When we go on vacation we tend to always take the tent and camp unless the campgrounds aren't open. After our trip to the Grand Canyon/Zion (and freezing to high heavens in the tent) last October we thought about buying a camper for those times you just don't want to tent it. We've been kind of looking since the beginning of the year, but not anything serious. We had looked at a few that were a bust, and wanted to look at a couple that were such a good deal they sold before we could.
About a couple months ago one of John's coworkers was selling a couple of his vehicles. One happened to be a 1998 Chevy Tahoe that the guy had for almost twenty years. It was a Colorado vehicle for a while so minimal rust, and the thing still ran like a champ. John considered it for an extra vehicle after having to deal with the accident last year, and borrowing one of our parent's cars. The guy was offering John a good deal on it knowing that John would be good to it. Eventually John caved and I saw a Tahoe parked in my yard the next day.
We were supposed to have everyone come with us to Tennessee this year on the bikes again. With Covid going on, and everyone not being able to get time off it ended up being just us two. We didn't want to take the motorcycle this year with everything going on, and we didn't want to take the Yaris 2.0 because we don't want anything happening to that one (I know we are a little paranoid, and besides the Tahoe is bigger). So John suggested the Tahoe.
We bought an air mattress in case we wanted to sleep in the back a night or two. It has ample room to pack whatever your heart desires, and it has four wheel drive so if we need it at least it's there. We were bringing the tent still just incase we wanted to sleep in it, but John and I were fully prepared for sleeping in the Tahoe. OH! Let's also talk about packing this year.
I have to admit packing for our trips were weird this year. Last year we had to pack as minimal as possible on both of our trips. We went on a motorcycle in September, and had to pack one check in bag/ two free bags with all of our stuff for our Grand Canyon/Zion trip in October. So as you can imagine this year we were able to bring more stuff. I'm not going to lie it felt weird. At the beginning of this year I was fully prepared to leave some items behind that I had brought last year, but the cool thing was I didn't need to. I could pack more clothes this year too. What?! Little did we know being able to pack more clothes this time around would help us in the long run.
We camped in our usual campground, Mile High Campground. The wind most nights was not forgiving this year. What I mean by that is that it blew so hard sometimes it shook the Tahoe pretty good. On top of that one night it poured. The rain started at 10:30 pm, and just kept going until morning. Come to find out we experienced the remnants of a hurricane that was coming up from the south. The only reason we found this out was because I overheard a man talking about it at the Leconte Lodge Office on our hike. We were grateful for having the air mattress to sleep in the Tahoe. We didn't want to attempt to try and sleep in the tent this trip. The way the wind was blowing the Tahoe I would have been afraid of it just picking up the tent and carrying us over the mountain ridge (I know that really wouldn't happen, but we probably would have had tent in face by morning). If the wind didn't take us the rain sure would have.
We made the Tahoe work as a camper/driver that whole week. At night we would take our trekking poles, a tarp, and some bungee cords, which would create a very fancy, hillbilly awning. The way the weather was it was nice to have something to either sit under, or when you get out of the Tahoe to keep you somewhat dry (except for the night it poured. There was no keeping dry then). We would have the air mattress inflated at night with pillows and sleeping bags. We also had a thing of string lights stringed around the back (which made it look fancier). Sadly I didn't get a picture of it, but it just didn't happen. We would deflate the mattress in the morning, and play the stuff shuffle.
Certain things obviously couldn't get wet like camera gear, clothes, and we really didn't want bears finding our freeze dried meals. So what we would do is stuff everything in the front seat at night. The back seats had to be down in order to have air mattress and a John in the Tahoe. So into the front seats our things went. In the morning we would deflate the mattress, and stuff everything in the back again. You would think we would be a bit more organized while doing this and have a system, but we weren't. I will admit it made looking for something difficult at times, but we made it work. Besides most mornings for how cold the wind was we didn't want to take the time to organize. That last morning we were at camp we got out of the Tahoe as little as possible it was so cold and wet outside.
It worked out that we brought the Tahoe, as well, because we were able to explore places that neither the Yaris 2.0 nor the bike could probably handle. We were able to explore Balsam Mountain Road/ Heintooga Round Bottom Road. This is a one way 28 mile road that goes from Balsam Mountain into Cherokee. This road is the most primitive road in the whole Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and is recommended to be travelled on in passenger vehicles. This is not a road to be bringing a Prius on by any means. There was plenty of times where the road was rough, and was obviously meant more for SUV/Trucks. However, the benefits of going down this road was beautiful little waterfalls, a pull off by an awesome mountain stream, and just to take in the nature.
It's been interesting living out of the Tahoe for a week. Everything was with you so you can't forget anything, and also you were prepared for any adventure. It felt like we could go anywhere, and do anything. That the world was our oyster. We loved doing it so much that we are already talking about taking the Tahoe as our little camper when we go out to Yellowstone in 2021.
This past week we've been staying at John's buddy's place here in Maryland. Honestly it's been weird having half of our stuff in the Tahoe and half in his buddy's place. We have been taking her on more adventures as we are in Maryland such as Assateague Island. Jeff, I hope you read this blog post once it's published. Thanks for talking John into the Tahoe. Thanks for giving us the adventure vehicle we didn't know we needed. She'll be going on many more adventures with us that's for sure.
Comments