If you planning a vacation a good tool is Google Maps especially if you are planning a group trip. With Google’s My Maps function you can create your own map with locations that you would like to visit. You can even use My Maps to collaborate on attractions to visit. You can send an invention to another person in your travel party to edit your map. Now they will also be able to plot locations of interest on the travel map. Allowing everyone to see where everything is an more information about each location. Which should make it a snap in planning daily itineraries.
We are planning a possible trip Chattanooga Tennessee this summer with my In Laws. We have located several places that we would like to go to and add them to our map with extra information like a links to the official site, Wikipedia, and photos on Flickr. Then we can email a link to that map so they can see some of the places we have found. Below is a the map for Chattanooga which is currently in progress. You can click the markers for more information.
The nice thing about the map is you can plot those places that look great and claim to be in the area that you are staying but are really and hour or more away. You may find more attractions in that area so you can plan a day to visit them or alter your plans a little to stay in a centralized location to all of the locations you want to take in.
You never know where you will find a trailer for your new tear drop. A site that you are sure to use to scrounge up a good deal on a trailer is Craig’s List. Personally I don’t like checking everyday to see if there is something new posted to the site. Fortunately Craig’s List provides an easy way to keep track of what is new in your area.
When you browse a category or do a search on Craig’s List there will be a RSS link. You can use this link to add the newest listings to a RSS reader. Some email programs provide allow you to RSS feeds to them like a new email box so everytime you check your email you will also check the newest listings. If you use a start up page like iGoogle, Yahoo, or Netvibes they will allow you to add a new section for your Craig’s List RSS feed. So anytime you start up your browser or check out your start page you don’t have to do anything extra to see that trailer just waiting for you.
Makezine has a nice video how to for building a cheap compact DTV antenna so when your out on the road you can get the best reception. This project only requires some coat hangers, wood, nuts, bolts and washers.
Since most of the design was taken care of before this blog there are no thoughts or notes on various ideas. With the re design to fit the smaller trailer every thing is getting a fresh look. On the Teadrop forum I stumbled on a thread where marine vinyl was used for the roof skin with a 3/16 head liner.
Originally the plan was to use an anodized aluminum sheet metal. I felt this could project against the elements the best with proper trimming. The problem with sheet metal is that in the sizes need it is difficult to handle and with a small single car garage.
With the marine vinyl storage is not a problem it is easy to handle and should provide a great barrier to rain since it can be rolled out in a single piece with out seams. The down side is if you have a 60″ trailer you will have to stretch the stuff out from its 54″ wide roll. Finding a 60″ roll is proving to be difficult but with marine grade vinyl available at JoAnns in the 54″ variety it is hard to pass up. Especially when you consider that you can sign up for mailings from JoAnns which send out 40% off coupons.
This weekend we found out that the Trailer that we planned on using is no longer available. Well its still available but the trailer is no longer being shipped and with a 14 hour drive picking it up is not a question. We were going to use the Red Trailer 5×10 but will go with a 5×8 from Northern Tool. So it was back to AutoCad to figure out how to take out 2 feet from the design.
Since starting the design I have been looking around to see if there are any better methods since the last go around. I did find a nice video on Youtube that has a build from start to finish.
I am assuming anyone reading this is going to have a lean towards camping. I suppose you don’t have to but if your checking out info about Tear Drops and Tiny Travel Trailers odds are good you will be out camping.
Of course your chosen destination will probably have lots of sites near by to go visit. Plus you are camping after all sitting out and enjoying a good bit of nature is always part of the itinerary. If you are looking for more the perfect answer is Geo Caching. Basically you have a hand held GPS unit and Coordinates to a hidden container usually in an out of the way place.
Geo Caching is a great way to find other spots of interest where you are camping and who would not like using a billion dollars worth of satellites to play hide and seek with a Tupperware container in the woods.
Typically most caches will have a log where you sign your name and the date you found the cache. Occasionally caches will have little nic naks in them that you trade with what you bring. Some caches will have special coins or items with tracking bugs that you take with you to put into another cache and enter the info in on geocaching.com and see where else in the world the object has been. To find the coordinates to caches go to geocaching.com and search by the zipcode that you will be in. You will find many caches in the near by area to go out and hunt down. In some areas you might find special caches like in western PA there is the Allegheny GeoTrail. The Allegheny trial offers you special coins by finding caches in each county.
If you are interested in Geo Caching be sure to check the Getting Started section of geocaching.com where you will find guides to everything involved in Geo Caching. Also you don’t have to be on vacation to go Geo Caching. You will find caches in your own area and you can also hide your own cache for others to find.
One of the hardest parts of going on vacation is figuring out where do you want to go and what to see while you are there. Recently we found a book called 1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die which is good for finding places to go categorized by state. We started by looking neighboring states for some vacations that we could do more vacation than driving. This book gives about a page of info on each location along with website addresses to find more information which makes your job easier. My only problem with the book is there are a lot of events listed when interesting places are left out. If you like food festivals and flower shows this won’t be a problem for you but I was a bit disappointed by some of the entries. Over all this is still a good guide to find places of interest to you.
After finding places that look interesting searching Google is always a good way to find more info but a couple of sites can really help you out along the way. The first is Trip Adviser where people write reviews of different areas. It is a good resource for filling out your vacation itinerary. The second site which is really helpful and a little less obvious is Flickr. Tons of people use Flickr to post photos and you know everyone has vacation photos. For example if you search South Dakota Badlands you are bound to find pictures of places to go while in the area that might not show up in the travel guides.
There are a ton more sites out there to fill out your vacation itinerary but these are the ones we always end up using. A quick tip if you don’t like getting junk mail don’t sign up for the print version of the state/area travel guide don’t sign up for it. You will be surprised what kind of “mail offers” you will get. If you do find that your only option is to give them your address a little trick that I learned long ago is to fill in your name with an alternate middle initial. So if start getting mail for John Z Doe, you will know exactly who sold your information. Most places are pretty good with keeping your information to travel related businesses in their state but other states just make a quick buck from selling your name to every mass mailing list out there.
Have a favorite travel planning resource post it in the comments.
So the idea of going camping in a Tear Drop / Tiny Travel Trailer interest you. Of course it does! There are a several routes you can go. You can buy a completed Trailer or build your own. There are several manufactures out there that you can purchase from and you can always find some one who is selling their project trailer.
If you go the route of building your own you can find many plans online or come up with your own from scratch. As always Google is your friend you can find old Popular Mechanics plans and newer plans that are made available for free. Most of the free plans are basic drawings with basic dimensions to get you going. If you are looking for something a bit more complete, you can find plans for sale online that include more detail or pictures from the building process.
Don’t feel like sorting through Google Results all day long? A good all around source of info is the Teardrops & Tiny Travel Trailers Forum, there are tons of people sharing there expereinces and construction know how.
Just a word of warning get a special bookmark folder ready or you will never be able to keep track of all the links you find.
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