Livin' Lite

I have spent way too many hours indoors. Working, watching TV, working on my computer and, living in Las Vegas, you can guess where else. That plus the times my wife and her children and grand children went camping without me prompted me to look at possible change in lifestyle. First of all, I have never really been one who likes to sleep on the ground even in a tent with a floor. My idea of “roughing it” was to have to crank up the generator to sleep cool if there was no electricity to hook up to. And the additional motivation of an upcoming camping trip with the family led me to search for a tent trailer. Two of my wife's daughters had tent trailers for their families. Looked like a good idea. So I looked at renting one to try out.

I was amazed at the expense of renting but thought, what the heck, I'll try it anyway. My tow vehicle would be the 2006 Hyundai Tucson shown in the picture above. The first thing I learned was that even the smallest tent trailers exceeded to gross towing specification of the Tucson. Knowing how peppy my Tucson was, I wasn't worried about towing a pretty good load but the trailer rental rep told my that the problem with a heavy trailer would be the stopping. So I checked my specs and started a campaign of trying over the Internet to match up a trailer hoping to find a used one. I looked and looked at the specs from all of the tent trailer manufacturers I could find. None that I found would match.

At this point, I knew that I eventually would find one so I started a parallel search for the tow equipment I would need-hitch, lights and possibly trailer brake controls. It became sort of a treasure hunt. I checked for local installed hitch prices. Too high for my budget. I found a website called etrailer.com. They have a really great selection of hitches designed specifically to fit nearly any vehicle. And they had several custom designed for my Tucson. Also a trailer brake light harness specifically designed for my Tucson. It turned out that I wouldn't need the brake control. So I ordered the components and one son-in-law and his brother-in-law installed it all in a little less than an hour.

But while I waited for the hitch to come, I kept searching for a light trailer. Finally I “Google'd” for the lightest tent/pop up/camper trailer. I don't remember which search parameter led me to livinlite.com. But there I was, looking at what would be my choice. I watched the videos over and over again. I looked at all of the specs on all of the models. Finally I checked their dealer locater and found “All About Fun R.V. Rental” in Ramona, CA and somewhere around the first week in June, 2008, I contacted Kevin Price and we discussed the Livin' Lite Quicksilver line of tent trailers.

Well, Kevin understood that I was on a budget and he offered me a Quicksilver model SUT 8.0 (a used 2004). It really intrigued me as their whole line of “toy haulers” might do the same to you. But as good as the deal was on the used unit, it was too heavy. So after reviewing all of the specs, we settled on the Quicksilver 10.0 shown in the picture. It didn't have the AC Option installed but a kit was available so we ordered it. I must admit I have not yet installed the AC option kit but will soon.

So on June 27, 2008, we went to Ramona to pick up the unit and I must say that Kevin Price and his wife Nora are very gracious and made the buying experience a pleasure. We hooked up and drove the 315 miles back to home in Las Vegas. Now if you have ever made that drive, you know that you are going uphill most of the way. The first climb is a long one up through Cajon Pass until you finally level off a bit in the high desert. Then there is the “Baker Grade”, another long uphill climb just out of Baker, CA. By the way, Baker is at the south end of Death Valley. Very hot.

Why tow with a Tucson you might ask. Well, first of all I already had it. It is a v6 with selectable 4 wheel drive. It gets good gas mileage. Gas prices are high. So I thought that if I could at least average 16 or 17 miles per gallon, I was OK.That trip from Ramona, 315 miles, running 65 or more (the towing speed limit in CA is 55) to keep from being run over.......averaged just over 20 miles per gallon. First goal was hit.

Now the gap from when I ordered the trailer until I picked it up was consumed by a kayak trip my wife was on so I filled a lot of that time researching generators and air conditioners. Since there is no hard roof on the Quicksilver tent trailers, the AC Option uses a window unit. Since I was going to install it myself, I searched and found several window and wall units that would fit the footprint needed and I had plenty of time to shop for the best price. Less than $150 is easy. I got one at Sears.

Now for the generator, I ended up at generatordepot.us (note .us and not .com). Very good people to work with. Under $200 for an adequate generator.

So we prepared for our first camping trip and I had issues with the setup. The issues were more “I” than “setup”. When you watch the video, the very first thing you do after raising the first half of the tent is snap a snap on the bed base to hold that half in place. The next thing you do is raise the other half and snap a snap on that bed base. Doing this first insures that all snaps, cords, Velcro and zippers work right as they are aligned to fit with snap of the first two snaps. This a “Livin Lite Trailer Setup for Dummies” tip. And I must have really seemed like a Dummy to Mike Kenzil at Livin' Lite, but neither he nor Kevin Price made me feel like it.

So the first camping trip was to Duck Creek, Utah. A beautiful place east of Cedar City, UT. Leaving Cedar City, in the next 25 miles you will climb up and over a 9,920 foot summit then down maybe 500 feet in another couple of miles to the campground. I gassed up in Cedar City, drove up the mountain and then back to Las Vegas with that tank averaging just under 20 mpg. Still with in goal.

The next trip will be up Mt Charleston just northwest of Las Vegas and the following weekend, Labor Day, back up to Utah and camp 2,000 feet lower than the first trip. Later, we are looking at several sites in California, Arizona and who knows where else.

So when you look at the livinlite.com website and select the Quicksilver 10.0, in the “Gallery” you will see this picture. Livin' Lite was recently given a “Green” award by Roaming Times magazine. There is a link to that website. Notice that our picture is there also. And if you decide to talk to either Livin' Lite or All About Fun R.V. Rental, just tell them that Old Gary in Las Vegas asked you to call.

Visit the VP of All About Fun R.V. Rental.

 http://www.allaboutfunrvrental.com/sir_what_about_bob.htm