Mystery of the Park Model, Solved

If this were a hard-core journal-style blog, I’d write about how Banjo’s one “character flaw” bubbled up yesterday. See, she has anxiety over most stranger dogs (not all), and she used to have to deal with that on every walk in the city. But here she seems to be chill about them … until a certain one walked by the trailer yesterday. No contact was made, no harm done, but bummer that she still has bad behavior. Now we know we’re going to have to manage her closely again, especially in tightly packed campgrounds like the ones we’ve booked next winter in Florida.

This isn’t a strictly journal-style blog though, so I can write about anything I want. Instead, I’ll write about the adorable, tiny house that’s moved in across from us! Plus my friend Jess asked me to. 🙂 You guys are dying to know more about this, right?

I’ve snooped around this as surreptitiously as possible, which is tricky because the young woman who bought it, plus her parents and other campground crew, keep pulling up in their golf carts to show it off to friends. I have to step away fast and look like I’m just out for a walk. But probably it doesn’t matter at all that I’m curious because everyone else is.

In fact, I simply asked the new owner’s sister yesterday what make and model it is (so I could snoop online). She didn’t know, but in true campground social style, she said she’d ask and tell me later.

The Fairborn

Of course I just couldn’t wait.

From extensive research thanks to having nothing better to do, I think I found the model. It’s probably made by Forest Lake, which Tracy guesses is a new subsidiary of Forest River, an RV manufacturer (more on the differences between all these terms later), and the model could be The Fairborn.

Click on this link for a 3D tour (created by none other than Matterport, a 3D scanning company with a booth across from my magazine at a trade show in Germany a couple of years ago and brief advertiser.)

In any case, this thing’s cool as shit.

What Is a Park Model?

“Park models” are classified as RVs, I guess because they’re sometimes made by RV companies and sometimes parked in campgrounds. The first time I saw the term was in complaints by RVers that campgrounds use up too many of their sites with park models on them.

They’re not RVs though because they don’t have vehicles attached (I can tell this whole terminology thing is going to need a separate post), and they don’t have their own water and waste tanks: they connect to electricity, water, and sewer just like a house. I guess they’re more like a manufactured home (aka mobile home), but some seem to be built more solidly and even fancy, more like a tiny house.

This One

Whatever, let’s get back to mine! I mean, the one parked right next to me.

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I took the pic on the left through the screened door: it’s of the living room where you mount a TV, I’m guessing. The other pic is from the website I linked to above.

Look at all that opportunity for light! I’m guessing the boxes on her floor are chairs and a coffee table, or maybe blinds? I’m dying to see this once she’s got furniture in. But I’m probably impinging on her privacy too much as it is.

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Here’s her kitchen (duh). Look at all that storage and usability in such a tiny space. I’m not envious one bit.

Here’s another pic from the website. The little railing at the top left is from the loft—you access it via a staircase hidden in these pics by the fridge.

Her loft is tall enough only for storage, but … storage! Plus its addition allows for extra height in the living room and kitchen and all the second-story windows. It’s a brilliant idea, I think.

The bedroom is just large enough for a bed, but it has a built-in wardrobe. Likewise, the bathroom is small but it seems to have a bathtub. A bathtub!

For 386 square feet and a listing price of probably around $50k (just a guess), I think this is really neat little house.

Of course, you can’t take it anywhere. You can’t park it on the beach, and then move it to beside a canyon, and then by a river in the mountains, and then to a dessert. You can’t pick it up anytime you want and just move on.

But you can take a bath in it!