Newfoundland via Truck Camper

 

In June 2023 we took the Avion truck camper on our longest trip ever from our home in the Buffalo, NY area to Newfoundland. We drove over 5,000 miles of driving in total, which is even more miles than when we towed our vintage Shasta to Utah and back in 2013. We spent a total of 24 nights in the Avion on this trip, and best of all we only stayed in paid for campsites on 4 of those nights. We also didn't plug into electricity for most of this trip, making use of our trucks alternator and DC to DC charger to charge our battery and we used propane for heat and cooking. 

Being relatively small and self-contained we were able to boondock most nights within feet of the ocean. We easily found spots using various boondocking apps or just keeping our eyes open. Many of the small towns in Newfoundland welcome small C-Class RV's, Vans, and Truck Campers for overnight stays in town owned lots, but also the province is so laid back that as long as you don't cause trouble it seems that you would be welcome to park almost anywhere for the night. Many of the places we stayed would also accommodate a small trailer, but the roads are pretty rough so I wouldn't recommend a towing much in Newfoundland unless you plan to drop it in campgrounds during the day while you are out exploring with your vehicle.  

On the way to "The Rock" we took a ferry from North Sydney Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques that took 7 hours.  For the return trip we took a ferry from Placenta back to North Sydney that took a long 16 hours. For both passages we chose overnight trips so we wouldn't loose a day and slept in chairs in the ships lounge area instead of spending money to rent a cabin. Unfortunately you can't sleep in your camper. 

Our first day on the island we were able to get tickets for the Western Brook Pond boat tour that had just started running for the season a few days before. This pond is a former fiord and is located in Gross Morne National Park. The boat was was great and a great way to solidify the fact that we really were in a special place. Besides the pond we didn't see a lot Gross Morne saw enough to know that we will return with a plan to spend more time there hiking trails and seeing more of the park. 

We timed this trip to catch iceberg season and saw some amazing icebergs near St. Anthony and Twillingate.  You can see a log of icebergs from shore but we also took a boat tour out of Saint Lunaire-Griquet to see some of icebergs up close- it was definitely worth it.  Note that it's still pretty cold in Newfoundland in June and we found ourselves wearing winter coats and running the heater before bed and first thing in the morning almost every day. 

We hiked quite of a few coastal trails, these are well maintained and have spectacular views. Most of these were 3 to 6 miles round trip and not one left us disappointed. Some of our favorites included the Skerwink Trail, Chance Cove Trail, Rockcut Spiller's Cove, and a small portion of the East Coast Trail. 

Near Bonavista we boondocked at the most epic campsite we've ever encountered. Our spot for the night was at the edge cliff on the ocean with small icebergs bobbing around and larger icebergs off-shore. It was cold, wet, and super foggy (as was often the case on this trip) and there were free ranging horses roaming around, some coming right up to the camper. In addition we had bought some lobsters from a fisherman earlier in the day and enjoyed a great lobster dinner in our camper at this amazing site.   

Towards the end of time in Newfoundland we stopped at Cape Spear new St. Johns. Cape Spear is the most eastern most point in North America and the day we were there it was particularly cold, windy, and rainy and it certainly felt it like the edge of the earth. 

In addition to buying lobster right off the boats a few times and cooking it ourselves (be sure to take a large pot with you!) we got Fish & Chips from local restaurants several times it was always delicious. The local take on fish & chips is usually Cod which is softer and fluffier than the Haddock we typically have in western New York state. We also checked out a cople of the local breweries, Dildo (made famous by Jimmy Kimmel), and Port Rexton which was a great stop after hiking the Skerwink Trail. 

Overall we had an amazing time and will definitely return for another trip sometime. It's a big place and while we are very happy with how much of it we saw, there's still a lot to check out. Newfoundland has been part of Canada since 1949, and the residents are very friendly, and are proud to be Canadians - but it's also still a bit like it's it own country. We found it pretty amazing that a place this special was someplace that we could drive to - along with a ferry ride. Originally we had been thinking about a trip to Nova Scotia and some "well travelled" vintage camper friends from the Tin Can Tourists club told us flat-out, "go to Newfoundland" you won't be disappointed.  They were right, a good reminder to spend some time hanging out with other like minded travelers!   

There's some photo's from this trip in my Instagram feed here @dwsdws12

Maine Trip with vintage Avion truck camper

 

In the early fall we took the Avion to Maine for a few weeks to see some color and check out a bunch of places we've been wanting to see. We spent time on the coast as well as a bit of time in the woods, camping at 8 different locations that included campgrounds, boondocking, and some moochdocking. Our route took us to north to the Canadian border near Calais and we drove most of Route 1 along the coast between there and Portland. Some of the highlights included a stop at West Quoddy Head, the eastern most point in the US. Buying lobsters right off the boat a couple of times, and one time cooking them at campsite in a torrential downpour - our new awning is working great and proved it's worth that night! Checking out the giant Trolls at the Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor - definitely worth seeing! Stopping at a lot of beaches to check out the rocks, including some that sing!  And camping on some public lands along a river and finding fresh moose tracks within a few hundred yards of our campsite - unfortunately no moose sighting though. Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor were much too busy for us largely due to a pair of cruise ships who's passengers were overwhelming the small town, especially after being in the woods. The first part of the trip was a little early to see much for fall color, but on our last few days the leaf peeping was great!  We also had two chance encounters with other vintage rigs during this trip.  At a campground near Boothbay we ended up on a site next to a 1964 Avion trailer named the Red Zeppelin, it was great to meet it's owners and very cool to see. We also ran in a nice couple with amazing looking mirror polished vintage Streamline at Jasper Beach, this trailer was similar to one we saw at Sampson a few weeks before but a shorter model.  Just before the trip I installed a new system that allows us to charge the campers house battery off the alternator while driving, it worked really well for a trip like this where we drive some at least every few days. All in all this was a great tip and also proved out the reliability of some new things that we recently completed on the Avion during our longest trip so far, driving 2,200 miles. 

TCT 2022 Northeast Regional Rally

 

Somehow this year we managed to get to three Tin Can Tourists events, our 3rd being the annual Northeast Regional Rally at Sampson State Park in New York's finger lakes region.  We've been attending this rally fairly consistently for about 15 years and enjoy catching up with a many vintage camper friends that we have made over the years. This years event was back to a full rally and had more attendees than ever.  Some of the first-time rigs at this event included a 1967 Travel Queen truck camper, a 1940's Higgins tent trailer, a 1966 Streamline trailer, and a super nice early 60's Shasta Airflyte that was being towed by a heavily modified vintage Cadillac.  One of our good friends was also there with an amazing new entirely homebuilt trailer based on a Metzendorf, but unfortunately I didn't get good photos of it.  I'm sure that I'm repeating myself from other posts, but these events are amazing!  

TCT Toy Town Rally

In August we helped host a small vintage camper event - the first ever TCT Toy Town Rally which was held in East Aurora, NY.  This rally had 23 campers that were manufactured over a period of 101 years, ranging from 1921 to 2022. The types of campers varied greatly including a wide variety of trailers, early tent trailers, several buses, a 2020 home-built trailer, and even a 1965 International Scout with a roof-top tent. The small size of the event helped foster a lot of sharing of camping stories and vintage camper know-how which was especially great for 10 attendees who were new Tin Can Tourists members. This was our first time helping to host an event like this and we are happy to say that it went well - largely due to the efforts of two other couples that co-hosted with us. We look forward to being able to do this again and and are thankful to the TCT organization for bringing us all together. 

TCT 25th Annual Gathering and driving around a Great Lake!

 

For the first trip in 2022 we took the Avion truck camper to the Tin Can Tourists 25th Annual Gathering at Camp Dearborn in Milford, MI in May.  For this trip we travelled about 800 miles and circumnavigated our first great lake, Lake Erie. 

For the drive out we travelled through Canada from our home near Buffalo, NY. Going through Canada can save a couple of hours of driving compared to taking a route that stays in the US, but unfortunately we ended up waiting over two hours at the border in Sarnia because the US only had one Auto/RV lane open and was dealing with a huge jam of trucks. Also unfortunate, it was raining heavily for much of the drive, so we didn't see much on the way but did make a quick stop at an IKEA and we got someTim Hortons coffee during our first time traveling to another country with our Avion. Our F350 and Avion are "paired well" functionally and it's pretty easy to drive on for a trip like this. We did have a near mishap when we noticed that our exterior access panel for the fridge was open and flapping in the breeze along the highway. We pulled over and found that the lock cylinder was completely missing. Luckily duct tape sticks fairly well to damp surfaces and we were able to get back on the road and didn't loose the original door panel. 

Every year the TCT Annual Gathering is the largest vintage camper event in this part of the US with about 160 vintage campers of different types in attendance. We've participated in a bunch of TCT rallies in New York state with our 1963 Shasta, but this event had twice as many campers than other rallies that we've been at. This years event was run with paired down activities due to Covid concerns, but we still had a great time and met a lot of interesting people while checking out their amazing campers. If you are interested in vintage campers seek out a Tin Can Tourists event and attend the open house or better yet bring a vintage camper in any condition, you won't regret it! 

For the trip home we decided to travel through the US taking it slow. We stopped for lunch at the Toledo Botanical Gardens and spent a night at Findley State Park in Ohio. We also drove through Presque Isle State which was cool to see, but we were really glad it was too early for their busy beach season!  

Camping on Lake Ontario and a new latch for the door

We were able to sneak in one more camping weekend with our 1965 Avion C10 Truck Camper in late October. We spent a few nights at Four Mile Creek state park near Lewiston NY. This campground is right on Lake Ontario and on a clear day you see Toronto across the lake. We enjoyed hanging out by the lake and and did a couple of short hikes nearby. One day we drove over to Old Fort Niagara and toured the history museum and fort that is located where the Niagara River empty’s into Lake Ontario. We also stopped at Art Park in Lewiston to hike the trail along the Niagara Gorge and check out some some of art on the grounds there including one of their parking lots that is a huge mural. 

On our last night there I noticed something funny going on with our door latch and discovered that the lock cylinder was not functioning properly, it was loose and in the locked position and would not unlock. If I closed the camper door, I would not be able to get the door open again. I decided to try taking the lock apart on the spot to see if it was a simple fix, at least to allow us to close the door without being locked out. The lock assembly came apart easily and I promptly lost a few small parts in the grass just as it was getting dark. After hunting around for 30 minutes with a flashlight and then wearable headlight I managed to find the missing parts. I then tried to see if could figure out what was wrong and if I could get the lock back together. A hour later I decided that we should just find a way to secure the door for the night and the trip home in the morning so that I could deal with it later. The the next day the trip home was uneventful using our clothes-line to keep the door from opening. Vintage camper travel tip, always have things like rope and duct tape and don't be surprised if you need to troubleshoot on the road! 

Over the winter we decided to look into options for a different door latch. The old Bargman L-100 lock had a round knob that was awkward to turn to get the door open. I ended up buying a new lock that is paddle style that from the outside you just pull towards you to open the door, and now that it's installed it's proving easier to use than the old one. After looking at a lot of options online I ended buying the lock from a company called Latch-it, it’s well made and all metal with a chrome finish. There area lot of locks of this style that look pretty similar to each other, but some are definitely better made than others. The folks at Latch-it were also super helpful in my requests for dimensions and other info. I did have to make some modifications to get it work with our our door which is a little thicker than modern campers. I had to fabricate a small extension for the interior paddle and modify the locking lever, I also have to enlarge the hole in the door a little, but it’s working well and definitely a big improvement. Besides functioning better we also like that it doesn't look out of place, looking like it may have been original to the untrained eye. 

Fall Camping in Watkin's Glen, and a Kimbo Experience

Our last camping trip of the year is usually a long weekend In early October someplace in New York’s Finger Lakes area. 

This year we were able to get out for an early October trip with the Avion to Watkins Glen in New York’s finger lakes region. This was a good test for how well Avion would work with little prep work, other than food and some clean clothes everything was pretty much ready to go from our previous trip. The weather was good, but we did make use of our Olympic Wave propane heater which seems just right for fall camping here in northeast US. We visited a few different wineries to do tastings, and bought a few bottles of our favorites to take back home. My brother was racing in a sailboat regatta nearby, and was able to join us for part of our visit and a nice hike in the gorge. The number of people hiking the gorge has been pretty crazy the last few years, if you go choose a weekday and plan hit the trail early in the day to avoid the crowds. 

While driving between wineries we saw a new Kimbo truck camper and pulled into a parking next to it and met it enthusiastic owners. We had some good conversation and then did quick show & tells to compare the two rigs. From a distance the Avion and Kimbo almost look like they might be related, but up close they are quite different. The Kimbo is a lot smaller allowing its use with a smaller half-ton truck, but the interior space is also significantly smaller. Inside the Kimbo has a very contemporary feel and has simpler water and power systems, and a multi-function modular approach that is more like a modern camping van, the Avion is more classic camper. One way to think about it is that the Kimbo is like a super fancy tent and Avion is more like a tiny home. Stepping into the Avion after looking at the Kimbo our camper seemed huge inside. We liked the removable fabric panels that the Kimbo uses on it walls, and the small mud-room floor area just inside the entryway. The tiny Dickinson propane fireplace/heater is super cool, so cool that we may look into to incorporate something like that in our camper someday. It was really great to have to chance to see a Kimbo in person, and meet its owners who host a website called Kimbo Experience. Hopefully someday we’ll run into them on the road again and can share more stories of our travels! In addition to Kimbo there’s several new companies, including Scout, Supertramp, and Radica Moonlander that are building small contemporary truck campers, and while we love the size of our Avion and being vintage. We also think this new bread of small truck campers is also very cool and relevant today, an amazing resource for these types of rigs is Truck Camper Magazine, check it out if you are looking for more info truck campers of all types.