Speaking of camping trailers.....

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:04 am

Does anybody know where I might find an Airstream Bambi for cheap ?? I'm talkin' the old original ones, from back in the 50's or 60's.

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:10 am

Those airstreams are damn cool looking, and I wouldn't be surprised if they still cost a small fortune....

I don't regret selling my trailer, actually, since the only camping I do is with a pack on my back, or with tents out of the trunk of my car....but someday, maybe, when I get old or have a family or something, I want one of those pop-ups! Cuz my main problem with old 1969 campers or whatever is airdrag like crazy...an Airstream would theoretically be better though.

You should polish it after you get one!

takza · Post by **takza** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 6:02 am

<a href='http://autos.dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/R ... w_groups=1' target='_blank'>http://autos.dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/R ... roups=1</a>

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:43 am

Thanks, Takza ! that's what I love about the Internet.....whatever you're lookin' for, info is just a few keystrokes away ! I did a Google search...found a few for sale.....in the $15K range !! LOL !! It's probably going to be impossible to find what I'd like to get.....a good solid shell that I can custom build the interior.

Polishing is a good idea !! Always liked the look of the big shiny aluminum bullets going down the road

takza · Post by **takza** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:15 pm

With the kind of camping I do, the last thing I'd need would be an AirStream...trees are hell on aluminum skin. It's probably the outside that gets messed up first?

Maybe you should build a camper on a pickup? Saw one on the beach in Texas one time....had to be 1 1/2 stories tall...made out of plywood with wood shakes on it...lots of windows and skylights...the guy had a dream? Not sure how well it traveled though.

Not to mention mileage.

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 10:46 pm

LOL !! I'm imagining what that must look like ! Somewhere I have a picture of some wild truck camper....I'll try and find it and get it posted. I guess the Airstream idea is something that if I found a cheap one, I'd like to buy it, but I'm not gonna spend several thousands of dollars on a 40yr old trailer !

Any of you ever camped up in north MN/southwest Ontario ?? Boundary Waters / Quetico ?? Absolutely beautiful wilderness canoe camping....drink the water straight out of the lake !

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 11:43 pm

Although they, of course, advise against the drinking of untreated water...regardless of its source...tee hee

I had this fantasy once for a pop-up camper in the bed of a compact pickup, that would be good times...then I came up with something even better! My Nissan Pathfinder....suv, if one folds the rear seats flat, there is almost enough room to lay down back there, straightened out anyway, but if you were to REMOVE the seats, lots of room, so I was going to build an RV kinda interiour into the back of it, then I could have a little suv that I could sleep in heh cuz just cuz I have a nice bed and stuff doesn't mean I am not seeing the same crazy offroad experiences! and then I could still take my backpack and go from there...

but then I came up with an even better idea...I was going to get custom tent parts and make a tent that bowed out from the open rear hatch, so I could get air in there, and more room! I sort of fell "out of love" with the Pathfinder though as my primary offroader when I started getting into the tiny Tercel offroader idea....heh but I think those foogly Pontiac Azteks had my tent idea, didn't they?

I bet I could get a tercel or outback and make my bowed-out tent idea work and have plenty of room back there, heheh I'd have to extend the length of the vehicle for that to work though....well a flap could extend the floor! like wood or something, or sweet fiberglass

takza · Post by **takza** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 7:49 am

MootsMan wrote: Any of you ever camped up in north MN/southwest Ontario ?? Boundary Waters / Quetico ?? Absolutely beautiful wilderness canoe camping....drink the water straight out of the lake !

Actually...that 1 1/2 story camper was neat looking and would have been something to see inside...but I chickened out and didn't bother the people.

I went on a canoe trip thru the boundary waters as a scout long ago....we looped over into Canada...gone about 10 days or so. Quite an adventure for a kid.

Alls I can say is...watch the bugs! Weren't so many on that trip cause we camped out on islands where the wind could blow...can't say so for my Mich trip though.

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 4:28 pm

Ah, the bugs in Minnesota, I love it...one time I drove up to the "Chippewa Nat'l Forest" which everyone knows is the lame cousin to "Superior Nat'l Forest", more West and south a bit, right in the middle of the top of the state of Minnesota...yay that was "fun" heh and me and this guy ended up dropping tent in what we found out later to be little better than a swamp, swarms of bugs of all types, yay, and woodtick mobs that would swarm all over you and kill you and THEN suck your blood...bleah I always refer to it fondly as the "Backpacking into the Minnesota Hell Hole" trip.

But happens everyone I guess, the Minnesotans always make jokes about our mosquitos, but one time I was in Cali by the ocean, in the forest along highway 101 there on the coast, somewhere north of Big Sur, and I tell ya, you just haven't camped until you make a glorious meal of mac and cheese in the dark and you have to shut off your flashlight cuz if you have it on, the 100000 bugs fly into the light and into your mac and cheese, damn them, and picking them out is a losing proposition, and so you eat in the dark, and you wonder just how many of those 100000 bugs you are including in your meal. Better I not know, I guess.

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 11:45 pm

My first day in Quetico Provincial Park, on the border with MN over close to Lake Superior, opened my eyes to BUGS !! I mean, here in TN, we have bugs, but not BUGS !! We'd taken off from our outfitters around 9am, paddled most of the day, about got lost only once or twice....finally got to a good campsite a few miles into the wilderness of Quetico and set up camp. We had been swatting flies most of the day, but the wind was strong enough that they weren't a big problem, just a minor nuisance. So camp is set up, the fire is going, dinner is cooking.....i'm feeling kindy grungy, so down to the lake for a swim....typical wilderness swim, if you know what i mean. When i'm gettin' out of the water, i hear this noise like a distant airplane or jet or something, i couldnt' quite tell what. But I tell myself "we're out in the middle of nowhere...there aren't any planes out here...... LOL !!!

I'll leave the rest to your imagination !

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:40 pm

Man, I can't WAIT for camping season....here in MN the weather has been nearly 40 degrees during the day, my brain says "spring!" but I know it can't be true....

Anyway I have found that 3M or somebody makes this spray that one applies to his/her clothing BEFORE wearing it, you lay it out on the ground and spray this can all over it, I used half of my can on my one outfit (I only have one outfit when I go backpacking), it was a few bucks at walmart, and apparantly it lasts for a couple weeks, and ticks and stuff die or something when they come in contact with it....so you know I am all over that stuff! I hate ticks. ticks ticks ticks.
Tha's most of minnesota right there, during most of the summer, ticks, i get em at my house even, those little bastards I'm gonna...ooh! I PREFER to go do my camping out there in Black Hills / Tetons / etc Wyoming Montana blah blah blah, I was over by Yellowstone this summer and driving and suddenly we find a tick crawling up the inside of the windshield doh!!!! But there is one positive aspect....I never go anywhere without a) Leatherman B) Zippo, and so I grab the tick with Leahterman, and he gets the Zippo treatment, and it is gloriously satisfying!

Anybody here know, how early I can go camping in the Black Hills area? This whole state is nothing but a mud-pit / still snowing all through April and sometimes into May, but South Dakota should be dryer?

Juando · Post by **Juando** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 1:24 pm

<a href='http://www.freedomteardrop.com/prod01.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.freedomteardrop.com/prod01.htm</a>

the base unit is only....$6,745......

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 11:01 pm

I saw a TV special on the TearDrop trailers not long ago...didnt' even know such a thing existed. Vintage stuff like that is rare and hard to find. Same with the Bambi's, I think.