We camped often as a family at Assateague and other state parks after that.  My parents have bought and sold 3 or 4 popups since then, and still camp regularly.  The first family reunion my wife attended, that first night we all stayed in a popup in a bad thunderstorm.  It was her first camping experience, and she was hooked.  We borrowed the popup many times after that, and eventually bought it.  Now we have kids half-way between the crib and college and are planning our own tour of the US.  This time I didn't want to set up a popup every day - with back problems and almost 25 years of setting up popups, I was ready for a travel trailer.

 

But, we didn't want to spend 30 grand on a new tow vehicle.  Or 20 grand on a new camper.  Or get 10 miles per gallon when gas is $3-4 dollars per gallon (and more in the future).  And I didn't want to tow a 30-foot trailer.  A friend had a 30-foot trailer in good condition for sale, and cheap.  Not interested.  I went looking for lightweight travel trailers, and the first time I saw the r-pod online I wanted one.  I investigated about 20 other lightweight models.  Most lacked one major feature or another.  Our popup has everything, and while we were willing to give up room we weren't going to give up anything else.  A few met our functional needs but they all looked like... every other trailer on the market.  We kept coming back to the 'pod.  Within 2 weeks our money was on the table and we waited anxiously for pickup day.

 

By chance we had planned a camping trip in the same area as our 'pod dealer (Stoltzfus RV near Lancaster), months before we even knew about the 'pod.  So we waited a few weeks so we could pick it up and go camping right away.  If anything was wrong it would only be a short drive to take it back.  We were told our canopy hadn't arrived yet, no big deal since we usually use EZ-ups anyway.  Again by chance, 3 new 'pods arrived on a truck as we did our walk-through and they were able to borrow a canopy from one of them.  We went for ice cream as they installed it.  Everything went well that weekend (except my wife forgot to put high-octane gas in the van, so I was missing a few horses under the hood ).

 

About the time we signed the papers for our 'pod, I discovered a forum online dedicated to 'pod owners.  I've been active for years in other general RV forums and I hadn't seen one quite like the new forum.  I pitched in and helped out when new owners had questions, posting over 400 messages within a few months.  Then we learned the site was actually owned by a dealership, even though we had been told otherwise.

 

The administrator of that forum started a new one, and asked some of us to come along to help.  rpod-owners.com was born.  This time its by the owners, for the owners.

 

So, what's your story???