Hello all,
My handle is Ralph 1931 on this forum and website.I am located in Middle River, Maryland (near Baltimore). My name is George. I am a 75 year old retired machine and equipment designer as well as a Korean Vetran.(This helps explain my fixation with Red White and Blue). I love to work with wood. I "stumbled" across this website and became instantly interested. I read evrything. I soaked up a whole lot of information that all you nice people provided here and was thankful to get it.Then came the decision to build one. I came up with my own design using a ton of information that is on this web site.
My TTT named "Eagle's Teardrop" was begun in March of 2006 and finished late in May. I wanted to take a trip out west. I did. I left early June and went on a 7,500 mile journey with my TTT alone. My wife was not interested. In my travels I saw The Blue Ridge Mountains and State Park, The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, The Royal Gorge, Hoover Dam, Pikes Peak, and a score of other places. I camped mostly at Wal-Mart parking lots. (They allow overnite camping at most stores) They have bathroom facilities. I stopped every couple of days at a campground and rented a shower. My camper is self sustained except for the shower. My Tow vehicle was my 1998 Z3 Roadster. Traveled mostly with the top down. Enjoyed every minute. At the time many places the regular gas was about $3.50 per gal. My mileage for the trip was a whopping 27.159 mpg for the whole trip. The camper was hitched the entire time except when I drove to the top of Pike's Peak. What a ride!
My TTT without any provisions weighs in at 1,190 pounds. Tongue weight is 160 pounds. (10 more than I had planned for) Body is 63 1/2" wide, 104" long and 43" high. (I shortened it for travel efficiency) The ground clearance is about 12". Spare is mounted under the galley. Construction is primarily plywood and oak. Construction all the way up to final photos were posted in my album this morning (Sunday Nov. 26, 2006)