Since we’ve been parked for a while, and blogposts saying “Another sunny day” would get pretty boring, I thought I’d share other details of our travels. Today, how we came to choose our truck and trailer:
Four years ago when we drove the length of Baja for the first time, we did it in a 21-ft Class C Slumber Queen motor home with a 1998 Chevy 350 engine. These models are ubiquitous nowadays as small Adventurers and often used as rentals.
While it worked great and we loved the layout, we quickly realized it posed some challenges for Baja. It was a widebody and barely left inches of clearance on either side of the narrow highways down here. It certainly wasn't aerodynamic or nimble. We did brave some crazy dirt roads and deep sandy beaches, and thanks to Andrew's driving skills didn't get stuck, but the rattling threatened to shake the stick-and-tin motorhome to bits.
But we realized that taking advantage of Baja's glories necessitated a separate vehicle and living space. There are several amazing free beaches to camp at, but we were always hampered by having to do supply runs. For example, Playa Tecolote is about 30 minutes north of La Paz. In the motorhome, we couldn't go more than 5 days without having to run into town to buy more fresh water, groceries and dump tanks. And this meant having to entirely pack up camp, secure everything in the motorhome, and navigate our unwieldy home back to La Paz.
A truck and trailer, plus a portable holding tank, solves this dilemma. Everything can stay in your "home" on the beach locked safe and secure while you use the truck to reload. So then....what truck and what trailer?
We knew we wanted something short and lightweight for a trailer. It's difficult to find anything among the popular commercial brands less than 20 feet with a useful floor plan and amenities. Most of the big RV companies seem to cater to those that want home-like size - with slide-outs, fireplaces, kitchen islands, and separate bedrooms - that are only going to be used on Canadian or US highways to sit at full-service RV parks. Durable and lightweight only exist in a handful of trailer makes - the most famous of which is Airstream, and on the other end of the spectrum with the most rabid advocates, the moulded fibreglass manufacturers - the "eggs" like Scamps and Bolers.
After much research, we decided on a 19-foot Escape trailer. Constructed in two moulded pieces from boat-grade fibreglass, they are said to be virtually leaf-proof (the bane of regular RV construction) and half the weight of conventional trailers, including Airstreams.
Escape Trailers are made in Chilliwack, BC, by the same family that founded the company years ago. They currently make only four models - a 17', a 19', a 21', and a 21' fifth-wheel. They are not sold through any dealerships, but all direct from the manufacturer, and it is not possible to buy one off the lot...they are all custom-made with over a year's waitlist. We were almost ready to order a new one when we discovered the Escape Trailer forum - an online community of Escape lovers sharing tips, tricks, and sales of pre-owned models.
Andrew monitored the site for weeks, noting that pre-owned models were selling almost as quickly as they were posted with little depreciation. When a coveted 2010 19-ft model came up in Alberta at a decent price, we pounced.
Finally christened "Moby" like the great white whale, our Escape has the exact layout we wanted - a queen-sized bed at one end and a permanently set-up dinette at the other, with the bathroom, fridge, storage and kitchen in between. It features a 5-cubic-foot fridge (enough for us for several days) and three-burner stove, all powered by propane.
To pull Moby, we purchased a new 2015 Ford F-150 with a 2.7 l Ecoboost engine. Yes, that is a full-sized, 4X4 pick-up with an engine the size of a Mazda 3. The twin-turbos give it unbelievable towing power and even more unbelievable gas mileage. We are averaging between 15-18 miles per gallon pulling a fully-loaded trailer! Plus the safety and comfort in this truck on these crazy narrow Baja highways is priceless. We can highly recommend Escape and Ford as a winning combination for travel!
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