Campin & Trailer History

First Camping Trip
When we first decided to try camping, we figured it would be best to get something used. So a friend of Dan's at work had a 1978 Apache Solidstate Pop-up, he was selling. So we bought it. We would suggest if you have never camped before, this is the way to go. That way if you don't like it, you haven't lost a whole lot of money. It seems you either love it, or you hate it. We love it.
We had only put it up and down a few times, when we decided we were ready! We decided to pick up my sister in Sterling, IL. and go to the Wisconsin Dells. Well we didn't want to forget anything! We had plenty of food in our small refrigerator, and lots of canned stuff under the seats. A cooler that was filled with more food. (We were going to be gone for two weeks, must have food.) Set of Pots and pans, a toaster, complete set of dishes for eight, (You never know who might show up for dinner.) Silver place setting for eight. All kinds of glasses. We always use lots of glasses. Plenty of things to wear, you never know what you'll need camping! Such as Evening wear, plenty of shoes, (17 pair for me) you just can't have enough shoes. My sister Gloria, could hardly get in the back of our station wagon, for the shoes. As for the evening wear I took, I didn't use any of it and the shoes? I wore 1 pair, my trusty tennies. When I think about it now it's funny. I don't know where we put it all. I do remember the poor little pop-up was a mess all the time.
We had a table out side under the awning, where we kept the coffee maker. It made more room inside. When we started camping with our friends it was nicknamed the "Coffee Wagon". As I was up every morning by 6:00 AM and had a pot of Java made. When the rest of them got up, they would come over to get coffee.

We camped in that little pop-up for three years. It took us to Wisconsin, Indiana, Canada, and Michigan's UP. Without it we couldn't have afforded to go anywhere. We had some really good times in it.

The Golden Nugget
The next camper we owned was a 17' 1977 Golden Nugget. Needed a lot of work. We went to a salvage yard in White Pidgeon, Michigan and got most of the things we needed real cheap. The seats were bad and we made new covers for them, new curtains, as the old ones didn't match the new changes. We had to put in a new ceiling, new flooring, new backing behind the sink and stove. It didn't have an awning and we bought a new one for it. That was the most expensive part of the whole thing. We had fun doing it and when we got through it was beautiful.
We camped with 4 other families and had a ball. We went quit a few places with them. We would have camp fires at night and sing, general chit chat. But most of all the good company was really fun. We had our own little community of people. People who all got along and enjoyed the same things.
We don't see them much anymore as one couple has retired and camp full time. Another family has moved to Mo. to live. So most of the time we travel by ourselves. But we still love to camp. We have done much traveling since those days and seen a lot of things. Met lots of nice people and found some great places to camp.

Dutchmen Classic
We now own a 26' 1992 Dutchmen Classic. When we first decided to look at something new, we fell in love with the first thing we saw. Which is a bad thing. All we saw was the new of it. Brand new cabinets with mirrors, new stove, full size refrigerator, ect... We told the salesman that we wanted to think about it. That night we started talking about the things we liked and didn't like. Such as where the kitchen was and how much counter space there was. Where would you put a coffee maker and so on. The one we were looking at had a side kitchen and no counter space at all. It didn't come with an awning and that meant about $400.00 more. This was a 24' trailer and it wasn't coming with anything much for $14,000.00. So we went to Elkhart, Ind. to look at trailers. Alot of trailer sales there. We went to all of them, trying to find what we wanted. We finally went to Dutchmen and had to order it. But they gave us the best price, for a new one and the best money for our Nugget. We paid $12,000.00 for a 26' and got everthing for it, including the awning and some other things. It has a front Kitchen of which we love, plenty of storage which we need. It has a free standing table and chairs which are great. Gives us more storage in the front. The only thing we don't like about it is a side bath. To small.
So if you go to buy one, make sure you look around and get what you want.
Now our neighbor has a brand new 24', and ours don't look as shiny as it did....hmmmmm.
On July 31, 1998 we sold our 1992 Dutchmen. We owned it for a little over 6 years. We were sad to see it go, we had many good times in it. It was the first new trailer we ever had and we enjoyed it. On Aug.3, 1998 we placed our order for a 1999 Sunnybrook 26 ft. travel trailer. We will have to wait 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. We'll lose some camping time but it will be worth it! This purchase was made possible by our good friends Jim & Margaret Kent from Missouri. They have a Sunnybrook dealership in Missouri and have helped us tremendously. They'll meet us in Indiana for delivery and we'll get to camp with them for a few days. We haven't seen them in a long time, so we are very excited!

1999 Sunnybrook
Jim & Marge Kent came to Michigan September 26 and stayed at a campground in Ypsilanti. Marge has family living in Taylor and wanted to visit them. They left here on September 30 for a campground in Bristol Ind. called Eby's Pines Campground. So they could get the paper work done and get the keys to our Sunnybrook. We left home the next day and met them at the campground. From there we went to the factory in Middlebury to pick it up. We could not believe our eyes when we saw it for the first time. It was much more than either one of us could have imagined. The inside is in teal, has oak cabinets inside. It has a front kitchen, living room is next then a big split bath room and last but not least the bed room with a queen sized bed. It has ducted heat and air conditioning.The Sunnybrook has everything we wanted and more. Jim & Marge have been good campin' buddies for many years. We camped with them before they moved to Missouri and we always had a good time together. It was good to be with them again. We sat by the camp fire the first night. It was like we had been campin together last week-end instead of 6 years ago. Both couples just got a little older. But still the same inside. That's what counts. We enjoyed their company til Saturday, when they had to leave. We hated to see them go. We left on Sunday morning for home with our beautiful new trailer. Thanks so much Jim & Marge. It will never be forgotten. Love Ya'

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