Teardrop Trailer Summer Cocktails

Camping is more fun with alcohol. Most of the time my husband and I like to enjoy a few beers or wine with our teardrop dinner, but every summer we get a hankerin' for some summer cocktails mixed in the back of the teardrop galley. Most teardrops don't have a lot of storage space, so unless you have a mobile bar from Neiman Marcus, your cocktails will have to be simple.

These are some of our favorite cocktails that require very few ingredients. Each are made with just one bottle of spirits, one mixer, some ice and a garnish—teardrop style.

Backwoods Bellini

This is a nice cocktail for breakfast or brunch and can be made with or without alcohol. Top it with a piece of peach or a strawberry.

2 ounces of peach nectar (Kerns is good)
Chilled sparkling wine or sparkling cider
Serve in a plastic wine or champagne glass

Tear-itas

Margaritas are a basic summer drink while camping. You can get a premixed bottle, but they tend to have too much sugar and additives so pack your own bottle of Cuervo. Use limes (they travel well) for garnish. Salt is optional.

1 cup Jose Cuervo silver tequila
1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey or agave syrup

"Where the heck is the..." Screwdriver

Orange juice is not just for breakfast. This basic drink is perfect after a long day of doing nothing.

1 part vodka
2 parts orange juice
Top with orange wedge or rosemary sprig

Mountain Mojito

2 ounces light rum 
2 ounces club soda
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons sugar
limes

Place some lime juice, sugar and mint in a bowl and smash the mixture up with a wooden spoon. Add rum and club soda and stir. Top with a wedge of lime or a sprig of pine needles.

"Do you sleep in that thing?" Cocktail

This is the cocktail to serve to anyone who asks this question. It will give them a whole other idea about teardrops and teardroppers. Add a lemon twist for garnish.

1 1/2 ounce berry vodka (ThreeOlives makes one)

¾ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 ounce chilled sparkling wine

Mix the ingredients with ice and serve (without ice) in a plastic martini glass

Friday Teardrop Photo

This photo was submitted by reader William Warren. He recently completed his DewDropN teardrop which was built off and on over the course of a year—without a shelter. The teardrop is tricked out for some relaxed camping in the woods.

Nevada Teardrop Camping: Fort Churchill

Our year of teardrop camping in Nevada continued last weekend with a trip to Fort Churchill State Historic Park on Highway 50 near the city of Fallon, Nevada. While this area is only about 1.5 hours from our home, it's a really nice getaway into the Nevada desert.

Fort Churchill was once an active U.S. Army fort built in 1861. It housed hundreds of soldiers and other employees of the fort. It was primarily used to protect wagon trains coming across the desert into California from the local Native American tribes during the Pyramid Lake War—which began when three men living at a nearby fort kidnapped several young Paiute girls.

Thousands of dollars were spent building and maintaining the fort and while it also became a Pony Express station and a sight for sore eyes after the 40 Mile Desert, it was abandoned less than 10 years later. Many of the adobe buildings can still be seen up close and the state park has a campground, interpretive center, graveyard, river access and some amazing views.

Out of all the places we've been camping, Fort Churchill might be one of my favorite campgrounds: it's small, but private with massive trees, large sites, fire pits, picnic tables and birds everywhere. It was dead quiet at night except for a few owls.

Friday Teardrop Photo

I found this pretty T@B and it's stylish awning on the Camp LeConte Facebook page. Camp LeConte is located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee—right next to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. They not only have a campground, but you can also stay in their safari tents or luxury treehouses.

Cool Tears and Tiny Campers March/April 2015

The latest issue of Cool Tears and Tiny Campers is now available for download. This issue includes an extensive build by Stephen Magiera, a unique wood teardrop by architect Greg Reddin, some beautiful photos of that glorious red teardrop on Route 66 and how to choose a teardrop manufacturer.

You can view the magazine issue for free by clicking on the link or photo above.

Friday Teardrop Photo

This steampunk teardrop trailer by Dave Moult in the U.K. has been flying around the interwebs like a steam powered dirigible. I recently wrote a blog post about the trailer on Do It Yourself RV. Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction and a type of cosplay that features the designs and fashion of the Victorian and Edwardian era combined with the technology of 19th century industrial steam-powered machinery.

Maybe one of these days I'll post a photo of me in my steampunk gear...maybe.

Tommy Doran's "Mobile Fit Club" Teardrop

On Friday I posted a photo of Tommy Doran's homebuilt teardrop trailer. Tommy lives in Louisiana and recently finished his teardrop which does accomplishes three jobs: it's camper, a mobile fitness club and a mini billboard.

Why did you decide to build a teardrop trailer?

I was exposed to teardrop trailers by accident. I was an Assistant Scoutmaster for the Boy Scout Troop that my two sons were attending. One day my boss, who is a Scoutmaster in another troop, asked me if we had written plans for the patrol box kitchens that our troop had built. I told him I didn't know offhand, but that I'm sure we could search online for ideas. He and I did a quick search on Google, and it was in searching images for the patrol boxes that we found some pictures of teardrop trailers.  Both of us immediately decided that was something we needed to look further into. The more I dug, the more I was hooked on them. I eventually found my way to the tnttt.com forums and from there I got even more ideas.

Where did you get the idea for your teardrop trailer?

At the time, I could not fit such a project into my budget, but was still hooked. So I spent about five years drawing and redrawing plans, gathering resources for supplies, purchasing tools, and developing contacts with people who could give me great advice on how to build my teardrop when the time came. Eventually I was able to afford the build so I started making lists and ordering supplies. 

The teardrop trailer is such a head turner on the highway. So it was the perfect billboard to help promote my business (it also allowed me to write off some of the expenses on my taxes for advertising costs). My hope is to bring it to outdoor health fairs and to other fitness events to showcase the fitness solutions available to others to help them on their journey.

What were some of the struggles you had during your build?

At the time the biggest struggle was finding sources to purchase some of the more specialized equipment to build the camper. Once I started the build, developing my carpentry skills to that level of detail became the challenge. I have an at-home business as a Fitness and Wellness Coach with Team Beachbody, helping others reclaim their health through nutrition and exercise, as well as establishing themselves as coaches.

Can you tell us about some of the teardrop features?

I call my teardrop the "Mobile Fit Club." I can prepare smoothies from the galley and I will soon be adding a projector screen to hang from the galley hatch where I can pop in a workout DVD like P90X or Insanity and let others come by to try the workout routines for free. The Mobile Fit Club is wired for both 110V AC shore power as well as 12V DC from a deep cycle battery. It has a Bluetooth ready car stereo in the galley, and coaxial cable hook ups in the sleeping area and the galley. 

In the sleeping area there are two floor storage basements, one of which stores the externally mounted leaf tables for the galley area. The galley is a simple design. It has no water tank, and uses an ice chest cooler on a sliding tray and has a storage for a Coleman stove under the cabinets.

Where are your favorite places to camp?

My wife Pam is not a tent camper, but loves the teardrop. I've only taken the teardrop out once so far, but I hope to introduce Pam to many of the areas that I camped out in while my boys were in Scouts. I really enjoy the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee as well as many areas in my home state of Louisiana. My goal though is to eventually make a run down to the Florida Keys. 

What has been the reaction to your teardrop trailer?

The reactions to the Mobile Fit Club have been nothing but positive from the design phase through the build, and now that she is finished and camping. I have family and friends who own larger RVs that really get into the little teardrop because of the efficiency of space and the ease of just packing up and hitting the road. I always have people waving to us on the highway, and have had to show it off more than once while stopping. It really is a great conversation piece that allows me to talk more about my business. I'm also able to help more people who I normally would not have been able to talk to.

Photos courtesy of Tommy Doran/Fitness by Tommy