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| Best of 2009: The Most Amazing Moments |
| Angela White | Monday, 28 December, 2009 | |
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It's time to take a look back at the most amazing Truck Camper Magazine moments of 2009. And what a year it's been. Here's to 2010! ... ...  LIFESTYLE STORIES “I remember somebody said to us, ‘Get a condo on the beach’ and I said, ‘We did’ and they said, ‘What beach?’ and I said, ‘Any one I want’.” - John and Linda Ross: Fox Hunt For Adventure “If anyone even has the slightest thought about going to Alaska, it’s worth every penny, every hour, and every minute. It’s the most beautiful place to see.” - ALASKA WEEK PART 1: Dave Casal's First Trip to the Last Frontier “It is true that I could have any rig I want. And I have owned a lot of rigs. But you know, I guess the bottom line is that the RV, to me, represents a lifestyle of freedom of movement, freedom of travel, and freedom of wandering. To me, getting away from it all means going to places that are the most beautiful places on earth. You can’t take large rigs there. You need a truck and camper combination with four-wheel drive to go where we love to go.” - Bob Livingston: Publisher of Trailer Life, MotorHome, and Camping Life Magazines “I’ll put you there... It’s January, four in the morning, and not a living soul is awake for hundreds of miles. It feels like the aurora show is for you, and just for you.” - Todd Salat: Auroras In Motion “Really, the whole nine-month (twitch), ten to fourteen hours a day (twitch) build process didn’t have any noticeable effects (twitch) on me at all (twitch).” - The Hackneys Part Two: The Basecamp Expedition Vehicle “I was in about four feet of water when I got out of the camper. I tried to start the engine, but it wouldn’t start, so I put my waders on, grabbed my wallet, my cell phone, and my brittany spaniel, Gracie. When I stepped down into the river, I was waist deep in the water. I deliberately left the lights on in the camper so that I could see it. At that point, it was still dark. Gracie swam to shore, I waded to high ground, and called 911. My main concern was saving the rig. I didn’t want to see it floating down the river.” - Gary Handsher: River Rising “I don't think I could have been as effective in dealing with all the things that came up in my sister's care if I had not had been staying in the camper in the parking lot. I have spent so much time in the camper previously that I almost felt that I was at home. In my camper I was so comfortable. I didn’t need to bother my brother and his family. I was able to go on walks and had my cell phone handy if my sister needed me. I was in my own space and I had everything I needed while I was helping my sister out.” - John Bull: From Emergency to Adventure “We are big into instant gratification. We once went out for a toaster oven and came back with a Ford Bronco. So, this time we came home with a shiny new Bigfoot camper.” - Ken and Kris Cardwell: mOOners In Mexico “Well, the next thing we knew, there was a local coming out of the water in his white Hanes undies, and with two or three octopus (pulpo) in one hand and a pair of pink flippers in the other. He advised us that he sells the octopus for $20. He was quite a character, to say the least.” - Jerry and Paula Gale: Tales of Fun, Funny, and Fantastico “I’ve traveled the back roads of America many times and each time it’s like seeing America for the first time. Each time I fall in love with this country all over again. I’m in awe of what America has to offer. Europe was great cathedrals and old buildings, but we have some of the most incredible landscapes Earth has to offer.” - Rik Palieri: Journey of Doubt, Determination, and Friendship “When I mentioned that I wanted to look at truck campers to my wife, she wasn’t interested at all. Her idea of camping was a five-star hotel! When she was a kid, she went camping with her grandfather in an old camper with crummy paneling, a porta-potty, and no air conditioning. It was not a good memory. Eventually, her heart softened and she agreed to look at campers with me. When she saw what modern truck campers had become, she was all for getting one. The next thing I knew, she was picking out the fabrics and cabinetry. She was really stunned to see the difference forty years had made with truck campers. They had air conditioning, microwaves, and flush toilets. She was completely won over.” - Phil Patterson: Man On a Mission “My wife works in downtown Seattle and takes the bus to work. I just hook up our boat and wait for her phone call to say she’s ready. Then I pick her up and in a few miles we’re right on Interstate 90. The bus drivers in their sixty-foot buses look at me like I’m nuts.” - Gary Birenkott: Rally On! “When I’m not camping, I’m working seven days a week. To get into my camper and go somewhere is a huge release. I sleep better in the camper than anywhere else. It’s an escape, a real escape.” - Aaron Walton: Publisher of Wander the West “When I bought the Hallmark, a friend at work said, “You’re not going to use it. You’ll sell it to me in a year.” Well, we’re going on three years and we’ve used the heck out of it. Later in life I can see getting something a little bigger, but for now I’m having too much fun going off-road and scratching the paint up on my truck.” - Frank Ross: Power Wagon on the Rocks “It sounds funny I know. People who don’t camp don’t understand. The other day, I had a glass of wine and Esmeralda had a glass of oil. I’m just having fun. People have to learn to not take some things so seriously, especially ourselves. Let’s be happy. That’s the message between the lines. Like when I gave Esmeralda a Valentine’s Day card and flowers. It’s just for fun.” - Marcus Lucas: Lights, Camper, Action! “I get the greatest high seeing new places. It soothes my soul. I love going to anywhere new.” - Barbara Linsley: Dreams On the Oregon Trail “If I go stay with friends, it befuddles them when I stay in the camper rather than in their house. I’m more comfortable in my camper. Sometimes they have a hard time understanding that. I know where the coffee is and everything is in the right place. I’m used to it.” - Jack Dykinga: From Pulitzer to Pop-Up “Like I said earlier, if the truck will go there, the camper will go. For example, there's a campground at Meat Cove, Nova Scotia that has beautiful scenery. It's located on a dead end gravel road high up on a bluff and I don't know that you could turn around anything there larger than a truck camper.” - Ken Harris: Kissing the Fifth Goodbye “We couldn’t pull our fifth wheel into a Wendy’s or McDonald’s. There’s no place to park something that big. With our camper, we can always stop. That’s a great advantage of having a truck camper. You can pull in anywhere.” - Don Schwanke: Fifth to Camper in Ten “We probably saved well over a thousand dollars by taking the camper versus a motorhome on the ferries. We didn’t have to reserve a spot because the camper doesn’t extend past the rear bumper of our Tacoma. And with our height being so compact, we were charged as a passenger car.” - Jim Jeffries: Right Fit For a Phoenix “We prefer boondocking, so every place in the landscape is attractive for us. The most impressive locations are on top of the steep vertical-walled cliffs of the Normandy coast in northern France. We sit inside or outside of the camper, enjoy a glass of good red wine, and look at the gorgeous sunset.” - Felix Agel: Truck Camping Through Europe “Guinness has been camping since he was three months old. As he’s grown, we’ve had to adapt. He used to sleep up in the big bed, but he’s gotten so big that I now pull the couch out to give him more room. He’s a spoiled dog.” - Andy & Guinness Spedden: Adventures in New England “We got the first Unimog in 1997, we try to make an annual trip to Moab, Utah. For about a week we go on Jeeping trails. We can go most anywhere the highly modified Jeeps can go. And with the Alaskan, we can go off-roading for a long time.” - Bob Ragain: Unimog Meets Alaskan INDUSTRY STORIES “Yes, it’s a neat little thing. The couches are five feet so you could fit six adults. The truck would flip over, but the people would fit.” - Bryan Wheat, TCM Exclusive: 2009 Alaskan Mini “But my daughter, Georgie, and son, Harper, don’t want to squat in a hole and they’re scared of outhouses. They think they might fall in the big hole. So having a cassette toilet is a big deal to my wife, Molly, and our two children.” - Matt Ward, TCM EXCLUSIVE: 2009 Hallmark K2 “We are a company that brings pleasure to people. That’s what keeps me working. I’m proud to wear a Lance jacket when I go out.” - Norman Jacobson of Lance Campers: Forty Years of RV Innovation “I still remember the phone in my ear when dad told me that he had bought a company, Fraserway Camper Manufacturing. I was fourteen years old and very excited. I wasn’t sure what a canopy was, but I had a fair idea about campers.” - James Epp: President of Fraserway RV and Adventurer LP “I grew up here. When I was an infant, I actually lived on the lot in a little mobile home. I remember being thrown up in the air by the production guys when I was four or five. I used to make toy boats from leftover wood scraps. I also got yelled at by the cabinet guys because I didn’t put tools away.” - Rory Willett: President of R.C. Willett / Northstar “To improve the engineering of our SumoSprings we incorporated video cameras under the chassis frame to film the product in action. While viewing hours of film footage one of my colleagues Mark Jutson commented that our new springs looked like giant Sumo wrestlers in action. Hence the name.” - Gerry Lamberti, TCM EXCLUSIVE: SumoSprings Airless Air Bags “My wife, Brianne, and I love to travel and we came to a decision together to play hooky in December of 2007 and just go! For almost one month, we drove from beach to beach, tore down some nasty dirt roads, and met lots of wonderful people.” - Brian Ward of Outfitter Manufacturing “It took all the guts I had to knock on Dad’s trailer. I knocked and he saw it was me and closed the door. Then I knocked again. I showed him the check and dad was the happiest guy in the world. Dad gave me ten bucks for selling that camper.” - Doug Karr of Northwood Manufacturing |
