Your name: Kristin and Collin
Location: Nomadic wandering wherever Kristin’s school clinicals take us. Currently in Las Cruces, NM for six months.
Nickname: Nachooo (big camper—our current home) and Bonnie the heavy chevy (weekend camping rig).
Make & Model: 2005 Automatic Chevy Silverado and 2015 Keystone Outback
HEST products: Dually Long, Foamy, Dog beds x 2, Camp Pillows x 2 (haha, we LOVE Hest)
Critical dimensions for your bed platform:
Length: 78 in
Width (at narrowest point): 68 in
Height: 13 in
Is this your daily driver or getaway car?
Daily driver and get away car.
What do you like most about your rig?
We love the simplicity of the set up with Bonnie, that we can break away for a weekend and be totally set up to sleep, but still use her as a truck. Sleep is incredibly important to us and we like that we can get away for a weekend and come home mentally and physically refreshed because we slept well on a super comfortable bed all weekend.
In Nachooo we love the custom garage and the storage chest Collin built. The garage nicely fits all our gear and doubles as a workout area. The storage chest has big drawers and tons of storage and is also where the dogs hang out during the day.
On your average weekend adventure, what is the gear set up you bring with you? How did you navigate gear storage needs into your rig set up?
Average weekend is Bonnie, our two bikes and our pups. We have storage under the bed with our camp stove, grill and kitchen box. There are also secret compartments under the bed by our heads. Our cooler pulls out of the back to become a step for getting into the camper. The dogs sleep in the backseat of the truck on their posh Hest beds or on the tail gate, depending on the time of year. Typically our gear bags migrate from the back of the truck to the front seats once we’re parked. 49
Any cool custom details you’re proud of?
We love the bike racks on Bonnie, they keep the bikes up and out of the way. Our 'garbage’ in Nachoo has a little loft to store our Dually when we’re not using it and it also now has a climbing grip pull up bar. The platform in Bonnie breaks down easily so the truck bed is still usable when we are not camping.
Custom storage set-up inside the camper
Coolest place you’ve taken your rig to?
It's so hard to pick just one, from the Moab desert to our backyard San Juan mountains. Anytime we get out we find a super cool spot.
Any projects in the pipeline to get your rig even more adventure ready?
We would love to get a taller topper and a system of drawers to make storage and moving around a little easier in Bonnie. Collin is currently designing a ladder rack with a sleeping platform for the top of bonnie. We are also trying to figure out a way to have a portable sauna for Nachooo, to compliment our cold plunge.
Biggest challenge in your build out?
For Nachooo it was deciding which bikes and skis had to stay home (in Colorado). For Bonnie, we’re still working on the perfect storage system because we currently tend to vomit a lot of gear out the back when we get into camp.
Tips for others looking to do the same to their vehicle?
Be patient, flexible and creative, don’t rush your build. You can actually fit a lot of essentials into a very tiny space with thoughtful planning. Get out with what you have and what you need/want in your build will become apparent with each trip.
Want to submit your rig for our blog? Email us at info@hest.com to get started!
