This site is an archive of ChiotsRun.com. For the latest information about Susy and her adventrures, visit the Cultivate Simple site.
Thank you for all your support over the years!

Tiny Trailer Travels Part Four

September 6th, 2011

After leaving Crater Lake, we made our way across the the huge state of Oregon on our way to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Since we left around 3:30 in the afternoon, we knew we wouldn’t make it that far before needing to stop for the evening, but each hour we drove would be an hour less the next day. It was actually nice to be driving with the sun setting behind us instead of in our windshield as it had been for the majority of the trip. We were heading east, toward home – that was a good feeling.


Now that we had the little camper instead of camping in a tent, we figured if needed we could just stop for the night at a rest area. We drove and drove and finally stopped for the night at a little rest area on route 20 in Buchanan, Oregon. Ironically all of the previous rest areas we passes were very nice, but this one ended up being a gravel parking lot with a pit toilet. No worries for us, we figured that would mean a peaceful night of sleep without worrying about people stopping in.

For some reason we both woke up around 2:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. So we got up, made coffee by the light of the moon and millions of stars and then headed off down the road. We stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument around noon. It was such an interesting place and really does look like the surface of the moon. After driving through, we hit the road again heading toward Grand Teton National Park hoping to arrive before dark so we could camp in the park.


We drove our little car and camper over Teton Pass, which made it clear that the next car we buy will be a little beefier, especially important for our eventual trip up to Alaska. Not that we had trouble, we just had to take it very slowly. At least it was a beautiful drive and we were rewarded with the breathtaking Grand Teton Mountain Range at the end.
We headed up to Colter Bay Campground at the top of the park to spend the night. We were disappointed with the campground, they put us in the RV section and we were surrounded by giant RV’s with their generators running, spewing out exhaust and creating quite a racket. We decided that from then on we’d stay at the lesser known campgrounds so we wouldn’t have this problem. It was quite amazing to us that so many people go “camping” and spend their time in their giant houses on wheels watching TV while deer walk right by their camper and they don’t even notice.

The next morning we were up with before the sun and off to drive south through Grand Teton. We have found that it’s best to drive through the parks early to see wildlife and to avoid the other tourists who are usually still sleeping cozily in their big RV’s. Not to mention you get to watch a fabulous sunrise each morning!






After driving through the park, we headed back to the campground, hitched up our camper and headed north to Yellowstone National Park.

On our way we met a few like minded folks who had built themselves a tiny travel trailer as well, it was very similar to ours. He stopped by just to see our camper and to chat with us. Check my Flickr Photostream for more photos of each part of the trip, I’ll be uploading them as I have time.

Do you get up early when you travel, or do you sleep in?

Other posts from this trip:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part I
Tiny Trailer Travels Part II
Tiny Trailer Travels Part III
Tiny Trailer Travels Part IV
Tiny Trailer Travels Part V
Tiny Trailer Travels Part VI

13 Comments to “Tiny Trailer Travels Part Four”
  1. daisy on September 6, 2011 at 5:31 am

    This is the trip of a lifetime. Enjoying tagging along with you…

    Reply to daisy's comment

  2. Allison on September 6, 2011 at 8:42 am

    Again – just gorgeous pictures!

    Reply to Allison's comment

  3. Dave on September 6, 2011 at 8:49 am

    Nice adventure! The pictures are awesome! To answer the question we try to get up and go early – but that never seems to work!

    Reply to Dave's comment

  4. Grace on September 6, 2011 at 10:15 am

    Just catching up on your travel posts that I missed. It looks like you visited some pretty spectular places. Lucky you:)

    Reply to Grace's comment

  5. Donna B. on September 6, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    I think that the last photo of Mr. Chiots & Custom Camper Guy just puts your whole trip into realization. It must have been great to be able to find others doing the same as yours! At first glance I did not see the camper, and thought Mr. Chiots was admiring the vintage vehicle! Hee hee!

    Reply to Donna B.'s comment

  6. KimH on September 6, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    What a wonderful trip we’re having! Thanks & loving the pictures too! ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

    • Tammey on September 6, 2011 at 10:41 pm

      I was just thinking the same thing,,,we are having a wonderful trip!

      Reply to Tammey's comment

  7. Beegirl on September 6, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    Loving your adventure and the tiny trailer!!! It turned out so perfectly!!
    It looks like you had a wonderful time! GORGEOUS PICTURES! We are planning to try backpacking for the first time this fall : ))

    Reply to Beegirl's comment

    • Susy on September 6, 2011 at 5:56 pm

      You’ll love backpacking – where do you plan on going? You live in Pa right? I’d highly recommend the Laurel Highlands Trail for a good first trip, we have backpacked on it many many times, some day we hope to do a through hike of the entire trail. We love the hike up Seven Springs. There are a few sections that are perfect for 7-15 mile hikes in between shelters. And it’s nice because they have water pumps and pit toilets every so often on the trail. We’ve slept in the adirondack shelters in winter while hiking and they were quite cozy (plus that eliminates the need to carry a tent).

      Reply to Susy's comment

  8. Tammey on September 6, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    I..look forward to your adventures every day! Thank you for sharing with us…are you really enjoying your tear drop camper??

    Reply to Tammey's comment

  9. Rick on September 7, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    Suzy,
    It looks like you had a great trip. We love the area around Grand Tetons! We get to visit it often because we have family in the area. What a beautiful place.
    Speaking of your camper I’d love to see pictures of the finished product. I remember a post when it was still a work in progress. I’m interested in seeing the inside and how you have it set up.

    Reply to Rick's comment

  10. Jenny on September 8, 2011 at 2:23 am

    When you make that eventual trip to Alaska, you’re welcome to park that wee trailer in our drive, and sleep in our guest cabin.

    Reply to Jenny's comment

    • Susy on September 8, 2011 at 8:37 am

      We would love to! Every now and then while traveling a read bed & a read shower/bathroom are a nice luxury!

      Reply to Susy's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

Admin
Read previous post:
Tiny Trailer Travels Part Three

After spending a week in Seattle, we made our way south, down the Oregon Coast for a day then we...

Close