why did I disappear for so long?

A purple thing growing amongst the Rosebushes.

Sorry I've been silent for so long. I don't normally do that but I'm cursed with a one track mind and when I get really interested in something everything else kind of falls by the wayside until I've dealt with whatever took control of my brain.

In this case my interest was finding a slide in pop up truck camper like I owned a long time ago so I could take my mini-vacations in comfort without being subjected to the vicissitudes of tent camping.

 After spending a lot of time on the Internet looking at Craig's list and sending out a lot of emails I finally located a pop up truck camper that seemed to be just what I was looking for, it was reasonably priced, it was in excellent shape, it wasn't too far away, and best of all since my truck isn't set up to carry a slide in camper at this point, the seller agreed to deliver it to my daughter's house and that sealed the deal for me.

So this afternoon the seller set the camper down in a storage area beside the garage and I'm now the proud owner of a 2007 Palomino Bronco pop-up truck camper.

The Palomino's are made by Forest River and are more modestly priced than campers from Hallmark and manufactures like that. Which means that when they're used they sell for considerably less than the more expensive truck campers but that was exactly what I was looking for because I didn't want to put a lot of money in something I probably wasn't going to use all that much.

Inexpensive when it comes to RVs generally means it's manufactured from cheaper materials and you will find cost-cutting throughout the finished product. It also means that if they're not taken care of they can disintegrate out from under you very quickly, and inexpensive truck campers often lead the pack in cost-cutting measures. And knowing that was one of the things that attracted me to the one that I just bought.

Even though it's a 2007 it has seen very little usage and was stored indoors for most of its life. The term "like new" is often misused under these circumstances, but I can honestly say that both inside and out this camper looks "like new".

But now that I have it in my possession my work has just begun. I've got to put tie downs on my truck, which of course I used to own but got rid of  when I went full-time. I've got to hook up electric from the truck to the camper. I have to put something in the bed of the truck so the bottom of the bed is as high as the rails the fifth wheel attaches to so the camper will sit flat. And I would like to put a solar panel or two on top of it, but that will probably come later.

With all the new opportunities this purchase brings, it looks like this is going to be a really fun summer.

                 theboondork

THE END