This is a great review from a couple who own a Phoenix Pop Up. Thanks for the kind words and we look forward to your adventures in 2013!
Our home on the road
The Phoenix Camper
Wow this thing has totally changed our lives!!
Meg and I were originally die hard tent campers, but after traveling all over the US and Mexico living out of a Subaru and popping up a tent every night, we knew that this trip needed to be different!
We wanted something we could cook in, sleep in, stand in and hang out in during inclement weather. We basically wanted a place to call home on the road that felt comfortable and safe, yet not too big as to inhibit our travels. We decided we wanted a pop up camper because it is more aerodynamic, less top heavy and generally lighter weight. Light weight equals less abuse on the vehicle and the ability to explore more aggressive terrain. The pop up allows room when camping but the ability to fold it down when driving for increased gas mileage, which will be one of our greatest costs on the trip.
We spent about one year researching small slide in pop-up campers that would fit our Toyota Tacoma truck. In total we found that there were only about 4 brands out there that made campers to fit this size truck. In researching these brands we realized that two of them made their campers out wood and in our opinion wood was simply not strong enough to withstand the severe abuse it would receive over our year plus journey. So this narrowed it down to 2 companies. When evaluating these options we based our choice simply on comfort and storage ability. Which camper would be best for two people (one of which is a women) to actually live in for an extended period of time? The answer… Phoenix pop-up Campers.
During our investigation and while traveling through Silverton Co, we happened to see a Phoenix camper on a Tacoma and asked the owners if we could take a look. The owners, a retired couple, had spent nearly 3 years traveling to and from Alaska with their camper and couldn’t say enough good things about it. It was love at first sight and we knew right away this is what we wanted. Now we just had to find one that we could actually afford, which to us meant used. I scanned the internet daily and nothing ever came. Turns out, people do not sell these things; they pass them down to their kids. With our departure date quickly approaching and still no camper we were getting desperate. We sent out an email to Phoenix, told them about our trip and our dilemna. The very next day I received a message from Rob and Cari, the owners… “Meg we just hit the jack pot!!!” We were getting the mega hook up, a custom built pop-up with all the gadgets we desired.
Phoenix, a family owned business based out of Denver, has been building campers since the 70s. Needless to say they have it dialed. Visiting their shop where they construct the custom campers from the creation of the welded aluminum frame all the way to the finishing details, like curtains, that make a camper a home was amazing. With all their campers built by hand, each one leaves the shop a little different than the next depending on the customer’s needs or wants. While we were there they even had a lifted CJ 5 with a pop up camper in the facility, [drool] talk about go anywhere camping!
For our own custom made camper, Meg and I came up with a nice little wish list, but we were undoubtedly novices in the camper world, so talking to Rob with his 20 plus years experience in the industry helped us to pull together our camper details nicely. In 4 months we would be driving away with a custom made camper…
READ MORE AT http://adventureamericas.
