From Trail to Trailer

The seed was planted a few months earlier when Kevin and I started speaking about our Plans for our triathlon season with having a baby girl next year. One of us will race on the Saturday and the other will race on a Sunday.

We love that the milk triathlon series and suburu triathlon series brings us on the 400 North into cottage country, among other scenic locales. Unfortunately though after racing we don't have much time to enjoy the scenery as we'd like since we have to race home to get back to our boxer dog, Kaiser. In the past we've brought him once to our race in Orillia by finding a dog friendly hotel but its difficult to find these hotels and to be honest they aren't always the nicest. Knowing that we will now be going to these races two days in a row we don't want to have to go back and forth everyday we race.

Our next idea to solve for bringing Kaiser with us was to look into camping but now that we have Iyla we don't want to camp in a tent with our baby girl and dog. Neither of us are the most experienced of campers for starters!! The problem solving all went on hold until a month ago when Kevin and I were behind a car on the way to Guelph (for Kevin's tri) that was pulling a trailer tent (pop up trailer). I asked Kevin what it was that was getting pulled and he went on to explain to me many fond childhood memories he had of camping in one that his parents had. After he shared his experiences I looked it up on my phone and thought, hmmmm pretty cool. That was it for the time being, no connection to triathlons and Kaiser was made in our minds yet.

Creemore trail race rolled around on July 6th and Kevin took part in the 25k race. He did very well considering he had little to no sleep after getting home from a late soccer game the night before, early am feeding with Iyla and then us taking off early for the race. My Dad and Rose came to support and it was them who noticed many of the runners who camped up the night before and mentioned that we should have done so and it would be smart for next year. Kevin told them about his trailer tent experience and the connection was made. You can find great deals on trailer tents and it would allow our whole fam jam including Kaiser to come with and for us to explore more of Canada together. More affordable too than a hotel when you break down all the costs.

This mindset continued brewing and took another step this past week when we went to Cookstown to the KOA to visit and have lunch with my Dad and Rose where they have been keeping their RV for the past month. Once arriving at their site they presented brochures and pamphlets to us on travel trailers. Rose thought this might be a better idea for us than the trailer tent because many trailer tents don't have AC (which we need for Kaiser), they also can leak (not so great) and the washroom situation isn't as nice as the travel trailers. The Travel Trailer in the pamphlet looked ideal for us because it had a shower/tub...so great for bathing Iyla. We let all these new visions fester for now.

Today we went back out to see them with Kevin's parents who are across visiting. We had a great visit outside in the sun and delicious food off of the bbq.

My dad and Iyla

Bruce and Veronica visiting from Scotland

Rose cooking away

Kevin, Iyla and I with Kaiser in the background

While there we went to a nearby dealership that had all different trailers to look at. Including the particular Jayco model they had suggested. We got to see the one in the pamphlet that we had been looking at in the 17' option and fell in love! Iyla and future baby Souter (not yet!!) will have their own room, Kevin and I would have ours. There is a great sitting area with table that turns into a third bed, a kitchen, bathroom and plenty of storage. There is also an outside awning that creates a great outdoor set up too! The possibilities with the 'JAY FEATHER ULTRA LITE by Jayco' seem endless.

Here's what we see as possible:

• Travelling as a family to our triathlons (dog and all) this has become a big part of our lifestyle and one we'd like to share as a family
• Travelling to see more of Canada with Kaiser, there is so much to see in this great country of ours!
• Travelling through the US with Kaiser, be it races, traveling, camping, or all...the US is set up for year round travel
• We could bring friends/family with us, since it sleeps 6, it may be tight, but hey...it's camping!!
• It allows for flexibility and travel on a whim, we could set out for a night, weekend, or longer!

What's next...We don't want to buy new so we will be on the lookout for one that someone has purchased and hardly used or decided that it didn't fit their lifestyle. My dad and Rose will be looking for us while on their travels and checking different RV sites. We will also be going to an RV type show in Toronto in January. So if any of you know someone looking to sell their Travel Trailer...please let us know!