Unusual Places to Take Your Teardrop Trailer

We have been to some amazing places in our teardrop trailer like Crater Lake, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, and there are some interesting places we still want to go to. For some reason we have never made it to Cathedral Gorge in eastern Nevada, but once I saw photos online of the amazing rock formations, I had to add it to my growing list.

Some other unusual places we want to take the teardrop camping is White Sands National Monument in New Mexico (along with the funky Truth or Consequences, NM), the Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona, Fort Wilderness at Walt Disney World and the Leinenkugal Brewery in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

The reason we call these places unusual is that they are not your typical parks or campsites. The White Sands National Monument has regular missile testing nearby and you can sled down the white dunes like you would down mountains of snow. Saguaro National Park, while hell in the summer, is heaven in the winter and spring. The Fort Wilderness campsites at Disney World in Florida are expensive, but what a great way to stay in the park and avoid the traffic and lines for the buses. On the TNTTT forum, asianflava has a good review of the Fort Wilderness campground.

As for the Leinenkugal Brewery and the Leinie Lodge in Wisconsin. One of the first photos I saw of a teardrop trailer was Big Woody Camper's photo of one of their handcrafted woody trailers in front of the brewery. In addition, one of my favorite book characters, Anna Pigeon of Nevada's Barr's mystery series drinks Leinenkugal beer and their Sunset Wheat is hands-down my favorite camping beverage. I don't think we can camp there, but a photo in front of the brewery is going to be necessary.

Where is an odd or unusual place you want to take your teardrop trailer?

Featured Teardrop: Miss Piggy

Miss Piggy is almost ready to take her first summer camping trip. Brian and Sandi Woods' teardrop trailer might just be one of the most unusual teardrop trailers on the road this summer. Miss Piggy is a custom "Frankensteined" teardrop built out of a 1959 Simca Vedette, a 1951 Studebaker, a 1950 Studebaker and a 1946 Chev PU truck.

Brian has been building and restoring unique vehicles for over 46 years and he and his wife wanted their first teardrop trailer to be very unusual. Miss Piggy took about 14 months to build and includes parts from nine cars, four trucks and two motorcycles.

"I wanted something that not everyone else had." Brian said. "I am a much better welder than a carpenter, so I thought I would build our teardrop out of cars rather than plywood. I had purchased a 1959 “Simca Vedette Beaulieu” for the motor, but thought the car was too cute and in too good of condition to scrap. So it became a body donor for the teardrop."

Brian and Sandi are avid Street Rodders and had seen teardrop trailers at various Rod Runs over the years. However, they had been tent campers for years with their children, and had never really had the desire to tow anything behind their Street Rod.

"Now that I am reaching retirement and we are empty nesters, Sandi and I agreed it was time to get off the ground," Brian said. "Sandi loves the idea of not having to set up and take down the tent on each day of our travels."

Miss Piggy is nearly complete (the headline and interior panels have to be installed), but Brian and Sandi did sleep in their new tear on New Year's Eve in the shop as a trial run. This summer, the couple will be heading out on a 7,000 mile trip around the West and Northwest which will include stops in Yellowstone, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado and Los Angeles. They also plan to have a teardrop gathering in Washington state. The couple love to camp around the Pacific Northwest, Washington, the Rockies and the East Kootenays.

So, how did this teardrop get her colorful name?

"One night as I was mocking up the nose and the front window I walked across the shop to have a look at the overall picture," Brian said. "As I turned to look, my first impression was, 'It looks like a pig snout on a piggy bank'. From that moment forward I referred to it as 'Miss Piggy'."

 

Brian and Sandi are Vedette on the TNTT Forum and the founders of the British Columbia Chapter of Tearjerkers.