Basically, I saw it as a long term rental. (Interesting fact: you cannot purchase a camper with a credit card for some reason.)

I will probably keep it for another year, but I've already started looking into some of the light weight campers that have more room (and a dedicated bathroom!). Of course that would mean buying a bigger truck since I don't think my four cylinder Nissan would be up to the task.

I'll back-post some of my camping trips shortly, but in the meantime here is tour of my 2022 Aliner Ranger 10, lemme know what you think: