Question Of The Week

Return To Sender: Shipping Campers Goes Nowhere

About once a month I sit down and write three or four Questions of the Week.  I’ve been doing this for nearly a decade, so many of the obvious questions have long since been asked.  This makes coming up with new questions – relevant questions that will compel fellow truck campers to participate – more and more challenging.

This task is made even more difficult by my personal decision not to revisit old Question of the Weeks, with few exceptions.

That said, we did repeat the question, “What are your favorite smartphone Apps for truck camping?” in 2012 and 2016.  This seemed appropriate because (a) mobile apps change rapidly and, (b) our readership had grown more than 150-percent in that time.  Thank you, Anne Brown, for submitting that question!

Very few, other Questions of the Week have been asked twice, unless you include, “Truck Campers From Space”.  Man, that one was fun.  Which gets me thinking…

A lot of the older Questions of the Week have been fun.  Others are time sensitive like the mobile app question.  Why can’t we have some of that fun again, and update questions with products and services drift out of date?

How would your truck camping lifestyle change if you won a $100 million lottery? 

If you could transport yourself and truck camper rig anywhere in the world, where would you go? 

Is a truck camper an overland / expedition vehicle?

What is the most extreme camping weather you’ve ever experienced while truck camping? 

How long can you boondock off-the-grid with your truck camper before you need to dump your tanks or replenish your supplies? 

What’s the wildest wild animal encounter you’ve experienced while truck camping?

Don’t you want to answer these questions, even if you already did years ago?  I bet your answers (or experiences) have changed, and you would like to hear from the thousands of Truck Camper Magazine readers who didn’t get a crack at these questions the first time around.  I sure would, and I’m changing my mind.  Let’s do this.

What Happened This Week

This week’s Question of the Week was, Have you shipped a truck camper rig?  If so, what was that experience like?”

Admittedly, I knew the chances of a big response were low, but I had no idea we would only get two answers.  Thank you Terry Nininger and Phillip Tron!  Without you, it would have been a goose egg.

“In 2008 we purchase our new truck, a 2008 Silverado 3500, at Dave Smith Motors in Idaho.  Then, we drove over to Portland to purchase our new Arctic Fox 990 camper.

When the camper was loaded on the truck we drove up to Tacoma, Washington, put the rig on Wrightway Auto Carriers and had it shipped to Anchorage on a vehicle barge.

They drove it on and off the barge.  There was no special prep.  It took about five days and the cost was approximately $4,500.  It arrived save and undamaged in Anchorage.” – Terry Nininger, 2008 Chevy 3500, 2008 Arctic Fox 990

“If using the Alaska Inland Ferry counts, we have shipped our pickup and camper.  If anyone is considering this, be honest or even generous about the length and width of you rig.  It will be measured, and if you don’t fit the space you paid for, you’ll wait for another boat.

On our trip another truck camper almost lost his space because he moved his spare tire to the front bumper and made the rig a foot longer.  Propane tanks need to be blocked and any gas cans are stored in the vessel’s fire protected paint locker.

The trip via water was more expensive, but days quicker than driving.  We enjoyed it.  Reserve your cabin and hold space early.  We went it in February.  I’d suggest doing it in the fall before the planned trip.” – Philip Tron, 2009 Chevy 3500, 2012 Lance 1050

If these responses don’t quench your QOTW thirst, check out the 200 QOTW responses archived in our Question of the Week section.  I bet you missed, “106 Hand-Calculated MPG Confessions”.  That’s a good one.

 

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