Hello! I hope your January is settling in to a good rhythm, and you’re sticking to your goals and aspirations for the year, or at least on a path that is making you happy, and proud of how you’ve started out!

As I was looking through last years posts, I realized I never shared the addition of our camper to the family this past year.

The camper sale in 2019 and the purchase of a new one was a much longer process than we imagined it would be. When we decided we wanted to part with our tiny house on wheels, we were torn on if we REALLY wanted to part with it. We purchased it brand new in 2011. Our big boys grew up in it.

We loved that little thing so much and all the hard work we put into it. We loved sharing with all of you all the tears and sweat we put into it in this post.

Pic of our 2011 Jayco Jayflight 26BH when we listed it:

Ultimately though, we decided the space was too small. It worked with three boys for a while. When Greyson J was in a pack n play, It was easy enough to set it up at night where the dining room table was. Once he grew out of that though, we had no idea where we would put him to sleep, other than a couch or doubling up with one of the boys, and we really wanted them to have a little more space. So, we decided to sell.

The sale was quick, and the trailer was pulling out of the yard. It was a bittersweet moment. But I knew we’d find something that was meant to be ours.

The pandemic changed the travel trailer market.

We had no idea the world would start camping. It was a great way for people to get out and do something while social distancing. It made sense. I was happy more people were experiencing camping. At the same time though, we were crushed that campers we had our eye on a year ago were now out of budget.

In hindsight, would we would have waited to sell? I don’t know.  We know we would have probably gotten more money from the sale of our trailer. There was a silver lining though. We bought a really great tent. We took our kids tent camping, and they experienced camping the way we did when we were kids.

We towed my parent’s pop-up camper all the way up to the U.P. to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Tiny and cramped and full of fun. We had a really great time simplifying and camping this way. More about that trip here. We still had a longing for a tiny house on wheels though.

I had all but given up hope on finding a trailer we could afford. My daily online searches were slowed to checking every now and then if there was something new listed that I hadn’t seen. It was exhausting. Then I found a gem on marketplace. It was the right price. It was the same floor plan we had been looking for, but a different brand. It wasn’t the color scheme I wanted, but I saw the potential. It felt like it was meant to be ours.

We added our new camper to the family in June 0f 2022.

But what was a Crossroads Zinger? I didn’t know anything about this brand. I hated the decals on the outside. I knew I could deal with those though, I did it before. I hated the brown, but again- this is nothing new. We did the work to our other camper, and it was everything we wanted after a little work. The pinterest ideas are now flowing and I can’t wait to get to work in there.

I started with bringing in some elements that made it feel more like home. I took out a few pieces of brown trim (when Mr. Ball wasn’t looking!) 🙂 And I painted some brown trim pieces on the ceiling white. (Why were they brown anyway?)

The most exciting part was the bunkhouse. This was the space we were searching for with three bed and a pull out couch. Plenty of room for the boys + 1 in this photo. They spent lots of nights here this summer in the yard.

Our one and only outing over 4th of July was a success. There was a couple moments with kids coming in and out of the camper to hang out with friends, I just knew this was the place that was meant to be ours. We are looking forward to so many adventures here, and I can’t wait to start some spring projects. I hope you follow along for the fun!