The Happy Kansas Camper Adventure

Welcome to my blog. I'm Steve, thats my girlfriend Cheri. One of my favorite pasttimes is reading about other folks camping adventures. It was through reading them that I got the bug to get a truck camper and ditch the tent. In the fall of 2008 I started searching for a truck camper for my 1995 F150. The hauling limitations of the half ton truck with a horribly underpowered 6 cylinder motor left me few choices. I was pretty much stuck with a soft side pop-up style truck camper.. which in my opinion is not much more that a glorified tent.

Now I'm always one to jump right into things (not).. so after months of scouring the internet, finally in March of 2009, I ran across a 1992 Lance 9.5 foot Squire model for $2500 on craigslist. It was way more camper than my truck could handle, but the seller agreed to replace the frig and front window to seal the deal.. well I bought a camper. Propane/Electric Frig, stove, sink, wetbath shower and toilet, air conditioning, propane furnace, sterio system all delivered to my driveway one spring day.

I knew I would have to find a bigger truck to haul it. Thanks to the guys at http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/ I had lots of information available. I also used the forums at http://www.rv.net/ to learn what to look for in a truck and what not to do. I spent hours upon hours looking through the 100 pages of truckcamper forum user photos dreaming of being out there with them.

Jump ahead 10 months.. after much soul searching, do I buy an older truck and make it work, do I buy a new one and go into debt for umpteen years, I finally pulled the trigger on what turned out to be what I think is a very good deal on a dream of a truckcamper hauling machine. Its a 2006 F350 Subercab Lariat SRW with the 6.0 Powerstroke diesel. It has the factory tow package, dual 7 pin electrical hook ups, 1 for the camper, 1 for a trailer, AND it came with a Reese 5th Wheel already installed in the bed. I'll be removing the 5th Wheel and installing torklift frame mounted tie downs as soon as they arrive. I had made myself a check list on how to buy a diesel truck by watching videos at http://www.powerstrokehelp.com . The previous owners had documented every scheduled fluid change and servicing in the owners manual and had it done at dealerships with the correct fluids. It has 60,000 miles on it, but it runs like new.

Last fall I bought a camper cover and a huge sheet of plastic and covered the camper for the winter. Its outside, but it is waterproofed from the Kansas snows. I've checked it a few times and its bone dry inside. Since it does have a furnace, it might be possible to do a little day trip camping before too long.

Some ideas we have are an overnight trip to Weston, MO, maybe an evening of entertainment at one of north KC's casinos where we can enjoy ourselves until we had enough and spend the night in the RV parking. Come summer, we have races at the Kansas Speedway and Topeka International Raceway, several great lakes within an hours drive and another idea is a night out on the Plaza or downtown Kansas City, a day at the Ledgends with a T-bones minor league baseball game, so many ideas. The camper is going to allow us to slip away at a moments notice, never having to make reservations for lodging, being able to cook our own meals and sleep in our own bed.