Jerry and Reta Caldwell: Leaving the Class A Behind

TCM Ambassador, fellow-truck camper, and international traveler, Jerry Caldwell has a story to tell.  Going from a Class A motorhome to a truck camper was a pretty easy decision for Jerry and his wife, Reta.  Now truck camping is a huge part of Jerry’s life.

From Class A to Truck Camper

Jerry and Reta Caldwell and their Lance 1181

Jerry's truck camper and Class A motorhome

Truck camping in the Canadian Rockies

I started camping soon after I got a job when I was about twenty years old.  Until I got enough money together, I borrowed a thirteen-foot travel trailer from my dad. I used a Class A motorhome from 1998 until 2005. We still have it, but we have used it only one time since we got our Lance.

My friend, Wayne Harris, got me interested in truck campers.  He owns a Lance 1121. When driving our Class A, Reta and I would get into stressful situations because our rig was too big, especially when we were towing our car.  We were fifty-three feet long.   Almost on every trip there was a stressful situation and that’s when we decided we had to make a change.

For example, once we were in New Brunswick on the way to Nova Scotia looking for a Walmart. We were on a city street and came up on a low clearance overpass that we couldn't go under.  The clearance was a couple feet less than what we were.  There was really heavy traffic because of a big event in the city.  Since we were towing a car, we couldn't back up.  When you are towing, especially when you have four wheels on the ground, you pretty much always have to go forward.  If you back up at all, unless you are perfectly straight, the wheels will turn to the side.  Anyway, two fellows came over to help stop the traffic. We got our car out of the way.  Then the police came, and we backed our motorhome back to the intersection. With our truck camper, we could have just made a U-turn on the road.

When we wanted to stop at a rest area in our Class A, we had to go where the trucks were.  Many times, the rest area would be totally full and there would be nowhere to stop.  Now, with our truck camper, we can go where the cars are.

When we first started seriously thinking about getting a truck camper, we were really torn.  It was a major decision for us.  We planned to upgrade our motorhome or get a truck and go to a truck camper.  We really wrestled with it for months.  We did lots of research.  We went to North Carolina to look at Bigfoot, Arctic Fox, and Host.  Then we went to Adventure RV in Sevierville, Tennessee and got the Lance 1181.

The bathroom really sold us on the Lance 1181.  We wanted a dry bath.  In going from the motorhome to the truck camper, we don’t feel like we really lost a lot of room in the bathroom. 

Natchez Trace

Visiting Vicksburg Civil War battlefield

A rendezvous with Wayne and Ina Harris and Butch and Brenda Ward

At the entrance of Tombigbee State Park

Right after we got our truck camper, one of our first trips was down the Natchez Trace.  We went to Vicksburg, a Civil War battlefield.  We couldn’t believe that people constantly stopped and looked at our truck camper.   On one occasion we pulled off and a large group of motorcycle riders came into the same pull off area. At that point, we were amazed because all eyes were on our truck camper. 

Going to the Canadian Rockies 

One of many beautiful views in the Canadian Rockies

Morning snow at the Ice Fields Parkway Visitor's Center

Jerry at Lake Louise

The Canadian Rockies are probably the most beautiful place that Reta and I have been to.  We went through many National Parks; Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Revelstoke, Yoho, and the Canadian Glacier National Park.  Not one single thing stands out as being the best on that trip.  It was all wonderful.

While in the Rockies we met up with some other truck camper friends from Manitoba who own a Snowbird truck camper.   They were going to be in British Columbia, so we met at Fairmont Hot Springs, which is a resort with natural hot springs.  We spent three days with them.

One night we stayed at the Icefields Parkway Visitor's Center.  That night, the temperature dipped down to 33 degrees Fahrenheit.  We had a couple inches of snow and it was June 23rd!  That was a memorable camping experience.  If you go to the Icefields Parkway, there is a Visitor’s Center there.  You can park in the parking lot and boondock there for about $9 CAN.  We had a great view of the glacier right from the Visitor’s Center parking lot.

Newfoundland and the Maritimes

Jerry's Newfoundland photography is quite stunning

Truck camping friends Morgan and Carolyn

The Dodge and Lance rig poses with a Newfoundland lighthouse

We spent five weeks in beautiful Newfoundland.  We drove right from our home in Tennessee to the ferry terminal.  The great thing is that you can come and stay the night in the staging area if the previous ferry is loaded.  We arrived and spent the night in North Sydney, Nova Scotia at the ferry terminal before boarding the ferry the next morning.

The ferry ride from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland is five and a half to seven hours through the Cabot Strait (North Atlantic Ocean).  It’s about 125 miles or so unless you take the longer ferry, which we did once. And that’s about fifteen or sixteen hours.  It’s great.  It’s like a small cruise ship that has two decks for vehicles. It’s pretty expensive, but again, having a truck camper is an advantage because of its shorter length since the ferry toll is length based.

We arrived in Port-au-Basque, Newfoundland and drove east to Rose Blanche.  It was kind of a dead end road. We spent the night there within view of the Rose Blanche lighthouse. That is where I made the photo for entry in the TCM calendar contest, and it won the August slot on the calendar.   A large RV could not have stayed where we stayed.

From there we headed north to St. Anthony’s where the Vikings landed and discovered North America over 1000 years ago. There’s a world heritage site there with a museum. We then went south to another ferry.  It was one and a half hours on to Labrador.

The black flies in Labrador in early August were terrible!  We didn’t stay more than a day because it was far worse than anything I have ever experienced.   Mosquitoes are no comparison.  With the black flies, I wound up putting a veil over my head just to hook or unhook utilities in the campground.  You may not want to go to Labrador in early August!

The most memorable part of the trip was meeting our new truck camping friends, Morgan and Carolyn.  They were a very hospitable and sweet couple that took us in.  They live in Gander, but we met in St. Anthony’s about 400 to 500 miles away from their house when they were on vacation.  We then went to their home and Morgan took us to his work with the Canadian Air Force Search and Rescue Squadron.

Add-Ons to The Lance 

Jerry made an air foil to redirect flow

Jerry installed Air Tabs to keep dirt off the back of the camper

Air Tabs may also improve fuel milage

Airbags and Super Springs have been added to my truck. I had a failure with my airbags in Billings, Montana.  I didn’t trust them anymore, so I got Super Springs.  On the Dodge trucks the airbags bolt to the axle using a heavy strap which pivoted up and punched a hole in the airbag.  I have been very satisfied with the Super Springs.

I also have Airtabs.  I can’t say for sure they’ve helped my fuel economy, but they keep the back of my camper cleaner.

We also have added a 130 watt solar panel because we wanted a way to recharge batteries during the day for when we boondock at night.

I made an air foil for my camper.  Sleepy on the rv.net forum had one, so I made one.  I think it helps with fuel mileage.  It’s hard to prove or disprove whether it helps with fuel mileage.  It definitely guides the wind around the front of my camper and it keeps bugs off the bulkhead of the camper.
 
I recently added a WIFI wireless router which uses Verizon broadband wireless Internet. That means we can be out in the boondocks, and if we can get a Verizon signal, we will have our own WIFI hotspot. The router will work on 12 volts, so we don't have to worry about being plugged in to campground power. It works great when camping with friends, I can provide them with Internet access. The WIFI range is about the same as any other WIFI router but it gets the broadband signal from Verizon Wireless Broadband. 

This summer we plan to go to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and White Sands National Monument.  We are also going to Yellowstone National Park and parts of Colorado. We spent seventy-six nights in the truck camper last year and will probably do more than that this year. Since we have gotten the camper a little over three years ago, we have traveled with it over 36,000 miles. We have gone places that we had only dreamed of going before.