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.

1,600 Miles & 5 States: New England trip with the Avion Truck Camper

 

In late September our second time out with the Avion was a good test of how it would do in different situations. We drove over 1,600 miles across 5 states and slept 12 nights in the camper. We spent the first night mooch-docking in a family members driveway near Syracuse, then spent a few days in the Adirondacks staying one night at a small state campground, and then at a free site on state land near Indian Lake. From there we drove into southern Vermont and boondocked for a night at Vermont Distillers where we also did a tasting and then purchased some of their maple liqueur. The distillery is located in a building that used to be the main lodge for a small ski area, and has a great scenic view. This was our first time overnighting in a parking lot, there were 3 other rigs camping there and it was a quiet night until the road construction crew that was using the lot as a staging area. Showed up in the morning. We got some apple cider donuts and maple soft serve ice cream for breakfast from the Hogback Mountain Country Store that is right across the street before getting back on the road. We headed south into Massachusetts and drove diagonally across the state on small roads, then spent several days visiting family on Cape Cod while moochdocking in their driveway. While there we made use of a free dump station run by the town of Barnstable which which was set up for commercial pumper trucks but worked out well. After our visit we made our way north, driving through Boston then taking in the sights and spending a night near Gloucester at Cape Anne Campsite . The sites were small and tight, and it may have been the most we have ever paid for a campsite, but our one night stay was good and the location was perfect. We were making our plans on this trip as we went, so when we needed a campground we we would just try to figure out where to stay the day before for each night. We thought we would stay in a state campground but discovered that Massachusetts State Parks charges an exorbitant extra fee for out-of-state residents that made the cost ridiculous for one night stays. As someone who was born there and spent much of their life in Massachusetts this makes me a little crazy. From there we headed north to Maine, had a couple of lobsters for lunch at a roadside stand then spent the night in a parking lot in Freeport near the Outlets. We did a lot of browsing in the shops picking up a few small things for the camper at both L. L. Bean and at a few of the other stores. The lot we stayed overnight in had a dozen rigs of all types that were packed in pretty tight. Even so, it was amazingly quiet and worked out perfectly for us. The next morning we drove out on one of the nearby peninsulas to Bailey Island “lands end” to see some of the Maine coast. This is a nice area and I’m sure that we will be back again sometime to spend more time along the Maine coast. After lunch at the beach we headed over to New Hampshire to spend a night at Bear Brook State Park, and then met up with some family members that had just relocated to the area for dinner. Being pretty late in the season the campground was mostly empty, the most exciting thing was a visit from a porcupine just as we were setting up in the dark. The next morning we walked around the lake then hit the road headed west, back into Vermont. While driving we saw some signs for a National Historic Park, so we stopped to check out. Marsh-Billings Rockefeller NHP has a focus on the beginnings of the “conservation” movement and would be good stop if you are looking for some easy walks on trails in the woods. After cutting across Vermont we spent the night just across the state line into New York at Moreau State Park near Lake George. The next morning we walked around the lake there, then hit the road for the 5 hour drive home. 

Overall the Avion and truck did really well on this trip. The truck behaves well when driving, and actually rides and handles better when the camper is on it due to the camper suspension package. For gas milage we got 12.5 MPG which is pretty good compared to what we hear folks are getting when towing a trailer. One of the things that we really like about this rig is that it’s a lot easier to stop anywhere compared to towing a trailer, fitting into most parking lots without much trouble. Also both of us are comfortable driving, which makes a full day of driving more comfortable. This trip proved out a lot of “firsts” with this rig, and we are super happy that the Avion is working well for how we expect to use it, it’s perfect for the two of us, and works well with and without a firm itinerary. For this trip we only stayed at places where we had to pay for 4 nights out of the 12, and we were never uncomfortable. We also love that it keeps us in the “vintage camper” hobby, but is mounted on a reliable vehicle and ready to go at any time!

First trip with Avion C-10 Truck Camper!

 

I'm skipping a bunch of things that would make good blog posts to announce that we now have the Avion on the truck and have been doing some camping!   Our first trip out was a long weekend at what should have been the annual Tin Can Tourists Northeast Regional Rally.  I say "should have been" because a bunch of things that allow a vintage camper rally to be formal TCT event couldn't happen due to the pandemic. (group dinners, educational lectures, entertainment, etc..) This was the second year that this TCT rally was more of an informal gathering of friends with vintage campers. It's always great to see these folks who share in this affliction and we have gotten to know many of them very well over the years. It's always interesting to see who shows up with what, and this is the first year that we've shown up with something different than our Shasta. 

After a two-day process of getting the Avion out of our garage and onto the truck, we were finally on the road! (I'll try to post some details of that process in another post some time.)  We did a short grocery store run with the Avion on the truck the night before, then after a bunch of quick last minute morning projects we headed out. We chose to drive on smaller state highways and stay off the Interstate for the initial 130 mile trip to Sampson State Park near Geneva NY. We are super pleased with how the truck drives with the camper in the bed, it's actually a more comfortable ride than the empty truck because the suspension was spec'd expecting a slide in camper to be there. (maybe another blog post about the truck will be good someday!)  About halfway there we pulled over at a small farm stand and I when I went back to see how stuff inside the camper was traveling I was shocked to see sky when I opened the door.  Everything inside was fine, but I we had lost one of our roof vent lids on the road somewhere and now had a 14" x 14" hole in the roof over the cab-over bed area. Amazingly there was a local store across the road that sells parts for all sorts of trailers, and 20 minutes later we were back on the road with a new cover that I could jury-rig in place once we were at the campground. 

This year we arrived the earliest that we ever had at this event, but were surprised at how few sites were still available. Turns out that there was one site that was perfect for us right next to some good friends, then after we pulled in we found that it was site #65- very fitting for our 1965 Avion's first night out camping in who knows how many years!  We had a great time and the trip home was uneventful returning with all the parts we left with other than that original vent lid. 

Loading the Avion camper onto the Truck

 

Getting the camper on and off the truck is the most stressful thing we have ever done with the Avion. Even more stressful than replacing the floor.  When the camper is raised up on the four tall jacks it's just very uncomfortable and something we hope that we don't need to do very often. I know for some people one of the advantages of a truck camper is that you can unload it at a campsite then use your truck without it. That was never part of our plan and based on our experiences loading and unloading it's not something we desire to do. If we ever plan a trip where we want to leave camp set-up and drive a vehicle around we will tow a second vehicle to use for that purpose. 

For us loading the truck camper usually means getting it out of the garage first.  When it is in our garage the Avion sits on a dolly that has castor wheels on it.  It's easy for just two of us to move the camper around on the flat concrete pad of the garage floor, but much more difficult on our slightly lumpy asphalt driveway. We recently swapped the caster wheels out for some larger diameter ones which helps, but it's still pretty difficult and needing 3 or 4 people to move it around. We've also made use of an electric boat trailer winch for move the camper around when its on the dolly which works well at times when there is something to attach the winch to.  Once the camper is out of the garage and on a relatively flat area of the driveway we use the tall truck camper jacks to raise the Avion up high enough to back the truck under. I find it interesting that this type of camper is sometimes called a "slide-in truck camper", when in reality its more of a "back the truck under camper while praying a lot camper".  

To raise or lower the Avion two of us each work one side of the camper, alternating between the front jacks and the rear jacks. We count the crank turns out-loud to keep in sync so the camper is raised and lowered evenly so it doesn't sway to one side or the other. This helps keep the weight evenly distributed across the 4 jacks.  The last inch of lowering when loading on the truck so far always seems to take some work cranking one corner or another while doing a lot of looking at clearances and such.  Before we lower the camper we back the truck under then get out and look, then move the truck to get it centered the best we can, so far this has taken several tries each time but we seem to be getting better at it. 

When the truck is backed under the camper except for the last foot or so we connect the 7-pin wiring harness for the running lights and also another plug for the campers house battery. Our house battery sits in a box that is secured to the side of the truck bed in-line with one of the fender wells. This saves space inside the camper, but limits access to the battery when the camper is fully loaded into to the truck. 

Getting the camper out of the garage and secured to the truck is a long process for us, the fastest we've been able to load it so far has taken 3 hours. We know that we are probably more picky than a lot of folks when trying to get the best alignment between the camper and truck bed, but we feel that if it is loaded straight then it be more obvious if it moves or something starts to go wrong while traveling. For us loading and unloading the Avion once a year is enough, and hopefully at some point we wont need to do that much that if we can figure out a solution for indoor winter storage that allows the truck and camper  to stay mated together.