So... when the wife and I met, we both liked to camp. I am talking the "throw a tent and supplies in the trunk and hit a state park" sort of camping... not totally roughing it, but by no means was it a lap of luxury, either.

(not a pic of us... but just to give a better idea of the camping we used to do)


A few years later, I had a softball tournament in Central Vermont. Most of the team had pop-up campers and were planning on reserving a bunch of sites at a state park, close by. The wife and I rented a pop-up. No more tent camping for Jim's wife... she made that evidently clear. We purchased a pop-up. Fleetwood Bayside. Extended, it was about 24', two king-sized bed, lots of storage (for a pop-up) and had a slide out dinnette and a tip-out galley 'kitchen'... no toilet. We also got the "add-a-room" screen room to give us more shelter from the rain without being in the camper. I really liked this camper!

(likeness only...our's did not have the porta-potty)



Hard times and lack of interest from the kids came and the camper went away. That was about 5 years ago. Now we are coming upon a time where the kids are not going to be with us and are toying with getting back into camping. I want to get back into a pop-up similar to what we had... the wife wants to upgrade. She wants something with it's own bathroom.

We went looking at a local dealer to get an idea of what we would like... well, what we would LIKE would require me to trade my truck in for an HD (win/win, right?). I really don't want to pay out what would be equivalent of another mortgage but DAMN! Fireplace, three slide-outs, big screen flat panel TV that hides behind the fire place, 2 recliners and a computer desk in the living room, and island in the kitchen.... it AIN'T HAPPENING (would be nice though).

I guess I am just rambling... but my thought is, we would only (realistically) go camping 4-5 times/summer. The pop-up can be put in a tent site if you wanted to rough it a little, or can be in a site with hook-ups... even cable... I have a funny feeling that eventually she is going to win this one.

Thanks for reading.

Well... here goes my first attempt at a blog - on any site.

I have owned my truck for about 2 weeks now. Been a member of this site for the same time. Reading about everybody's mods and checking out pics of things that people have done has got me thinking. Here is a list of things I would like to do to my truck.

Leveling kit
Replace the stock size tires and 17s with 33x12.5 mounted on some aftermarket 18s (black with some chrome)
Remove the lower air dam (but hold on to it... just in case)
Black tube-style steps
Black diamond plated, two opening tool box and the same style tonneau as Koolz71 (really like that look)
Leave the bug/air deflectors on it that came with the truck
HID lighting

Now that I "spent" my kid's college funds... time to try and convince the wife that this is the right thing to do.