Into the final countdown now...

Long time lurker, occasional random nonsensical poster here. I want you all to know that I will be setting up an account for each of you to donate to to help pay for this stuff as you are all culpable in my purchases...

So, next Wednesday we head to Ft. Lupton, CO to go pick up our new Hallmark K2. What better time of year to cross the Northern Rockies from Seattle to go pick up a camper and do some shake down camping? Been on order since early September and could have gotten it before Thanksgiving, but like usual life had gotten in the way and our ability to go kept getting pushed.

Looked at a few other makes and it came down to the right mix of size, capabilities, comforts, and the feel of their product just put it over the edge. They aren't known as the least expensive of the offerings, but for good reason. When you compare their standard items to others with those same options, it's not really that much more expensive. Of course many don't want those items, so other routes make sense, a lot of good manufacturers out there and they all align well with certain needs/wants.

To the camper - it is an 8' K2 going on a '12 F350 SC Shortbox. Have the external storage boxes, 3.0 reefer, dual batteries (Golf cart, 240ah I believe total), 200w soft solar panels. In the end nothing too custom, did do the north/south sleeping, should make a nice visor over the windshield to help block out all that sunlight the PNW is known for.

Considering I put some pretty substantial pin striping on the truck within the first few months of owning it, I am preparing myself for learning the hard way about how tall it is (even being a pop-up), lots of tees around here...

I'll post up some pictures once I get a chance, hopefully in some nice scenery (not in a snowy ditch outside of Laramie, WY)
 

freedomrider

Ordinary average guy
I am preparing myself for learning the hard way about how tall it is (even being a pop-up), lots of tees around here...
Congrats. Sounds like a nice set up. Regarding the height, I broke a clearance light on my pop up within 2 hours of owning it. Was backing into a tight spot being careful not to encroach onto the adjacent parking spots and failed to consider a tree branch about 8' up. Oops. I don't see how the really tall hardsides avoid damage.
 
Getting the camper and working with the great people at Hallmark went exactly as expected, flawlessly. The truck barely even notices it, fuel milage is down by 3-4 mpg, but thats to be expected.

We're currently putting it through its first paces, spending the night outside Durango. Its funny, even in outdoorsy Colorado you get funny looks when you are asking about campgrounds this time of year -you now its winter right, they're closed :) Bill said they went through every systemquite a few times as they knew weren't very local if anything does come up. So far haven't found any problems

Heading over to southern Utah and do a little exploring of Valley of the Gods, then up to Cedar Mesa. Should be home in time to watch the Seahawks win their 2nd Superbowl.

Go Hawks!
 

longhorn1

Observer
Congrats. The guys at Hallmark are great. Matt spent a lot of time answering my questions. Hallmark would have been my first choice but I just couldn't afford the price. In the end I bought a Four Wheel Camper Grandby for my 2013 F-250 longbed. I'm very happy with my selection. Good luck and enjoy your camper.
 
A little road weary here, started in Provo, UT this am, and now home in Bellevue, WA. A few pictures in it's natural environment, it's even Raven approved :)
 

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No, it's the 6.7 diesel. I took the badges off first thing, they looked a little too blingy for me.

Honestly my mileage was all over the place, I think mainly from crappy winter blend here in WA and OR. When we left, pretty much empty we were only getting ~ 15, once I filled up in WY it climbed back up to almost 20. That's all at ~75 to 80 miles an hour. With the camper it dropped down to 12-15, again had wide variations between tanks in seemingly the same road conditions. With my wife driving out the first leg from Provo on the way home into a very stiff headwind, and her lead foot thinking you have to be doing at least 5 over the limit, if not more (there were times I was expecting the her to bounce off the speed limiter -~93 I think) we got around 11 that tank.
 

Umtaneum

Adventurer
That's funny, I left Enumclaw at about the same time headed for Commerce City and Phoenix Popups. We had to have been passing one another all the way to Colorado. I drove straight back, though, unlike you guys. I hope you love the new camper. I'm having a lot of fun with mine already.
 
Hah, hope your trip there and back was uneventful, if not boring. Still amazed at how mild and such a lack of snow through out the west. I've driven between Denver and Seattle and couple of times in January now and had no weather or snow on the ground. I've had much harsher conditions in October and early May
 

Camp JP

New member
Just curious how you are liking things so far. We were just out at Hallmark last weekend - they are on the shortlist for our next camper. Strongly leaning towards the K2 for a 2014 Ram 3500 Short Bed.

If you have any interior pic's I'd love to see them.
 

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