The Trailer, the Car, and the Hitch

With retirement just a few short days away, A and I embarked on an "adventure."

We decided we both enjoyed camping...but...

Neither of us enjoyed a half-mile walk to the bathrooms in the middle of the night, or its alternative, peeing one's pjs in the bushes hoping not to step in poison ivy or startle a skunk...

Neither of us enjoyed the long setup that came with the "pop-up" trailer - which, incidentally, is ANYTHING BUT pop-up! It's "lie on the ground and don't hit yourself in the head with the jack, get up again to make sure the door opens, lie down again and lower the roof, don't forget to level the trailer using pads and blocks of wood, and one leg is stuck..." sort of sweaty action done in the summer heat with the mosquitos feasting happily...

(Not that I ever did that kind of work, you understand. THAT job has "man" written all over it!)

Having to wait till everyone in the campground has had a shower...buying ice every day...hoping the roof won't leak...

Hmm. I don't seem to be painting a very pleasant picture of our only "sporting" activity here!

So we made a decision: we decided to sell the pop-up and get a real trailer.

One with a bathroom, shower, large refrigerator, double sink, three-burner stove, oven, and heated beds.

And air conditioning.

We were over the moon that we could afford it! (Well, ask me in ten years if we could afford it, anyway!)

Then all we needed was a vehicle to pull it.

And that's where everything bogged down.

See, we were focused on towing capacity. Based solely on towing capacity, we bought a beautiful car, a 2016 Kia Optima - Hybrid, no less! Heated everything, backup camera, double sun roof, new car smell. One owner. In absolutely beautiful condition.

It brought us SUCH joy! For a couple of days anyway, till we worked it out that towing capacity is meaningless with regards to hitches and trailers.

You have to have the structure in the vehicle. Not all hitches are equal. We quickly learned we'd have to give up the Optima if we wanted the trailer, and go bigger.

Which was a sad week for us, because we felt we'd made a boo-boo that would cost megabucks to put to rights, because the car the dealer now put on hold for us was older, had fewer bells and whistles, and guzzled gas like there was no tomorrow.

But last night it finally all came together, and we now have a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe sitting in the driveway. With a class 2 hitch on it.

And we're off to talk to the trailer people today.

So it looks like it's finally going to come true!

Wish us luck!