“Yesterday”. On the morning after the JD live show we woke up in a fancy Vegas hotel we didn’t pay for. No crime was involved in the situation. This time.

We did some stupid ineffective things like cash in the ticket for correctly predicting that the Bucs would win the basketball thing. It cost $20 to make $50, which is a pretty great rate of return, but not nearly as great as one might have hoped, given the natural odds. I might just be old and sour, though. Hooray for us.

At the far end of the Strip chores, I again tried to contact the owners of a Class C Motor Home, a Tioga, that I’d spotted for sale online at an amazingly low price, around 12K. I told them we were headed over to the town of Blue Diamond, where the ad said it lived.

There was still no response, so we drove out and covered every street of the tiny town by wheel. It was damn cute.

Finally we spotted it behind a garage in a great big yard.

We went over to the one restaurant, called the Cottonwood Station, and tried one more time to call.

The food was really good. But, still no answer.

Regretfully, we did a couple more shoppy chores and visited the kin once more before heading for home.

Let me tell you why I wanted a Tioga and why I don’t anymore.

I wanted two things. One, to have a second vehicle so that if my aged hatchback broke down I’d still have something to drive. Two, for the bed and associated amenities, especially in case I get one of those sweet federal park ranger jobs in the spring and could use the RV to shorten my commute dramatically.

Well, and for having fun with too.

I believe I’ve found a better and maybe even cheaper way to get all that.

For six or eight or ten thousand dollars, I can find an old pickup, with good clearance and four-wheel drive. Second vehicle objective solved, more usefully and elegantly.

For another six or eight, I could also put a brand new engine in it, if it starts to show signs of unreliability due to advanced age, like I am myself. Or put some overload shocks on it, or one of those cool fat boondocker bumpers with a winch and a light bar. Anyway, it could be done piecemeal, and as-needed.

But the coolest part is the heretofore unexpected existence of something called a pop-up truck camper.

Most truck campers suck ass; tiny on the inside, too big on the outside, expensive, and harmful to vehicular stability.

A pop-up, though, bolted to a pickup bed, lets the truck be shorter on the road and taller when you’re stopped and want to use the camper space.

And, they’re pretty cheap, at the low end, still under 10K in at least one case even brand new. And, they can be obtained on that lovely as-needed basis

So maybe as little as 6K to start. Maybe as much as 20K+ over time. But a go-anywhere bed to take a pilgrim far away from the hell of other people, even in its primitive state driven off the lot, and a real home away from home, eventually, maybe.

At the very least a machine to take dead tree limbs off to a proper resting place, drag a washer or dryer back from some faraway fancy store in the big city, or keep a supply of bricks in to improve traction over a winter road, unloading them into garden spaces come every spring.

Like it? I do.