Cleo and I have a new camper for our upcoming camping adventures. The ALiner Scout “Tiny Tim” is named for the fantastic wacky singer who sang Tip Toe Through the Tulips. Tim is charming to look at and wonderfully easy to set up. I found him at a dealer in Cape Coral, negotiated the sales price via FB Marketplace, and picked him up on Sept. 12. The pop-up camper we started our travels with, “Simone,” has a new home in Dunedin. Her owners plan to take her to Florida music festivals – something she’s ideally suited for. I’ll miss sleeping in the sizeable canvas-enclosed bed.
Wow! I LOVE This One
The Aliner wasn’t my first choice. It seemed so…unsexy and kinda’ boring compared to the insect-inspired camper that caught my eye. After selling the pop-up for all the reasons detailed here, I fell in love with a unique all-aluminum RV camper designed by a NASA engineer that looked so cool. Manufactured by TAXA, located in Houston, Texas, the Cricket camper looks like a cricket insect. I’d never actually seen one during any of our camping trips. And I couldn’t find one at a local dealer. Most listings for used Crickets in my price range were located in states far away. I tried to purchase one first in Ocala. It was a strange and unsettling experience. I resolutely tried again in Orlando with a Cricket that appeared in perfect condition in the listing photos. When I arrived to discover that the seller had lied about the condition of the camper, I drove home feeling so so sad. I was obsessed with Cricket campers. I’d joined all the TAXA FB pages and read ALL the comments from owners about their experience with the brand – I had concerns reading the comments. I finally decided it was time to give up that dream when I couldn’t locate a certified repair person in my area. Maintenance problems are where dreams die on such an unusual RV. It kinda’ hurt letting go of that dream.
The ALiner
Manufactured in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, the first A-frame camper was built by Ralph Tait in the 70s in his garage for personal use. Friends and family loved it and asked him to make more. Those first campers were built in his garage until demand increased. Soon the campers were selling all over the county. Branded as “sensibly different,” ALiners were reminiscent of the A-frame architectural design popular in the 60s and 70s.
The ALiner Scout-Lite’s walls and ceiling panels are polypropylene and fiberglass to create durable, lightweight, weather- and temperature-resistant walls. The flooring is made from Performax 500, a ¾” thick wood panel designed to resist moisture and avoid molds. It’s a great camper for someone like me who just wants a simple camping experience with amenities like a bed and protection from the harsher cold, heat, and rain.
The ALiner marketing tagline fits my mood. I can see myself as sensibly different now that I’d given up camping life with the more exotic Cricket camper. The other major RV manufacturers have copied the brand at friendlier price points, so I could have had a larger version at the price I’d paid for the original brand. But I didn’t need or want all the features like ovens, refrigerators, and water tanks.
Tiny Tim is a joy to set up and fold down. I expect he’ll be perfect for the short local camping trips and the long summer trips we plan. In bad weather, I’ll simply fold up the canvas window. In good weather, the window ensures I’ll sleep with comfortable airflow while enjoying outdoor forest sounds and smells. I tested the Temple Terrace Code Enforcement by leaving him in the driveway a few weeks before our Wekiva Springs State Park camping trip. It was fun to have time to slowly decorate and pack.
Wekiva Springs State Park
We left town for our 5-day visit to Wekiva Springs State Park on Sunday, October 8, one day after Hamas’s horrific terrorist attack on Israel. During the trip with no TV, I scrolled my newsfeed for updates. It was surreal to think about the terrible pain and suffering of the unfolding war while surrounded by the beauty of this park, walking its trails, and swimming in the gorgeous spring.
S’mores with new friends
On our first day, Ralph, a solo camper like us, befriended us. He had just set up his Aliner a few sites away. Ralph was terrific company and very well stocked with s’more supplies. We shared campfires in the evening and even took a kayak trip down the Wekiva River. Ralph’s stories about his life as an elementary teacher in Luthern schools, raising his three sons with his beloved wife who just passed were all fascinating. My favorite of his stories was the prank he played his parents before college graduation.
I was delighted to cross paths again with a photographer I’d met last year at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Jim Uhing is one of the coolest guys I’ve met recently. He’s got this great mohawk, a fantastic orange Jeep, a beautiful wife, and two of the most interesting hairless dogs (Chinesse Crested) I’ve ever met. Most importantly, he’s a super-talented nature photographer who frequents Wekiva Park. His photos made me want to come to the park.
The World in Flames
The world is inflamed as I post these reflections about choosing a camper and visiting Wekiva. The violence is spreading from the Middle East, ignited by the Hamas attack. When you start pulling apart the threads of the story, it is clear what an impossible situation it’s been for the Palestinian people… and the Israelis. When I think I understand a little, about the geopolitics and history that contributed to how we arrived here, I listen and learn more from the strange tangle of competing voices. A six-year-old Palestinian boy was stabbed to death by a man proclaiming his hatred for Muslims, and his mother was in critical condition from the same attacker in Illinois. In Arras, Northern France, a teacher was stabbed. Witnesses say the knifeman shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is greatest,” during the attack at the school. In Belgium, two Swedes are shot dead in what authorities call a terrorist attack.
Everyone I talk to feels overwhelmed. Except for those shouting about who to blame. The Jews, of course. History repeats. I’ll close with this beautiful poem. I find it comforting, and I hope you, dear reader, will too.
Love is Bigger than War
I can’t stall tanks
from roaring down roads
from having to hide in bunkers
I can’t keep a madman from
creating heartbreaking headlines
I can’t convince the news to
stop turning war into a video game
I can’t silence the sound of bombs
tearing neighborhoods apart
I can’t turn a guided missile
into a bouquet of flowers
I can’t make a warmonger
have an ounce of empathy
I can’t convince diplomats
to quit playing truth or dare
I can’t deflect a sniper’s bullet
from turning a wife into a widow
I can’t stave off a schoolyard being
reduced to ash and rubble
I can’t do any of that
the only thing I can do
is love the next person I encounter
without any conditions or strings
to love my neighbor
so fearlessly that
it starts a ripple
that stretches from
one horizon to the next
I can’t force peace
on the world
but I can become a force
of peace in the world
because
sometimes all it takes
is a single lit candle
in the darkness
to start a movement
oh, Spirit,
let me be a candle
of comfort in this world
let me burn with peace
~ john roedel
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