CAMPING ENTHUSIAST POPS HIS TOP;

Mark Johnson loves his pop-up truck camper.

He must. He uses it about 30 weekends a year - even in the colder winter months.

"My family started taking me camping at a very early age," says Johnson, of Nine Mile Falls. "The love of the outdoors and camping has been with me ever since."

For the past two years, Johnson has been taking to the woods in a 2003 Starcraft Tourstar pop-up camper mounted on a 2003 3/4 -ton, four-wheel drive Dodge Ram Quad Cab with a Hemi gasoline engine.

Back in 1980, Johnson's first RV was a pop-up tent trailer. Ten years ago he switched to a conventional truck camper and then he shifted to the pop-up camper version in 2003.

One of the big attractions for Johnson, and most buyers of the pop-top camper model, is lower wind resistance when traveling with the camper top down.

"Less wind resistance is a great selling point," says Del Laird of Bell RV in Spokane Valley. "In addition, the soft-sided top panels reduce the overall weight, which results in better fuel mileage."

The external height of the rig when closed is 5-feet 7-inches. When open, the interior height is 6-feet 6-inches. The soft-side panels are made of Aqualon-7 tent fabric.

"Setup is a breeze," says Johnson. "It only takes about 30 seconds to crank up the top."

Another nice feature with this pop-up model is that, when set up, there is a full-size rear entry door.

"Other pop-up campers I looked at only had a 4-foot door," he says.

Johnson's self-contained Tourstar comes with an inside shower and toilet. His accommodations also include a three-burner propane cook top, furnace, six-gallon water heater, air conditioner and tiny three-way refrigerator (propane, battery and electricity). The fresh water tank holds 16 gallons, with the black water tank holding around 12 gallons.

While Johnson sometimes goes exploring only with his dog as company, his camper can sleep up to four adults with the queen-size bunk over the truck cab and dinette sofa that makes into a bed.

Johnson has taken his camper to Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Olympic and Mount Rainer National Parks. In addition, he has traveled to several national and provisional parks in British Columbia and Alberta. Future trips include taking the camping outfit on the vehicle ferry up to Alaska and driving back.

When camping during the warmer months, Johnson attaches a cargo trailer to his truck which carries a Suzuki 650cc dual sport motorcycle, a 20-foot Michi-Craft square stem canoe and an aluminum storage unit containing a battery, electric trolling motor, firewood, paddles and fishing equipment.

During the winter his trailer hauls a snowmobile, snowshoes and cross-country skis.

"I have a blast in the winter," he says. "There are really nice cross-country trails up by Cusick and in the Methow Valley."

Johnson says he doesn't mind getting wet and cold when he's out snowshoeing because he knows that when he gets back to his camper he can warm up and get into dry clothes.

"The coldest weather I've camped in was about 5 degrees above zero and the heater kept the camper nice and toasty," he says.

"Having a warm, dry place to sleep is really important."

COSTS

When Johnson purchased his Tourstar camper from Bell RV in 2003, it ran around $7,000.

Starcraft no longer manufactures the Tourstar model. Today there is an almost identical "Pine Mountain" series.

"Expect to pay about $10,000 for the 2006 units," says Bell RV manager Susan Bishop.

MORE INFORMATION

-- Susan Bishop and Del Laird can be reached at Bell RV, 15020 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley, (509) 928-2400; www.bellrv.com.

-- In addition to pop-up campers, Starcraft also manufactures "lightweight towables" that can be pulled by "most minivans and smaller SUVs, making them easy to use virtually any time the camping spirit strikes," says its Web site, www.starcraftrv.com. Contact Starcraft RV, Inc., at P.O. Box 458, Topeka, IN 46571; (260) 593- 2550.

-- For a look at Dodge Ram trucks go to www.dodge.com.

RV SHOWS

If you don't make it over to Seattle this weekend for the Fall RV and Outdoor Recreation Show at the Qwest Field Event Center, another show is scheduled for Oct. 5-9 in the Tacoma Dome. For a list of RV shows across the nation, go to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association's Web page ( www.rvia.com/rvshows) and search by state.

WHEEL QUESTION

Where is your favorite winter RV destination?

Wheel Life appears every Saturday. Write to Wheel Life, Spokesman- Review, 999 W. Riverside Ave., Spokane, WA 99201. Julianne Crane can also be reached by phone at (509) 459-5435 and e-mail at juliannec@spokesman.com. For additional RV news go to Wheel Life online at: www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/wheellife.