A Teardrop Camper

40 years ago I drew plans to convert a step van into a camper with visions of carefree romps around the country. Those latent high school dreams are finally coming to fruition – albeit in a slightly different form. In the early 2010s, I became intrigued by the concept of a teardrop trailer.

I perused the web, looked at countless pictures of teardrops, read stories of their creation, studied plans, and set about to design my own. Each teardrop is unique – handcrafted as labors of love. Passing a teardrop on the road is a remarkable event – “What was that?” The sighting becomes a conversation around the dinner table. They stand out in a crowd for their unusual Middle Earth hobbit hole appearance. They’re akin to the compact efficiency of my first love – my ’67 VW Beetle convertible. They are a creative work of art. I grew excited to transform my drawings and mental images into the real thing.

In the pages inside the Purple Crayon, I’ll share my story of merging my boyhood dream with my intense desire to create a unique work of wheeled functional art. This isn’t so much of a “how to build a teardrop trailer” kind of site – there are many of those providing more focused content than this. Rather I’ll share my stories, musings, observations, and reflections on my teardrop journey. We hope to put our teardrop to use, so I’ll likely also include accounts of our travel across Minnesota, the United States, and Canada.

Thanks for stopping by – and hope to see you in the parks and campgrounds.