Margi and Jim McCombs began planning their journey out west early 2023 with goals of attending Burning Man 2024 with our son Mark and his wife Michelle and then on to visit with our son Phil and his wife Jenn in Seattle and then to Athol Idaho to visit with Margi’s niece Aron and her partner Aaron. After that then maybe Yellowstone and the Tetons before making a trail back home.

So, the first order of business was to sell the “destination” trailer, the 2017 Forest River Salem Hemisphere, a 38′ travel trailer as it is cumbersome to tow and park at most places we would visit. Over the previous 10 years of so, Jim was very comfortable towing and parking the 32′ 1969Avion travel trailer, an aluminum trailer much like an Airstream and wanted to find a travel trailer of similar size. Jim gave the Avion to his sister-in-law, Debra McCombs, after buying the Forest River.

While trying to find a buyer for the Forest River, Jim started looking for an Arctic Fox travel trailer, made by Northwood Manufacturing in Oregon. Jim was impressed with reviews by Arctic Fox owners and by the great construction quality and the fact that the Foxes are all weather travel trailers. After having lost out on the purchase of a very nice 2021 model in Washington state, Jim kept looking and finally decided that he wanted the Arctic Fox model 29L manufactured from 2014 through 2018. Jim finally found a 2015 29L for sale in the middle of Wisconsin. Without going into details, Jim made a deal and picked up the Fox in December 2023 while Margi was in Costa Rica.

Finally, the Forest River was sold around February 2024 and Jim started planning the trip out west.

Margi and Jim attended Burning Man in 2022 thanks to Mark and Michelle who are experienced “Burners.” While there Jim used Mark’s Addmotor recumbent electric trike to get around the playa and decided to purchase one and take it on the westward trip. The Addmotor recumbent electric trike comes with a storage basket and is not made for a passenger. So long story short Jim removed the storage basket and added a rear seat for Margi to ride in. This required some modifications so that the trike would be balanced and not rear end heavy. Since the trike is relatively long and would weigh around 200 lbs Jim decided to design and install a cargo carrier attached to the back of the travel trailer. But wait…

The trike can’t be exposed to rain, so Jim designed a frame to be covered with Sunbrella material. The trike also need an easy way to load and unload, being too heavy to lift into place. Thus, handicap wheelchair ramps and hand winch needed to be added.

The carrier was built in April, the cover frame and cover was finally built the week before leaving, cutting it close.