Update: Sept 2024: I originally used the StarMount system to convert my dish from 110v to 12v. That did not go well, as I outline in this video update: I've since switched to this Trio Flatmount and a Gen3 dish, which seems to be a much better design.

If someone had told me a decade ago that it would be a smart idea to figure out how to create and maintain my own power grid, I would've thought that was nuts. But as the wildfires in California and the freezing weather in Texas have shown us,

I've long been a fan of the XP Camper. My wife and I spent two years researching pop-up campers [https://lifewetravel.com/our-two-year-journey-choosing-a-pop-up-camper], and the XP was by far and away our favorite. I visited Marc, the owner of XP Camper late last year and did a full

My wife and I took a road trip from San Francisco to visit the Overland Expo [http://www.overlandjournal.com/overlanding/overland_expo/] in Flagstaff, AZ this past weekend. The best way for me to describe it is a mecca for overlanders with copious amounts of offroad vehicle porn. If

My wife Sue and I have been on a quest to find the perfect expedition vehicle for weekend trips around California, and for ‘someday world travel’. Last year, we checked out the Sportsmobile [https://lifewetravel.com/tour-of-sportsmobile-west-facility-in-fresno-ca] and Four Wheel Camper [https://lifewetravel.com/tour-of-four-wheel-camper-facility] factories. I had heard about

Sue and I visited Hallmark RV [http://www.hallmarkrv.com/] today. I’ve been emailing back & forth with Matthew for months, asking him various question about Hallmark’s campers, and I’d been scouring Hallmark’s website, Facebook page and the forums relentlessly trying to learn as much as

My wife Sue and I recently decided to take a trip to Colorado to visit the pop-up manufacturers out here: Outfitter [http://www.outfittermfg.com/], Hallmark [https://lifewetravel.com/hallmark-rv-the-best-of-the-soft-side-pop-up-campers] and Phoenix [https://lifewetravel.com/phoenix-pop-ups-truly-custom-but-questionable-worksmanship] (we also ended up taking a look at EarthRoamer [https://lifewetravel.com/earthroamer-expedition-vehicles]). We

I only recently became aware of EarthRoamer [http://www.earthroamer.com/], mostly because my wife and I aren’t in the market for a super-upscale camper. EarthRoamers start in the $200k range and can top $500k. However, since we were visiting other camper manufacturers in the Denver area, we decided

Phoenix campers wasn’t originally on our list of places to visit, but someone on Expedition Portal mentioned that they were also in the Denver area, so we added them to the list. The reality was that although the owners were very nice and accommodating, it’s just not in

Sue and I went to visit the Four Wheel Camper [http://www.fourwheelcampers.com/] facility in California recently, a few months after visiting Sportsmobile [https://lifewetravel.com/tour-of-sportsmobile-west-facility-in-fresno-ca]. We walked away with mixed emotions. It’s obvious that FWC has been in the business for a long time, with a

Sue and I took a tour of the Sportmobile West facility in Fresno, CA recently. If you’d like an introduction to the folks at SMB West, just leave a comment below. If you want to research your options a bit more, read this full write-up titled “Our two-year journey