Digmenow
Senior Member
Who am I and what am I doing here?
(Lloyd Bentsen reference, anyone?)
Well, as you can see by my avatar to the left of your screen and my signature down at the bottom of this post, I go by the screen name Dig but I'll also answer to Tom. ;-)
Long ago, my kids picked out the "Digmenow" screen name for our AOL account and it has followed me throughout the years across a number of forums. SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed, aka DW, aka MsDig) shall be of no small importance as this post continues.
A few years ago, our two daughters and their husbands began to go tent camping once a year in the summer. Two of our nieces and their husbands and family soon joined in. Then our first grandson came along. I mentioned to SWMBO, who hates being outdoors for extended periods, that he would grow up with great memories of these special outings but WE would not be part of them because we never went camping with them. To my amazement, she agreed with me and I told her that I would do everything in my power to make her comfortable and set about it.
- Two room EZ up 7 foot tall cabin tent (WITH an actual door that opened and sealed with velcro when you didn't feel like zipping it)? Check!
- Room air conditioner adapted to the rear tent door? Check!
- Small fridge for keeping her Diet Dr. Peppers chilled? Check!
- Inflatable queen (natch
) bed with self contained pump? Check! - Bath house always located within a 2 minute walk from the tent site? Check!
Then one year, one of the group showed up with a pop-up. Our daughter and S-I-L cottoned to the idea and went out and bought an R-Pod and a new Silverado to pull it and then traded the R-Pod for something roomier because, grandson. Then another part of the group decided to start looking for a TT for THEIR family. SWMBO and I had gone from the biggest tent on the block to the low rent folks in just one season!
Set up for us was always north of 3 hours and breaking camp took just as long if not longer but I was happy to do it and she found out that she enjoyed camping more than she had expected...
...until the last outing this past August. She was extra tired at the end of the trip and she knew I was, too. The next morning, she said that she wanted to know my thoughts about the previous weekend. I immediately did what any loving husband would do.
I told her that I had to go the bathroom and locked myself away!
I used that time to plan my answers to any of her potential questions or objections. I emerged, as ready as I could be and we started to discuss the trip. Suddenly...
SWMBO: "What about a pop-up camper?"
Me:
SWMBO: "I mean, the tent is a LOT of hard work the way that we do it and we are a lot older than they are. It would just be easier if we had some kind of trailer."
Me:
SWMBO: "What are you looking for?"
Me: (Thinking, "What can a 23 year old Silverado safely pull that meets our specific needs as 2 geezer campers?")
SWMBO: "That looks nice."
Me:
All the benefits of a popup with none of the drawbacks!
So I spent a couple of weeks learning all I could about TrailManors, lurked on their forum, watched YouTube videos and combed the Craigslist ads daily. I was all set to go up to Lancaster, PA on the Tuesday after Labor Day to take a look at one but on the Sunday morning BEFORE Labor Day, I hit up the CL ads one more time. This was the first ad, just 21 minutes old and a 15 minute drive from our house.
2003 Sunline Solaris Lite T-1950 Travel Trailer - $4100
2003 Sunline model T-1950 Travel Trailer. Front living room, Rear Bed and Bath. Great condition. Sleeps 3 to 4. No Leaks, No water damage. 5000lb GVRW / 3455 Dry Weight. Super Clean. Ready to Camp today. Was used last weekend at Point Lookout.
A/C - ice cold
Refrigerator - electric / gas
Microwave
Furnace
Stove / Oven
Hot water heater
19" TV
Am-Fm CD Player
Awning
New Tires this Year
Trailer is in great shape and ready to camp.
I called the number and it was available but after all of my studying of the other trailer, I had to quickly find a Sunline forum (
) and cram like a college student the night before final exams.We beat feet over there and went over it with the finest tooth comb that we had. My S-I-L and daughter were quite surprised at how nice it was inside. The outside is showing its age a bit but more on that in another thread, perhaps. Suffice it to say that it's a 20 footer" in EVERY sense of the word!
I had planned to offer $3,500 based on the ad and told him so but based on the family input, I immediately upped it right there to $3,800. He thought a moment and agreed.
We signed the paperwork, hooked it to the S-I-L's Chevy and towed it home.
This forum is a great asset to the Sunline owners community. I'm a forum administrator for a very large forum of owners of a specific German automobile (3 pointed star) and I have to say the the moderation staff here does an awesome job keeping up with everything and sharing metric ****loads of valuable information. Count on me to be asking (after a thorough search, of course) a LOT of questions as this is our first foray into the world of TT's. I promise to post lots of pics to illustrate those questions and the subsequent work that is done.
Thanks for being here and if you read this whole thing, you have my deepest sympathies! :razz:
