Our Transition to a Teardrop

Our new teardrop hitched up to our Subaru CrossTrek at the American Teardrop shop in Auburn, CA.

My wife, Liz, and I recently sold our VW Westfalia--a vehicle the likes of which we've had for over 30 years. 

Our most recent Westy, while on a trip along the Oregon Coast

Our previous Westy - a '67

It was a tough move, as there really is--for better or worse--nothing like a "Westy." As any Westy owner will tell you, you can easily form an inexplicable emotional attachment to them. 

Off to the Sound for some paddling!

And what a great jamming venue! (Me, during a climbing trip to Joshua Tree in my little brother's virtually identical Westy.)

With our son, Joe, on a climbing trip to Frenchman Coulee, WA (AKA "Vantage").

Hopping into the Westy to head to the rocks for a day of climbing in Squamish, BC.

So many great family adventures (Liz and our son, Joe, and our dog, Betty at Deception Pass State Park).

I may, or may not have had watery eyes, as the new owners--a sweet young family of 4 living in Portland, OR--drove away with it. Liz outright cried. I sort of envied her honest reaction, and the depth of it helped me deal with it. 

Still...there were two rationales that drove our hard decision:

1. We love to take long road trips, and as handy as I've learned to be on the road with VWs, there is always that subterranean, nagging sense of dread that something might still go wrong...with something;

Getting a tow back to Seattle, after running over a big stick. The stick flew up into the engine compartment, shredding most of the belts. Belts...are important.

2. As a rock climber, it can be frustrating to have to get the Westy all taken down from its "camping" mode (poptop, awning, hookups sometimes) in order to drive it to the crags. Plus, when Liz doesn't feel like climbing with me--and I head off to the rocks with other friends--I sort of head off with our camp.

Full on "camping mode" in Sunset Bay State Park, Oregon, with our other dog, Toby.

Enter the teardrop trailer. These little suckers have been around since the days of the Great Depression (which, I hear from people who lived through it, wasn't actually all that "great"). At one level, it's a step back from the Westy (you can't stand up in it, it has no internal stove or sink with running water, and sleeps only two), but at another level, it's a step forward because it addresses the above two issues. The only reliability we need to worry about is the drivetrain of our young Subaru Crosstrek. Plus, the car can detach from the trailer leaving our camp intact. We've actually loved the idea of teardrops for years, but decided to take the plunge for real.

I mean...just look at this happy face Liz has on one of our first trips with it!

We researched the daylights out of teardrop manufacturers all over the U.S. and Canada, and while there are many excellent builders out there who clearly love their work (and it shows in their final products), we settled on a company out of Auburn, California called "American Teardrop." Of their many model options, we chose the "Falcon," a 5X8 that weighs in at only about 820 lbs. We considered several factors: price, looks, basic design, craftsmanship, customization options, weight, build schedules, on and off road flexibility, frame strength, and a few others that would take us too deeply into the weeds. 

Bud and Linda Hausman of American Teardrop were just great to work with, and they delivered ahead of schedule with a teardrop that just about made our jaws drop upon first sight. 

Bud and Linda Hausman - owners of American Teardrop Trailers.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, we are surrounded by incredibly beautiful camping opportunities in the mountains, on islands, on the Puget Sound, and farther inland. The possibilities are dang near endless. In addition to these places, we have traveled extensively through the years all over the country (including Canada and Alaska), so we also know what else is out there. And we can't wait to revisit them, and to explore places we haven't yet been, in our new teardrop.

I'll include a few pics of our new trailer on this blog, and share a few hacks in subsequent posts. I mean...we've scoured the interwebs for teardrop hacks, so it's only right to cough up some we've incorporated, right? 

Hope to see some of you out there on the road!

Cheers,

Tom and Liz Patterson
Seattle, WA

American Teardrop - Auburn, CA (website: http://americanteardrop.com/)