#4) 2004 Jayco Jayflight 27bh

When it came time to leave Alaska and move home to Oklahoma I realized there would not be much room at my parents house.  My dad helped me find an older Jayco to put next to their house so we would have a place to call our own temporarily.  We slept in it for 4 months and it served us well.

It was bigger than anything I had owned before and I wasn't comfortable towing it. A friend showed me how to use the hot water heater, empty the black tank and put the awning out.  We took it to Robbers Cave near Wilberton, Oklahoma. He towed it there and set it up, I took it down and towed it home.  I think I could have eventually got used to towing it but the comfort level just wasn't there.

At Robbers Cave, site 21

At this point my renter in Alaska had moved out and I was paying two mortgages so it was an easy choice to sell it.  I owned it about a year and managed to sell it for what I paid for it so I was happy.

With part of the proceeds I bought camper #5, what we like to call the Skunk Popper.

#3) 1975 Kit

I bought the third camper after Doug retired and we had fallen in love with dip netting on the Kasilof River.  The old Shasta was just to small for the four of us now that he was home full time. I found a 1975 Kit Camper that had it's original pink appliances and a new coat of paint. The previous owner had put a huge axle on the thing so I felt like it could go anywhere without worry.  I still owned my little Shasta and did not plan on selling her, she was just to special for me.

We bought a new to us truck to tow the bigger camper and I think we owned it only a couple of months before Doug passed away.  We never got to use our Kit camper and knowing I was going to move eventually, I didn't wait to sell it.  When I think of this trailer now it's bittersweet with what could have been for our family.

#2) 1957 Shasta

The second camper I purchased was in 2008 after we moved from Juneau to Eagle River, Alaska. I was lucky enough to find a 1957 Shasta camper.  Two owners before me had redone the inside with wood paneling. The original stove/oven worked and all the tail lights but it had no working electric inside. Much like the Tardis it was bigger on the inside than the out. -At least it felt that way.

My kids were small and with my husband away frequently for the Coast Guard we stayed close to home.  It was easy to hook up and take 2 miles down the road to Eagle River Campground where we would camp over the weekend. If we felt particularly adventurous we would drive to either Elmendorf Air Force Base or Ft. Richardson and camp on base. One memorable trip on Ft. Richardson involved my son breaking his arm, luckily we were very close to the hospital on base!

Later after Doug retired, we took it dipnetting on the Kasiloff River. Alaska residents are allowed to use a giant net (see below) to catch salmon. The fish just swim right in with the tides! Many Alaskan's count on this yearly bounty to fill their freezers. We camped and fished for 3 days at Crooked Creek RV park.

This was one of our last big family trips. I look back on it and am so very grateful for the happy memories.  After Doug passed away in 2011 I knew eventually we would be moving to Oklahoma to be near family.  I had to make a choice either purchase a utility trailer to haul home our household goods or choose my little Shasta to tow and part with almost everything else. So with great sadness, I sold it.  I knew one day I would own another but it was hard to let her go.

 

Camper #1) 1969 Santa Fe

I guess you could say I have a vintage camper / travel trailer obsession.  I have owned five over the last 15 years and I admit I still look at Craigslist every day to see what is out there.

The first camper I bought was back in 1999 while we lived in Seward. This was before the current vintage trailer revolution and "glamping" was not yet in anyone's vocabulary. Doug's ship was at sea and I decided to purchase a 1969 Santa Fe Camper. Pregnant me drove 2 hours to Anchorage and towed it home with my Jeep Grand Cherokee through the mountains and down to the sea.  Somehow I got it backed into the driveway where it sat during the heavy snows of winter.

June came and with our new baby we loaded up our dogs and the camper, and took off for our next duty station in Juneau. The plan was to drive to Skagway and catch the ferry there to the capitol city of Alaska.

This trip is really the only time I remember using this camper. Even with the hordes of ravenous mosquitoes and nearly burning our brakes up coming down out of the mountains into Skagway it was a wonderful trip.  We made it to Juneau safely and there the camper sat for a number of years before I sold it. We had another child and it was 5 years later before I dreamed of owning another tiny camper.

Unfortunately I could not find any photos of this little camper. I owned a Sony Mavica camera back then and all the photos I took at the time are on floppy disks, but this was the trailer that started it all.

Alaska to Oklahoma

Welcome to OK, Oklahoma!

My name is Amy, I am a 45 year old widow and mother of two.  After moving back home to the small town I grew up in my kids and I are working on our Oklahoma Bucket List of things to do and places to see. This blog will detail those journeys as well as some that we had in Alaska.   We dedicate these adventures to my late husband Doug - a wonderful Father, Husband and retired Coastie.

If you like vintage trailers, camping, kayaking, hiking, biking then please come back for more.

My late husband Doug and our two children in 2004.
Juneau, Alaska