Julie M.

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Tell us a little about yourself and why you own a TAXA?

We own a Taxa Woolly Bear because we have always lived in an HOA where outside storage of trailers was not permissible. The Woolly Bear, along with the other habitats, stores neatly away in the garage, saving us hundreds of dollars a year in off-site storage fees. The cost of the trailer itself was also affordable for an entry-level off-road camping unit.

Where is your favorite place to take your TAXA? 

We take our Taxa Woolly Bear as far off-grid as we can get it. Remote national and state forests on the east coasts, BLM lands in Colorado and Utah, and occaisionally state forrest or BLM campgrounds.

Who do you explore with?

Our family unit consists of myself - Julie, Tom, James (9) and Joey (7) as well as our brother-sister terrier mix dogs, Jack Frost and Jingle Belle.

What are your favorite outdoor activities?

We love to Overland - which for us is as much about the preparation and journey as the destination for off-grid, back-country camping. Once we get to our destination, we kayak, fly fish, or hike.

Do you have any hacks or mods that you've done to your habitat to enhance your travels?

We have upgraded the tires on our Woolly Bear unit to be more rugged for off-pavement travel. We have sourced magnetic items such as hooks and a paper towel holder which complement our kitchen. We formerly used a Road Shower but found that it was hard to maintain pressure and didn't have enough capacity. Now we use jerry cans of water. We have a CVT Mt. Ranier 3+ person RTT which is mounted to Rhino-Rack cross bars. We also recently installed a 23Zerp Peregrine en suite shower tent to the back of the roof back using closet shelving brackets for support. We routinely keep the battery charged when parked at home. On the road, we maintain charge with a flexible solar power set up from FlexoPower. Since we installed an IndelB fridge in our vehicle, we use the cooler drawer for family clothing storage. Finally, we lined the compartments with foam shelf paper to cut down on abraision from bumps in the road.

Tell us your favorite unique habitat story.

Our unique habitat story is a recurring one. When we go on the road, we often leave after work (or school) on a Friday afternoon and don't have time to get to our final destination that night. Our flexibility allows us to travel part way, pull off the highway into public forest or BLM land (legal for boondocking), park for the night without unhitching, open the RTT in three minutes, climb in and go to bed. In the morning, we pack up quickly and can continue on. The small size of our habitat allows us to be in "stealth" mode for quick deploy and pack-up on multi-stop road trips.

What's one place you'd love to explore?

We live in Colorado, transplants from Virginia. We'd love to explore the Pacific Northwest region as well as the remote areas around the Grand Canyon.

I can't leave home without my...

Kelty low-boy loveseat chair (perfect height for snuggles with kids and dogs), my JetBoil and JetBoil french press for morning coffee, and my USB copper strand string lights for wrapping around the RTT to illuminate the campsite at night.