First "Official Trip" in the Coyote

The kids & I left last Wednesday and spent 4 nights, 5 days in the new KZ Coyote. This was the first official trip, so I feel I can legitimately give a review. Robert & I camped in it one night after we first got it, as our trial run, but this was the first real trip.




We love it. It's just really nice. From what I can tell, compared to the other 5 travel trailers I have owned, KZ has nice quality workmanship from the cabinets to the fabrics and color scheme. Our color scheme is a nice array of fall colors--perfect for me--deep browns, dark greens, etc. We had looked at a few Rockwood Roos, and the blue color scheme really held me back. I'm a girl. What can I say? I also don't notice as much "bounce" in the floor as the Cabana had...most hybrids have some bounce as part of their lightweight nature.

The mattress on the hybrid bed is super comfortable. I have pressure point pain from most mattresses, and pain from fibromyalgia, but this bed is wonderful. At some point on Saturday night, I traded places with Robert, and it took about an hour before I was in extreme pain from the dinette bed. My mom stayed Saturday night at the campground with us and she slept on the bottom bunk. She has pressure point issues, too, and she was miserable the entire night. They must have used lower quality foam on the dinette and bunks. My kids sleep great on the bunks and the sofa bed, and Robert didn't have any complaints of hurting from the dinette so I'm assuming it's just those of us with sensitive bodies. I sleep like a BABY on the hybrid bed though.

The only REAL complaint that I have with the Coyote is the closeness of the bathroom...it's much easier to leave the door open. My only other issue is the big cabinet to the left of the stove/oven wants to fly open going down the road. I solved this problem by bungee cording the door shut, but I will just replace the latch and hope it works.

The outdoor cooktop was wonderful and we used it twice--once for boiling water, and another time for cooking sausage. This kept us from adding unnecessary humidity and smells to the inside of the trailer. :-)

And this picture--if you squint, you can see our new camping table. I love it--I think I got it from Ebay because it was cheaper there, but it's so worth it. If you'll recall, our other table was stolen on Memorial Day weekend camping, so we needed a replacement. I love the storage--it zips, both sides...and both ends have pockets just right for bug spray bottles, sunscreen, etc. It's called The Big Easy Table, by Pacific Outdoors. It was $65, but again--totally worth it. If someone steals this one, I will hunt them down. . .



I especially like the cables on the hybrid bunk end as opposed to the poles that we had with the Keystone Cabana. Set up is super easy with the cables--I'm done in 3 minutes or less. With the Cabana it was sometimes difficult to hold up the end and get the poles lined up. I don't miss it. The velcro all the way around the bunk end makes me feel more secure, too...the Cabana used a bungee cord every so many inches, and left noticeable gaps for bugs, etc. I feel like the bed is sealed up nicely on the Coyote. The bungee cords inside to hold the mattress up during travel is easy to use and I prefer it over the velcro straps that the Cabana had as well. Our Coyote still has the "old-style" latches on the hybrid end, but we've camping in pouring rain, and it's set in pouring rain, and has not leaked or been wet. The seal around the bed is much puffier and heavier than the Cabana. (Sorry to keep comparing, but I feel it helps if you're used-hybrid shopping to compare different features.)

I also like the rear storage and side storage on the Coyote--no slide-through tray though, and that would have been nice, but the entire back area is storage (under the bunkbeds) so that makes up for it. My only wish is that it was a WEE bit taller as it's a tight squeeze to get my Weber Smokey Joe grill inside there.

My sister, BIL, and mom camped with us, and my nephew came out with his girlfriend and their new baby. It was so much fun!

Long-time update! Apologies, and randomness...

Long time, no post, right? When I started working at the massage therapy spa in December I really had no idea how difficult it was going to be to manage working, 3 kids, a dog dogs, 2 cats, a house, a car, a yard, etc...and my poor neglected HOBBIES, AND maintain a blog. I did manage to make it to most of my monthly crops but I wouldn't say I was overly productive since Steph was always there, and Tina...But that's the fun of it, right?

And before I say anything else, I want to be sure and apologize in advance for the sporadic randomness of this post. I feel like in order to keep this post under a billion words long, I just need to toss out the key elements of the update and skip the thorough explanations. Most of you know me well enough to know what's been going on in my demented little corner of the planet anyway.

I did sell the mini-Winnie to a couple who planned to completely restore her. I'm sure this will be a frame-up rebuild, and wow--are they courageous! I do get a longing for Winnie now and then, but then I remember how I don't have the time/money or skill to rebuild a vintage trailer right now. I think I saw my '71 Shasta on CL though--but that's a whole 'nother story for another day.

I ended up selling the '28 Prowler and buying a '32 Prowler. I didn't really mean to, but I fell in love with the bathroom. I know that sounds like a silly thing to fall in love with, but I did. Then I had to find a tow vehicle cause I was fairly certain the Kia minivan wasn't going to tow anything, much less a 32' travel trailer. I sold Dad's truck that was so graciously given to me and bought a Suburban, and the 32' was still a load. Then when I got it home I realized that it was entirely ridiculous to think that I, a girl, was going to learn to hitch that monster up and tow it anyway. Seriously? That was very stupid & I'm not afraid to say it. I could barely lift the monster load-leveling hitch that it required for towing purposes, so you guessed it--I sold it for $1500 profit. (big cheesy grin)

You'll never believe this, but I was without a camper for a while. It was so serious that I started to worry we'd be tent campers again this season. *gasp* I decided that I needed to go as small/light as possible, but nothing vintage--I needed something that I could manage on my own. I started to look at a nice pop up, but then decided it was a lot of work for someone that camps with 3 kids and 2 dogs. Then there's the entire potty/toilet thing--even a mounted toilet in a pup requires dumping via handheld method. I can do that--nothing I haven't done before during our camping escapades, but why? LOL Selling the last 2 travel trailers put me at enough $$ to buy something small, but self contained.

And that leads me to our new baby...a 2003 KZ Coyote 23. It's THE PERFECT size, VERY lightweight, and I can lift the load leveling hitch. I don't even think I need the hitch but all the guys in camper world tell me otherwise. Plus the guy threw it in so you know--it was worth the taking! I went to the campground and "interviewed" (or stalked) a few hybrid owners and spent hours researching, and felt like this was the right decision for us. It's nice to have the slide out, and the 2 bunks in the rear, as well as the hybrid bed in front. I'm looking forward to using the outside cooktop, too. It also makes a nice "privacy fence" from the creepy neighbor.

In other news, I got a new mower/mulcher that I've already managed to tear up the spark plug thingie on, my neighbor/friend Reta moved to a new house with her finance, my dad broke his hip twice in the nursing home, and my basement is flooding on a regular basis. We still have a window peeker, and the neighbor-from-you-know-where is still tormenting us by touching our cars, camper, etc. They're not "right." It's annoying..and not sure how much longer we'll want to stay here. We would miss our wonderful neighbors, but there comes a point when enough is enough. I bought new loft beds for the girls, a Captain's bed for Connor, and redid our bathroom. We switched internet companies and switched from Dish Network to Cable One so we could get local channels. That pretty much sums up the past few months.

I will post pics of the new camper--and my email has changed so please make note if you have the sbcglobal email saved in your address book.