The Bathroom

I am updating this page with more photos I took today.

This first one shows the toilet and where the wonderful closets are, in the bathroom.

This one shows a bit of the rounded glass shower surround, and part of the sink. And yes, it's a dry bath! I would really hate to have to scrub around everything every time anyone took a shower in one of those wet baths!

I took this photo of the bathroom sink today. There is so much storage in this little bathroom!

This is one I took today of the wonderful closets in the bathroom.

This is one I took of the closets in the bathroom open. These helped seal the deal for me. I love the amount of room for jackets to hang, and there is so much room for towels, toilet paper and extra sheets and things on the other side. I will probably put the collapsible clothes hamper in the side where the clothes rod is if there is room. If not, I'll keep it in the shower when we aren't using it. There is plenty of room for cleaning supplies under the sink.

Here are the shower doors closed. It looks pretty nice for a smaller camper!

And here is the shower open!

The couch and Murphy bed

This is looking at the couch in our camper. We added the Sterlite drawers for more storage, and to act as end tables. They work really well. I may change them out for the fake wicker ones at some point.

Anyway, this is looking from the kitchen toward the couch. It will be nice to have another place to sit besides at the dinette! I want to get some of those ottomans that have storage inside to put in front of the couch. Those will make it more comfortable, as well as being useful for storage.

It's very easy to flatten the couch out, and pull the Murphy bed down. You also don't have to unmake the bed to fold it up. This was a huge factor for me, since I'm not sure I would have wanted a Murphy bed if I had to make and unmake it every morning and night. I love how cozy it looks at night!

There is a curtain you can pull across to separate the bedroom from the rest of the camper when you have company. I love that there is room to walk on both sides of the bed. That was another deal breaker for me. The two long cupboards don't have shelves, just a very narrow clothes rod. That doesn't concern me too much, because we have a much nicer clothes rod in the bathroom closet, and I will probably only be hanging our jackets and a few shirts for my husband anyway. Everything else can be folded and put on shelves. I know we can get those soft hanging shelves to put in there, but I would rather measure the closets and make thin plywood shelves. Our socks and underwear will be put into baskets in the little upper cabinets over the bed. The extra sheets will be in the linen closet in the bathroom.

Above the bed are some nice LED lights, and little shelves with charging ports for your phone. Also, there is an outlet in the base under each closet, which will be handy for using the laptop while on the couch, or in bed.

This is a photo I took today of one of the closets next to the bed when it is open. I'm glad I have the bigger clothes rod in the bathroom closet, because I think shelves will be much more useful in these closets!

This photo was taken by our dealer inside our camper before we bought it. It's not on their website any more, but I'm glad I saved it so I can look at the pictures until the weather warms, and we can take the camper out on it's maiden voyage. The photo shows how much room there is between the couch and the kitchen cabinets, as you come in the door. I also see a nice place next to the door on the end of the cabinet on the left, for some command hooks or a basket or two to hold a flashlight, a collapsible umbrella, truck keys, hats, and a few other things that we may need to reach easily from outside!

Our new travel trailer

Ever since I was a child, I have always wanted a camping trailer, and now, at the age of 65, I finally have one.

It was difficult to decide what we wanted most, so I narrowed it down by taking out what it would be impractical for us to buy.

That beautiful rear living room Winnebago fifth wheel was my all time favorite, but it also would need a much larger truck, and was very, very tall,so we would have to watch bridges and trees when we are out in the boondocks, which will probably be most of the time.

The Winnebago was out, more because of needing a bigger truck and the cost of that, than for any other reason.

I love the idea of a truck camper, so we would be able to easily take it into the woods of Maine. It also would be very handy for stealth camping when we are in a pinch, and would mean we would be able to tow a boat or something. The trouble with that, is that probably more than half the time, we would be in places where we would want a comfortable camper with a nice dry bathroom, and some place comfortable to sit. The truck camper was out too.

I absolutely love rear living rooms, but for lots of reasons, the camper we finally chose didn't have one. Our truck is a GMC Sierra, Z71, double cab, 1500, with towing package and 5.3l engine. I can't remember the exact weight limits for towing, but the camper we decided on is less than half of what the truck is capable of, so we don't have to worry about over loading it with the few things two adults will be carrying. Also, even though a fifth wheel is easier to tow, the travel trailer is less expensive, and means we can leave the cap on the truck. I would hate to have to take the cap off, since we use it all the time.

This camper also has an outside kitchen. I wasn't looking for that when I looked at campers, but now that I have a camper with one, I am really glad! I go camping to spend my time outdoors, so I really don't want to spend all my time cooking inside when we are in places where we can't have an outdoor fire. It will also be much cleaner inside if I make a rule that there is no messy frying inside the camper! After all, I'm not going camping so I can spend hours scrubbing grease off the walls and ceilings!

Another reason we chose this camper besides the weight, is the size is manageable. The box is 22' with a total length of 26', so even at state and national parks, it should be small enough to find campsites, but it's large enough to be comfortable. It is also 10' something high, so it will fit under bridges. Then, there is the Murphy bed, and couch. There is room to walk on both sides of the bed, so we won't be climbing over each other, and it will be easy to make the bed. It can also be closed up while the bed is still made, so we won't have to worry about making up a bed every night. During the day, there is a couch there, for comfortable seating.

I know a lot of people don't like slides, because they can be problematic, but I really like the extra room of the dinette slide in ours. I would rather have a couch there, or even better, two recliners, but we have three grandchildren. They and their parents will be camping with us sometimes, so it will be nicer to have the seating room for playing board games in the evening when we aren't sitting around a campfire. It also turns into a double bed for when the kids want to sleep in our camper.

Another thing that sold me on this one is the bathroom. At campgrounds I will probably use the campground shower, but when I'm not, it's a dry bath. I definitely didn't want a wet bath. Besides, there are two really big closets in the bathroom, one with a hanging rod, and the other side has shelves. (In addition to the smaller closets in the bedroom, and pantry in the kitchen). I love the amount of storage in this camper, for the size of it! It also has a fairly large refrigerator. The rear bath made it so I can't have a rear living room, but I think I gained more by having that wonderful storage and the outdoor kitchen there!

Our Venture Sonic 220VRB isn't the biggest and most luxurious camper in the world, but for a light weight camper, it's pretty comfortable, and has a ton of options!