Adventures of a Couple of Old Texas Campers



Compared to the Casita experience, camping in a "popup" camper is a whole new ballgame. We're definitely not old pros as far as camping is concerned and certainly not in popup camping, but will share some of our experiences during our year as popup campers.

Click here for a look at the Coleman popups (now called "Fleetwood Trailers.") These are photos and figures for the current year. Our's was a 2002 but the only visible difference is perhaps some minor changes in the color scheme and inside layout.

NOTE: The Coleman trailers have been made by Fleetwood and not by Coleman. Fleetwood only used the name "Coleman." In August 2003 Coleman withdrew from their contract with Fleetwood so starting with the 2004 models Fleetwood's popups will simply go by the name Fleetwood.

One of the surest ways to get the hang of popup camping is to get with other popup campers. Early in our year with the Coleman we attended a campout of the North Texas Popup Campers Association (NTPUCA) and the Southeast Texas Popup Campers Club (SETPUCC) (about 50 families and their popups) at Fairfield Lake State Park (Texas) where we enjoyed visiting with the other campers and learned many things about unfolding our camper and setting up our campsite, as well as things to add and ways to make our camping experience more enjoyable. Also realized that we were carrying around a lot of stuff we really didn't need and were not taking things we did need. Ah, experience!

Attending these campouts and talking to other campers is just one of the many ways to learn about the camping experience. Other excellent sources of helpful information are places such as The Popup Times and PopupExplorer websites and many individual campers websites we've found through various sources. It's interesting to see the innovations and additions other campers have made to their popups. Will add some of these links later.

Trips we made in the Coleman Utah: 

Cleburne State Park, Texas - July, 2002
Abilene State Park, Texas - September, 2002
Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas - September, 2002  
Fairfield Lake State Park, Texas - September, 2002
Devil's Den State Park, Arkansas - November, 2002
Brazos Bend State Park, Texas - January, 2003
Fort Sam Houston RV Park, Texas - February, 2003
Lake Livingston State Park, Texas - March, 2003

Click on the "Go" icon below to see photos of these trips...




Since we're still new at this thing of Popup camping we haven't made all that many changes to our camper, but what we have done we'll share in case some of you may be looking for a way to change or fix something that is bugging you. Hey, what changes we've made have been inspired, in one way or another, by something someone else said or posted on the internet. So, for what they're worth, here are some of my "PopUp Projects" to date:

Tired of getting dripped on when your Air Conditioner is running and the condensation runs off the awning and into your hair? Tired of folding up your canopy wet from that infernal drip? Check out this AC Drip Thingy I've rigged up.


And what about dragging that Porta Potty out of it's little closet...then pushing it back in. Whew! And notice how harder it gets with each movement (no pun intended). Know what I'm talking about? You've gotta see our Potty Wheels!. They're hot!


I came across a great deal on a Winegard Television Antenna (batwing type) at a garage sale and, with the help of Home Depot, put together a setup that works really well on my PopUp. Click here to see my low budget/high performance TV Antenna and how I rigged it up.


Seems PopUp campers are always making some kind of modification or adjustment to make things a little more comfortable or convenient. Here's some things I've come up with and posted on a Miscellaneous Stuff page. You might find something helpful there.


I've looked high and low for a camping journal format, but like others I found the ones for sale either had too many features I didn't want or did not have the features I did want. Finally, I went to the Forum on my favorite internet hangout, PopUp Times and asked if anyone there had a journal format they would share. I got several replies and from those ideas I put together one that fit me. Now, in the spirit of sharing, I've posted my own Camping Journal. It's in Word format, so if you use a PC you can likely download it and change it to suit your needs. If you don't have Word you can email me and I'll send you a copy. If you're like me it may not be exactly what you want, but such as it is you are welcome to it and may change it to suit your needs.





Wayfarer@cox-internet.com

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