Mike Johnson: Honeymoon Suite To Go

Why go to one honeymoon destination for a week when you can go anywhere and camp anywhere for the rest of your life?  It’s time to renew our vows.













After talking with Mike Johnson, Angela and I decided we should renew our vows.  No, not our wedding vows, our truck camping vows.  Here’s my part; “I, Gordon White, take you, Angela White, for my truck camping accomplice, from this adventure forward, for boondocking, for campgrounds, in national parks and BLM lands, on road and off, until the cat takes our keys.”  Now those are some vows we can live by!

Most of us get married and then drive or fly to a honeymoon destination for a week or so.  From the wedding to the honeymoon, it’s often a whirlwind experience that goes by in a flash.  But what if the American continent was your honeymoon destination and a truck camper was your honeymoon suite?  Your honeymoon destination would always be available and your honeymoon suite always ready to go.  Now that’s how you start a successful marriage!  Meet the Johnsons.

Fishing on Portsmouth Island in North Carolina

Temporarily stuck at the Dare County Bombing Range

With the Guffeys in South Padre, Texas

TCM: How did you get into truck camping?

Mike: A couple of friends, Mike and Becky Guffey, got us into truck camping after they bought a truck camper.  We could clearly see the benefits of bringing your house with you.  A year or so later, we bought our first truck camper.  

TCM: Tell us about that first truck camper.  What year did you get it?

Mike: It was late February in 2007.  I bought a new 2001 Lance 921.  It was a dealer left over that I got a great deal on.  I never found anything wrong with it, but never understood why it was a leftover.  The first night we stayed in the Lance it was sixteen degrees out and we were comfortable.  We had the Lance 921 for two years and really liked it.  We use our camper more in the winter than in the summer so insulation is important.

Lisa and Mike shortly after they got married at Cades Cove, Tennessee - notice the bears in the background

Mike's winning honeymoon photo from the 2008 Truck Camper Magazine Calendar Contest

The Guffeys and Johnsons at Holly Beach, Louisiana on the Johnson's honeymoon

TCM: And you went on your honeymoon in the Lance?

Mike: Yes.  After getting married in Cades Cove, Tennessee, we went on a three-week truck camping honeymoon across Louisana, southern Texas, and New Mexico.

TCM: That’s fantastic.  How was the trip?

Mike: Mike and Becky traveled with us to Louisiana and Texas to go bird watching.  During our trip, we went through areas that had been devastated by the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Since this was in the spring we saw thousands of birds that had just made the migration flight across the Gulf of Mexico.  It is amazing how such small creatures can fly over water for more than 500 miles.  We also went along the Rio Grande in south Texas to see some of the birds that only come into the edge of the United States.  Mike and Becky left from South Padre after ten days with us, and my wife and I continued on for two more weeks.  We really began to enjoy the truck camping lifestyle in those three weeks.

TCM: I know exactly what you mean.  What does your wife think of truck camping?

Mike: It was a collective decision to get the truck camper.  We both love the outdoors and like to watch birds and wildlife.  My wife loves the camper as much as she loves the house.  A truck camper gives us all the comforts of home and we can stay anywhere.

TCM: What led you to get your Eagle Cap?

Mike: We wanted a couch, larger water tanks, and a bigger camper.  In 2009, we started looking at campers again and put our Lance up for sale.  A guy called on a Thursday and came and picked it up on a Saturday.  It was a very easy sell.  The difference between what I bought the camper for and what I sold it for was only $1,500.  For two years of camper use, it only cost me $1,500.

The Eagle Cap really takes truck camper comfort to a new level.  With two slides it has lots of room and the couch makes it feel like being at home.  Since we boondock almost entirely the sixty gallon water tank allows us to stay out longer and not worry about water consumption.  We keep it seventy degrees inside even in the winter.

The Johnsons picking up their camper in Portland, Oregon

Redwoods National Park in California - that's a big tree

A nice boondocking spot near West Yellowstone

TCM: We had a very similar experience when we sold our first camper, a 2004 Lance 1030.  If you properly maintain and care for your camper, they can really hold their value.  So when did you find your Eagle Cap?

Mike: An Eagle Cap 1160 in Oregon came up on a Google search and it was a fantastic deal!  We made the cross country trip in three days to pick it up.  On the way we remembered one reason we like truck campers so much; no more motel rooms!  Then we took two and a half weeks to drive back across the country in our new, to us, camper.

TCM: You told us that you took your camper to the Eagle Cap factory.  What was that experience like?

Mike: We went to the Eagle Cap factory to discuss installing a Yakima rack for our kayak and bikes.  Since we were relatively near La Grande when we picked up the camper, we talked to Mony Pen, Eagle Cap’s General Manager, about where to put the rack.  Mony was nice, helpful, and willing to spend time with us.  He spent an hour and a half with us knowing that we had bought a used camper. 

The amount of work that goes into building a truck camper is unbelievable.  To see all of the steps and campers in various stages of the building process was special.  All of the people at the factory were very nice and you could tell it was a close-knit group.

TCM: Tell us about the day you took the calendar winning photo.

Mike: Which one?  In the 2009 winning photo we were going to Crater Lake National Park to see the deep blue water.  As we got close to Crater Lake it started snowing harder and harder.  It’s close to 10,000 feet in elevation there, so it is much colder and the area gets over 500 inches of snow per year.  The snow piles were higher than the truck and the snow was coming down hard.  We took the calendar photo and got off the mountain while we still could.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the lake because the snow was coming down too hard.  An interesting side note of that day is that earlier in the day we drove through a tsunami zone and then we went through an avalanche zone at Crater Lake.  That makes for some diverse scenery!

In the 2007 photo we had been in Gila National Forest in New Mexico.  We headed off on a road that had warning signs for a low bridge in twenty-six miles.  We decided to take a chance on it because the scenery was beautiful.  As advertised, we came to the low bridge.  I rode on the ladder surveying the top as my wife drove slowly across the steel girder bridge.  Fortunately we made it.

Photography is something I am very passionate about.  I take thousands of pictures mostly of birds, but I take a lot of scenery photos as well.  When I go bird watching, I typically take over 900 photos a day.   Unfortunately, I never have the time to go through them all. 

Pronghorn antelope

A tree fell on the Johnsons camper in Yellowstone NP - luckily it just made a few scratches

One of the structures of The Enchanted Highway in North Dakota

TCM: That’s a lot of pictures.  How do you find places that you want to take your truck camper?

Mike: I read and study books and spend a lot of time on the Internet, but I also look at places like RoadsideAmerica.com.  It has a group of oddball attractions.  That’s where I found the Enchanted Highway.  A guy apparently quit his job and moved back to his hometown to build these giant sculptures to make the Enchanted Highway.  We even met the creator, Gary Greff, there that day.  You can see more of it at www.enchantedhighway.net.

Some of our best travel information comes from wrong turns and from local people who want to share their area.  From a guy gumming a hot dog in the Sawtooth Mountains to wealthy oil families, everyone has a story to tell.  Also, getting off the highways and onto the lesser-traveled roads makes it easier to find unique places.  You can’t see anything at seventy miles per hour.


There are also applications for the iPod and iPhone that have attractions and historic places on them.  I use an app that has truck stops, RV parks, and Walmarts.  You can get some great apps for the iPod and iPhone for truck camping.

Arco, Idaho, the first town to be powered by atomic energy

Bodie Island Lighthouse on the Outer Banks of NC

The massive Tetons in Wyoming

TCM: Do you have a favorite place to go?

Mike: Yellowstone blew me away!  We typically like to be away from people, but Yellowstone is so beautiful!  Within fifteen minutes of entering the park we saw a bison calf being born.  That just set us up to have a fantastic time.  

I was also completely amazed by Idaho.  We loved the wilderness around Ketchum.  Hemingway spent much of his time in Ketchum and is buried there.  There’s a route that leaves Wallowa Lake in Oregon into Washington state and then back into Idaho towards Boise.  It’s amazing!  Be sure your vehicle is ready for the mountain climbing, and descending, along Routes 3, 129, and 55.

I think we’ve found that there are neat places to see no matter where you are.  We even went to the Field of Dreams movie site in Iowa where the movie was filmed.

TCM: How did you find out about Wallowa Lake?

Mike: We were in Walmart in La Grande, buying groceries.  My wife was talking to the cashier and the cashier told us to go to Wallowa Lake.  Then the woman behind us in line said, “You must go there!  It’s the United States Alps.”  It’s a glacier fed lake right at the bottom of the Eagle Cap wilderness and it was breathtakingly beautiful there.

TCM: We always ask locals where we should go.  That’s often the best way to find places.  You also enjoy taking your camper on the beach.  Where do you go beach camping?

Mike: We love staying on the beach in Texas around Sabine, where Hurricane Ike got Houston.  We love to go to Texas because you can go on the beach for free and nobody grumbles about it.

TCM: Do you have problems on the beach with your dual rear wheels?  On Assateague National Seashore in Maryland they don’t even allow dual rear wheel trucks on the beach.

Mike: The dually does not go on the sand as well as the single rear wheel, but it does go.  I did get my truck stuck in North Carolina in soft sand.  I also got stuck in a mud pit with my single rear wheel.  I probably shouldn’t have tried that one.  I always carry a shovel and a jack.  I entered the picture above in 2008 for the calendar contest and received an honorable mention

A Burrowing Owl in south Florida

A Great Blue Heron

A White Ibis at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Florida

TCM: You mentioned you went on a birding trip for your honeymoon.  Do you often go birding?

Mike: Yes, we love to watch birds. The variety of birds in the various areas of the country is fascinating.  On our honeymoon, one area we watched birds was around the Mexico border in south Texas.  There are a number of birds that come into the United States via south Texas.  Big Bend National Park is really neat.  A lot of the birding places are out of the way places.  They are on wildlife refugees that are typically not near towns or near motels.  If we didn’t have a truck camper to stay in, it would be a long drive.  Being able to travel without a motel schedule is nice.  We can move on and not worry about getting back to a hotel or a campground.

TCM: Any other hobbies while you’re out on the road?

Mike: Fishing, birding, photography, seeing the country, and now we have two Weimaraners.  They must be the most energetic dogs in the world.  They sleep in the bed with us and weigh seventy-five pounds each.  The dogs will sleep on your pillow or on top of you.  They were bred to be in touch with their owners.

The fall colors on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC

A river in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

The Rio Grande in Texas with Mexico on the other side

TCM: Thank you for the interview Mike.  And please keep sending in those calendar photo entries.

Mike: You’re welcome.  And I sure will.

I forgot to mention that we started the blog in 2008 to keep in touch with family while we were gone.  I wish we had started it in 2007 so that we had the first trip on there.  We found that all sorts of people have watched the blog.  Your readers can check it out at http://blog.reddrum.com.  We will have some big news coming by early June so be sure to check back.