Out of the Closet

zonker

Advanced Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
54
Location
Willamette Valley, OR
Hello to all! I have been one of those kinda folks that read the posts.. do a little digesting of the info and then quietly slink away. Well not so anymore. My wife and I were very committed to getting either a new FWC Hawk or an ATC Panther. Due to dollars becoming a little short as of late we started looking at the used market. Well as you all know finding one of these birds is a little tough... unless of course you are willing to drive to the northern reaches of Michigan in the dead of winter (seems that is where they show up when you are seriously looking)

Well we lucked out. To make a story somewhat short... I found one in eastern Oregon... great deal as that means I am only looking at a 5 hour drive. The ad gives up that it is exactly what we are looking for. Pretty much a full featured Hawk. Not a bad deal since we would have taken a shell if we could have found it. It is a 2004 and is stated that it is in excellent condition having been stored in a garage when not in use. The story gets better so hang in there!

I send an email figuring that it is probably already sold.. even tho' I had checked every resource EVERY day for the last 3 months and it just had posted. But I know how these units have a definite following and we are not the only ones looking. So a response shows up several hours later and before I read it my stomach sort of falls as I know I am going to read "already sold it". But no.. it is still available and I am the first one to make contact. Groovy... now I am making progress. I read a little further down and the guy asks if I am the same guy that used to work for XYZ company and was an over the top gonzo cyclist that used to live for competition. Well the answer was "Yep!" Turns out the guy selling it is an old friend from 20+ years ago. We had lost contact many years ago when he went on an extended cycling trip to Australia.

How weird.. we had contacted a few other people about Hawks.. some 2000 miles away and would have been willing to go after it. But we always heard.. sorry sold. Now the perfect one shows up in our backyard and it is a very good cycling friend from many moons ago. A guy who I would trust. So when he tells me that it is perfect condition.. I know I won't be disappointed. On top he offers me a reduced price from his asking. As you can imagine we made an agreement that I would purchase it right away.. make a trip to pick it up and hang out a bit to catch up. Well it was all he said it was.. we are extremely happy and we are so glad that all the others sold.

The weekend before last we took it out for our first adventure. It was going to be a sunny weekend, or at least partly so. The cold was only go to be moderate.. so off we go. I come from an extended background of mountaineering, wilderness travel by foot and canoe.. plus a whole bunch of other reason to spend time sleeping on the ground. So this was going to be a real treat as both my wife and I only know how to sleep on a Thermarest, zip-up a mummy bag in the dark, cook on a one burner Svea stove, eat cold granola with powdered milk and drink cold tea from a metal cup while sitting on the most appealing rock out of group of 10 not so appealing versions.

We had a blast. Spent one night on the Deschutes River in a nice empty campground off the dirt road that follows it for aways. We had HEAT when it was 28 degrees, we slept in a conventional WalMart sleeping bag opened all the way out.. with a couple of wool blankets on top (kinda like a real bed), had a nice dinner sitting on cushions, read without using a headlamp or having only your eyes showing out of your mummy bag, got dressed in the morning standing up and not being in a hurry to do so. Had the same old granola but with real milk and a cup of espresso in a real cup! Now that is living! Or at least the FWC/ATC way. We are long overdue and we have paid our dues! In fact if you know of anyone who needs some really top notch outdoor gear.. we will be selling most of it soon!

We do hope to meet all of you along the way and if at anytime you are passing through the Willamette Valley in Oregon give me a buzz. Meanwhile I will throw up a few photos so that you can see I am not just some weirdo writing into this forum for an opportunity to ramble!
 

Attachments

  • FirstCamp02.jpg
    FirstCamp02.jpg
    191.2 KB · Views: 605
  • FirstCamp09.jpg
    FirstCamp09.jpg
    84.7 KB · Views: 591
  • FirstCamp01.jpg
    FirstCamp01.jpg
    86.4 KB · Views: 589
  • FirstCamp11.jpg
    FirstCamp11.jpg
    189.7 KB · Views: 596
Cool Story. Cool Rig. Congrats on the new toy. Will bring much joy to you, especially when you are in the 'rain. I remember the first few times out and it rained. Just sat and listened to the rain hitting the roof. Yep, those days of the wet tent were finally over. Yes!

Anyhow, welcome and enjoy. Now, do tell about the very nice looking bumper!!!!

Dave in Seattle
 
welcome zonker,

That is a camper that is ment for you guys and it looks great.Thanks for sharing with the story and photos.
 
Zonker,

Welcome the the forum.. Great looking rig...Especially like the CTD :thumb:.
Thanks for the pictures.
 
Thanks for votes of approval! I think all of you have great taste as well... must run in the family. Hey Davinski... since you queried as to our front bumpers place of origin... it was custom made by Layne at Denver Off-Road. It is aluminum and actually weighs not much more than the stock unit. If you are not familiar with Layne.. he is recommended quite often on Expedition Portal for his work. His design is excellent, his welds impeccable and he is just an all around great guy.

As you can probably tell our truck is a work in progress. We bought the bumper and then have not had the spare cash to fill the winch hole. Then the camper came along and pushed the rest of the stuff out into the future. We have a running list of upgrades for the truck.. just need to have money fall from the heavens!

DeltaRat.. you mention Power Wagon skid plates and side rails.. what is the scoop? I am interested even tho' I just said out in the future... who knows I might get rich tomorrow and need them right away and something along those lines was on my list. I just had not yet found ones that I liked.

Once again thanks to all for the welcome to WTW.. and now about some sticker that I heard about?
 
Welcome aboard, what a great piece of luck on the camper. The change from tents, cook stoves, and cold mornings is truly a thing to appreciate. Enjoy.
 
Wow, what a story. Congrats on the new rig. Don't even think about giving me your svea. Great stoves when they work right. I spent more time cussing at mine, having great big fireballs and general annoyance. I finally said to heck with the weight, pitched it and got a coleman. I'm sure its in stove hell now.
 
Craig333... The Svea is the only thing that I will probably keep. Bought it around 1973, rebuilt it more than a few times and believe it or not it still works! Of course I was taught the secret handshake many moons ago at the birthplace for all Sveas... which I would guess is the reason for your lack of eyebrows, eye lashes and other telling marks from your Svea days. Only a few were ever truly brought into the fold and I lucked out because my girlfriend at the time was Swedish and one of the US distributors for Svea products... including as many rebuild kits as I would need for future use!

I truly believe that I am here to stay with the FWC. My old age has finally made me see the light and it is not sleeping on a Thermarest at 12,000' when the wind is blowing and it is zero degrees. An adjustable heater, a nice stove, evening light to read by and a good cup of coffee in the morning while I leisurely go about waking up to the day is where it is at!!
 
I truly believe that I am here to stay with the FWC. My old age has finally made me see the light and it is not sleeping on a Thermarest at 12,000' when the wind is blowing and it is zero degrees. An adjustable heater, a nice stove, evening light to read by and a good cup of coffee in the morning while I leisurely go about waking up to the day is where it is at!!

Or when you do what to do that you can get to the trail head late the day before and get a good nights rest/breakfast in the FWC. Then hit it and once the trip is done return to a heated camper to either crash or just change gear in before heading back to civilization.
 
Sometimes I look at my backpack sitting in the closet and think it still has some miles left on it. But its unlikely to anymore winter camping. Maybe a nice easy trip to Point Reyes or something.

I still have friends that tent. Whats interesting is, those of us with campers, trailers etc, aren't just more comfortable, but we get out more often.
 
....age has finally made me see the light and it is not sleeping on a Thermarest at 12,000' when the wind is blowing and it is zero degrees. An adjustable heater, a nice stove, evening light to read by and a good cup of coffee in the morning while I leisurely go about waking up to the day is where it is at!!


That's it in a nutshell! Very well put.

Congratulations on the new camper and thanks for a great story. Hope you continue to enjoy it.
.
 
Thanks all for the welcome to the group. I will keep my fingers crossed that over time I get a chance to sit down and say hello to everybody! KC... I want you to know that you are the reason I finally decided on this camper adventure. I was wandering the Internet late one night.. sort of had it in the back of my mind that it was time and I ran across your review that was on Expedition Portal. Read the whole thing and started shopping for a FWC/ATC almost immediately. So thanks... I owe you as this is going to be a blast and a whole new way of doing things for my wife and I. We are a team and she was ready too.
 
Sometimes I look at my backpack sitting in the closet and think it still has some miles left on it. But its unlikely to anymore winter camping. Maybe a nice easy trip to Point Reyes or something.

I still want to get out, including snow camping but I think this rig is just going to help out the situation. The ability to take off Friday from work and get to locations/trail heads and not have to deal with setting up a whole camp should allow a good nights sleep since we're already there rather than getting up early to hit the road. In snow camping it provides a warm good night sleep to get geared up in the morning, then upon return from adventures a warm/dry place to change out of gear and have a hot drink before hitting the road.

Whats interesting is, those of us with campers, trailers etc, aren't just more comfortable, but we get out more often.

That was one of my thought processes as well, a lot less excuses can come up about heading out in fickle weather (not that we have any of that in WA :rolleyes:) when you can retreat to a dry location that is still big enough to stand in, has heat, and lighting to read/cards/cribbage, etc.
 

New posts

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV Life Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom