Looking towards the future as we remember adventures past

Our campsite overlooking Puerto Escondido near Loreto, Baja California

Brad is looking at retiring from the National Park Service in less than three years. We've been kicking around ideas about what we might want to do once he does retire. We're certainly not ready for the proverbial "rocking chair" and we both really enjoy adventure and exploring.

In fact, our Kimberley camper trailer, probably the BEST purchase we made for ourselves back in 2002, is proof of that! A Kimberley Kamper is an Australian-made tent trailer built for the challenges of the Outback. We bought it from a Aussie who was importing them for a short time to the States. Brad just happened upon them while looking online. We thank our lucky stars for our good fortune every time we go camping!

At the time of our purchase, we had been spending a lot of time in Baja California, exploring, camping and sea kayaking. We had a Toyota 4x4 with a camper shell and were hauling our sea kayaks with us from Arizona to various parts of the peninsula: Cataviña, Mulegé, Loreto, and as far south as Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.

We were really interested in finding something that we could take down to Baja but allow more comfort than the back of the truck for our multi-week-long camping trips. Brad was surfing the internet and came across the Kimberley Kampers. They were tough, light enough to pull with our Toyota truck, and could take the rigors of Baja's dirt roads as well as the backcountry roads that we explored back home in the U.S. It was perfect for us!

Once we bought the trailer, we were taking it all over Baja California and the southwest. Anywhere we could take our 4x4, we could take the trailer! We were spoiled since we could go places no one else could and still camp in comfort with a queen sized bed and a pull out kitchen with a two-burner stove and a broiler. We even set up a solar shower with a tent at camp. Talk about living large!

We go out in all kinds of weather, and the canvas on the Kimberley is as tough as the suspension. Staked out, torrential downpours and 60 mph winds are no match for our trailer! There is much to be said about the Kimberley, but I'll be talking about it throughout the pages of this blog as I share some of our trips.

Suffice it to say that our long experience with the Kimberley camper trailer has led us to look at their line of off-road trailers as a choice for retirement.We plan on expanding our traveling range throughout the United States (including Alaska), Canada/Yukon, and Mexico and, if we can find fellow travelers, perhaps driving farther south into Central and South America. We simply have not been able to find ANYTHING approaching the toughness, quality, and comfort with energy-saving features of the Kimberley Kampers, So now we have to see how to make it happen.