Bella gets some new Digs

Last year during the winter, I had already expected I was going to feel constrained in the truck topper that Bella came with. I started doing research into rooftop tents, different truck toppers, and the like. I didn't like the idea of a rooftop tent; what if I fell out of it while trying to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? How embarrassing...

I also wanted something I could easily still haul cargo with, sleep in the bed of the truck if needed, and if possible eventually convert into a fully contained setup. Sleeping, cooking, etc, any living needs I may need.

I found some truck toppers that sort of worked for what I wanted, but they still seemed limited in space. Some opened into a triangular shape, others just didn't seem to provide enough of a sleeping area. Even worse, they were all expensive. We're talking anywhere from $7,500 to $20,000. Ain't nobody affordin' that! At least not on my budget.

I quickly discovered I had found my way into a very, very expensive hobby.

During my research, I discovered the AT Habitat Truck Topper. It had enough space, it still gave me cargo room, but overall I hated the fact that it deployed over the back of the truck. I also wasn't keen on the base price. $15,900 as of the time of this writing. That doesn't include any extra components like windows or special configurations. It just wasn't going to happen. Why was I going to spend the equivalent of a down payment on a house, for a truck camper?

I also looked at other options. Maybe an overlanding trailer? Maybe a slide in camper? All with their pros and cons. I definitely couldn't do a slide in camper though. The first generation Tacoma has limited payload weight available, and most slide in campers exceeded this limit. If I was going to keep a setup on four wheels only, I was going to have to find a topper.

That's when I learned of the Flip Pac camper.

This was exactly what I was looking for. A lightweight topper with a full sized bed in one part of the tent, the ability to stand in the bed of the truck, and the ability to turn this entire setup into a living situation in the future if I so needed it. Another great benefit is that it deploys into the same profile as the truck. I could set up in a parking spot, or a tight camping location, or somewhere that deploying the AT Habitat truck topper just wouldn't have been a good idea.

The only problem? Flip Pac campers had been out of production since 2016. The design is patented, so nobody has been able to make a similar design. Additionally, I required a very specific version of the Flip Pac camper that typically ran $4,000 - $7,500 on the used market depending on condition. This was still out of any budget I could consider for 2026.

Despite this, I fixated on this camper design. I learned everything I could about it, from the upsides to the downsides, I wasn't discouraged away from it. I lurked various forums, facebook marketplace, and craigslist areas just waiting for an opportunity.

In the middle of July, after seven months of looking, the opportunity finally appeared.

A project Flip Pac camper, but the right size and a Flip Pac nonetheless. It came with the rainfly, it came with an additional tent canvas, and overall despite the tent damages it looked to be in good condition.

I discovered Paul, the seller on one of the forums I had come to lurk on. https://forum.expeditionportal.com/ He was offering it for $1,200 if the contact mentioned the forum. Was I financially ready? Not particularly. Was it too far away? At 800 miles it was just about as far as I was willing to go. Did I have enough time? Well I only had one weekend coming up that I could really manage to make the trip.

Sometimes you just have to YOLO life, unironically, and go for the opportunities presented to you.

Paul and I discussed the topper via email for a few days, while I made arrangements to get out to the San Diego area. In a mad dash of a week, I pulled together the necessary funds, removed the old topper from Bella, and even managed to drag a dear friend into the adventure of a lifetime to spend a lot of money and spend some time in California.

The time had arrived, it was a Friday after work. I'd been awake since 6 AM that day and had to leave Santa Fe with a supply of iced coffee to last me a marathon drive. We made it south of Flagstaff AZ around midnight, and made the California border around 5 AM PST. I'd been awake for 24 hours at this point. Driving across the desert in Arizona, putting my hand on the window, and realizing that it was still over 100 degrees outside at 3 AM was a wild experience.

Continuing my caffiene infusions via iced coffee, we continued along Interstate 10 and made our way into the Salton Sea basin area and entered the Republic of Slowjamastan. We moved closer to the mountains, and eventually found our way into Julian, CA.

We met up with Paul, and his partner Polly around 11 AM. Paul was keen on selling the the Flip Pac to someone who was going to put the effort into it, and that was definitely me. I'm sure none of you know me to shy away from a challenge, or an opportunity to learn and implement some new skills. I wasn't looking for something to flip (or, was I? badum tish), I was going to use this thing and truly appreciate it for what it was.

Paul was such a wealth of information, giving me many pointers and pitfalls about how to repair the camper, how to install the camper, and some of the history. Him and his partner Polly were some of the loveliest people I've ever met, and after getting everything situated they sent us on our way with plenty of parts, knowledge, and even souvenirs. The pinecones that fell off of the trees in this region were the size of a person's head! I'd never seen something like that before. My friend Elena and I made our way back to the lookout spot we had discovered earlier so I could have a moment to recover from my "What just happened?" dazed state.

We continued on our trip, and made our way to San Diego directly. We spent a good day at the beach and I got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life.

Knowing that the Flip Pac wasn't ready for active use, we had planned to stay in San Diego that night. I'd been awake over 36 hours at this point, and unfortunately our accommodations fell through. It was a very active weekend with ComicCon also going on, so hotels were next to impossible to find. We ended up finding one nearly two hours north in Corona CA. After 42 hours of being awake, I finally got some rest.

The next day, with the spontaneous addition of Los Angeles to our trip, we explored the area and ended up at the end of Route 66, on the Santa Monica Pier. Well rested and ready to have fun, this is hardly a day I'll forget.

As the day wound down, we ended up booking a campsite at Silverwood Lake, just a bit north of the metro area and in the mountains. This would give us a good place to leave and avoid the Monday morning traffic, and ended up being a really nice campsite to spend the night at. I slept in the back of the truck, but still not deploying the camper.

We left early, and made our way across the Mojave Desert on Interstate 40 before the heat got unbearable for the day. We didn't make it back to New Mexico until about 11 PM on Monday, and over 2,000 miles later I'd fully realized I'd acquired one of my dream upgrades for Bella. Now the process of restoring the topper had to begin, but I'll save that for yet another post.

Yet, I couldn't leave you without a photo of the tent deployed, now could I?