We were lucky to catch up with Tim & Ruth Ellen Elinski recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tim & Ruth Ellen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Recharge Your Wonder is the mission that drives us as we manufacture our solar-powered self-contained micro campers. Obviously we want folks to recharge their wonder and appreciation of nature as experienced through an eco-friendly camper, but we also want to inspire wonder in what is possible in rural corners of our nation. We selected Miami, AZ (founded in 1876, current population 1,500) as Pin Drop headquarters, which to some seems an unlikely place to set up a manufacturing company, but for my wife and I this was a natural choice. Ruth Ellen and I both grew up in rural communities and are now raising our girls in rural. As a child, I recall the day the last whistle blew at our local sawmill in Payson, AZ ending the shift and the industry that sustained families for generations. This was a somber day for the community. My hometown changed dramatically after the mill closed and this left an impact on me. I have since been driven to provide opportunities in my local town. Ruth Ellen and I know the benefits of living in rural, we are passing this on to our daughters, and we are doing what we can to create opportunities in an underserved region. We’ve shoehorned our manufacturing facility in a 115 year old building in the historic district of a mining town whose last heyday was 1920, but whose best days are still ahead. We’ve invigorated a corner of an historic community, kept another building from falling into decay and we’re building a camper that far exceeds what else there is on the market. This is a great source of pride for us and the town of Miami, AZ.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We design, build, sell and rent solar-powered micro campers which are packed with features unlike others on the market and provide an eco-friendly way to experience the great outdoors without negative impact. I come from a family of tradesmen and was a general contractor for 25 years before starting Pin Drop. My wife and I are avid outdoor enthusiasts, and have raised our girls camping since they were days old. Over the years, while dragging our trusty 1952 canned ham camper across forgotten dirt roads, my wife and I would dream of a camper design that could sustain our outdoor adventures as long as we wanted, with enough water capacity, battery recharge and means to pack our adventure gear. I took the opportunity to build the design that had been rolling around in my head prior to a long family road trip up to Montana. The prototype I built garnered such admiration on the road we decided to launch a new company and have since built what I believe to be the finest teardrop on the market, with the most features and conveniences available in the most compact, yet luxuriously comfortable, shell. Our Pin Drops are super-insulated which eliminates the need for A/C and heat, they can stow an impressive 44 gallons of freshwater, have a queen sized mattress, an amazing kitchen design with two-burner stove, sink and water, lots of power outlets and ways to haul adventure gear including bikes, kayaks, fly rod cases, etc. All of this while being solar powered, meaning no more generators or plugging in. All of this while being lightweight and nimble, meaning no more cumbersome gas guzzling trucks that are limited on how far one can access the outdoors.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My wife and I are scrappy, we roll up our sleeves, we get the work done. Ruth Ellen ran her own business as a manufacturer of leather goods and built her business by traveling from state to state tabling at fairs and festivals to eventually a brick and mortar with a vastly expanded product line of USA made wares. When we first dated I would have to visit her at her shop if I wanted to have a few minutes with her, I can count on one hand the times she took a day off to go on a real date with me. She is grit and determination through and through. When we purchased our manufacturing facility in historic downtown Miami, AZ it was 5,600 square feet of are-you-sure-this-is-a-good-idea? The amount of cleaning, demolition, pigeon relocation, and trips to the dump would have turned anyone else away. But we had a vision and the work ethic to get us through the hard stuff.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Pin Drop Travel Trailers are built in small batches so it’s not difficult for us to keep in touch with our clients and follow them through their adventures. I frequently get photos from our customers where they share their latest camp, or the view they were able to reach against all odds. This is success for us, our clients sharing their joy in a camper that was designed by campers. “You guys have thought of everything,” is something we hear a lot. Most of our clients have come to us after doing their research, they know the teardrop style is right for them, and they are just trying to find the best one that suits their adventure needs. We get to know what type of camping they prefer, and we build the Pin Drop to suit those needs. My favorite stories are the ones where our customers camp with other groups or couples who own campers and the Pin Drop invariably becomes the hub of the group. Everyone gathers around to cook out of the superior galley, rest in the shade from the awnings, charge all their devices, listen to the stereo, or just hang out. The Pin Drop design is warm and welcoming, pleasing to the eye and remarkably intuitive to use and well designed. To date, not a single customer who has bought a Pin Drop has sold their Pin Drop. That says a lot.

Contact Info:

• Website: pindroptraveltrailers.com
• Instagram: @pindroptraveltrailers
• Facebook: @pindroptraveltrailers
• Linkedin: @pindroptraveltrailers
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PinDropTravelTrailers

Image Credits
Larry Pittman