The Newest Scamp on the Block

The Husband and I crossed an item off our bucket list this weekend when we finally headed to Backus, Minnesota to claim our brand new 13′ Scamp camper trailer. We had to be there first thing in the morning for pickup, so we were on the road by 6am in order to start the 3 hour drive from Minneapolis:

I was so excited, I never thought we would get there and the road seemed to go on forever:

When we knew we were close, we started to look for signs directing us to the factory. They made it pretty easy for us to find from the road:

They gave us a tour of the factory that employs 48 people who build approximately 350 trailers a year:

Duane Eveland, brother Gerald Eveland and sister Gladys Coffland partnered with Bolar American in 1971 to make camper trailers until Bolar went out of business in 1972. That left them with trailer molds but no marketing company. In 1975, they launched their “Scamp” trailer in the 13′ size. Now they come in 13, 16 and 19′ with multiple floor plans which means each trailer is custom built to order:

And final steps in their manufacturing:

Their last stop is the sewing room for cushions and curtains:

I was a pretty happy Scamper:

David showed us how everything worked:

And then it was the moment of truth, hooking the car up and getting ready to hit the road:

We couldn’t wait to get scamping, so our first stop was Crow Wing State Park near Bemidji, MN: