As you all know, we don't "camp"....we RV....in a trailer....not in a camping tent. There is no way we can really consider ourselves campers. Not with a 41' toy hauler fifth wheel that is towed by a Freightliner and has a queen bed, washer/dryer, electric fireplace, two good sized TVs, dishwasher, kitchen peninsula, ceiling fan and 10' garage (or man cave as Stu calls it).
Many RVers started out as campers in their younger years. I know Stu did and worked his way up to a pop-up, then a bumper pull trailer and on to fifth wheels. Me? I remember tent camping in the backyard as a kid...with the neighbor kids. Other than that, my first camping trip was around age 40. It rained the entire weekend...until we packed up to go home. Of course since we had a power outlet, I could use my little portable TV and electric fan. There are those that would say that wasn't camping either. LOL!
We still plan to ride all of Route 66 on our motorcycles but the trip is now delayed until 2013. We have all our camping gear, including our tent for camping....big enough for both of us, our gear and a spot for Sadie. We keep saying we need to test it out and maybe next summer while we are in TN we will finally give it a try. We really have a lot of gear to test, too. LOL!
So, wondering how many readers have actually camped in a tent....or even still do from time to time? Hmmm....
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna and Stu
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Stu and Donna
I tent camped as a Girl Scout..in one of those big old smelly canvas green things with NO such thing as a rain fly...Then,in 1970, we won a Pop-Up camper from the local Hardware Store. Den took it fishing in Wisconsin with his guy friends...I got to camp in it in our back yard..Our first real camping experience was 2004, when we bought our Cougar 5th wheel..talk about camping virgins!! Wish we had started sooner..Oh well, we sure love "RV'n" it now...I would love to go full time , not MacGuyver..After all, home is where your heart is, and it's not where you are, it' who you're with.
ReplyDeleteHaha!! I had camped as a young girl with my family in a big green tent until my grandparents upgraded from their pop-up to an airsteam and we landed the pop-up camper. Plus I was involved with a very active Girl Scout troop that also did a lot of camping. Later on I was a GS leader and we did a lot of true camping. My hubby grew up camping. But I don't consider what we do in our 5th wheel real camping, though as camp hosts in a primitive campground, we're surrounded by them all the time! I'd love to hear more about your dishwasher. We've considered getting one, but I'm not sure I want it taking up precious space! :)
ReplyDeleteI always grew up with the term "camper" whether it meant our converted school bus, travel trailer, popup or motorhome. Even though now we travel in a 40ft luxury motorhome, I still refer to it as "The Camper" LOL ... old habits.
ReplyDeleteWe were staying by another RVer who was going NUTS every time I called it "The Camper" ... haha
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Karen and Steve
(Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/
I too have camped in tents as a kid & young adult. Have camped in my big vans too, then in 2006, got my first motorhome, so now I live in it. :-) I also remember tent camping in my yard as a kid (grew up in the country) & something big & black entered the tent at night. I screamed BEAR!!! Well, it was the neighbors black lab that loved me & would come to hang out with me. but that night, he stunk like a sewer, I slept the rest of the night in the house...heehee
ReplyDeleteRiding the whole length of Route 66 sounds like a lot of fun. Did you watch the recent tv series of Billy Connolly doing the same thing? He is a British comedian and I am not sure if the how aired in the US. It is maybe worth you finding it.
ReplyDeleteOn my trip through the USA I camped in Marriott Hotels. Just kidding. I enjoy camping but my back doesn't. The last time I did it was a couple of years ago at a motorcycle rally. It was basic but great fun, made more bearable by too many beers.
Both my husband and I camped as kids. Now we are fulltimers. We still tent camp in AZ during the winter, and we have a pop-up camper we use on weekends when working in Yellowstone during the summer. We still love "camping" every chance we get.
ReplyDeleteI tented in the early years of my working life. Both Kathy and I tent camped with our late spouses and familys for many more years. After time my late wife and I purchase first a pop-up trailer then a used travel-trailer.
ReplyDeleteAfter they passed and Kathy and I married we went back to tent camping for a few more years. With time it stated to become harder to rise off the ground in the morning especially when it was raining out. The old bones were starting to remind us of our ages. Kathy until this time had never slept in any kind of RV.
Again we started with a pop-up, to a travel-trailer, to the last 2 fifth-wheels. At this stage I can't ever imagine us as a couple going back to a tent on the ground.
Our preference is now to travel with the comforts of our home on wheels with us. Yes the larger rigs cannot always go where someone in a tent can go, but there is always a way around that.
Enjoy the trip if you can because some day you might feel the way we do.
I did a lot of tent camping as a kid. In the 70's I camped in a tent under the wing of my airplane, as I traveled on a dream cross country journey. Last time was in Oshkosh for a fly in with my father in 1982.
ReplyDeleteI do not plan to do any tents in the future:)
Our family tent camped when i was a child, and then i did again in 1986 to the Southwest with my son and 2004 with my niece to Mt Rushmore. Vowed at that time, it was the last, those early morning joint creaking walks to the john were too much for me :)
ReplyDeleteWe have done more than our share of tent camping. Then, we did pop-up tent camping. From there to a trailer, to a 5th wheel and now a motorhome. What's next ... an apartment?
ReplyDeleteI spent two nights in a little tent by myself while camping on a cold weekend with my daughter and her husband. Thy had a separate tent. It was fun, but I didn't run out and buy camping gear!
ReplyDeleteWe bought a house in the mountains because it was as close to a park that we could get.
It has taken us awhile, but our first RV is a 36' Class A.
Haven't slept in a tent in something like 25 years. Previous to that I had both slept "under the stars" and tent camped, but many backpacking trips were done without a tent. Only something for a "lean-to" if it looked like rain.
ReplyDeleteAfter my wife and I got together, and for a few years there, she gave tent camping an honest try, but I knew she really wasn't having all that much fun, so that was that. Our kids both continued on with their camping trips. We just skipped on ahead to a class A motorhome that we kept for 10 years. Currently though we haven't anything other than some old camping equipment in the attic back home. No more sleeping on the ground for us though.
I was working in Toulouse, France for a year and was there during the May '68 riots. I bought a tent and camping gear in case things got worse. The wife and I used it to camp all over France and when we returned to the states, in Minnesota, Florida and Massachusetts. We belonged to a tent camper club in Mass. Fondly remember camping with our collie and a spider monkey which loved to sit on top of the awning. The last time we used that tent was at Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral so we could see a shuttle launch up close.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were young and adventurous we not only tent camped we backpacked. We put all the necessities of life on our backs and hiked off into the woods of northern Minnesota. Dave even went so far as to camp in the winter in a tent in those woods with a good friend. Our daughter started backpacking at the age of three and still loves it nearly forty years later.
ReplyDeleteAfter three plus years of full-time in motorhomes we are back in Minnesota in an all electric apartment and I'm wishing we still had some of the backpacking gear in case of blizzards that come with power outages here.
We camped in a tent twice. Once in the Dry Tortugas and the other at Anclote Key off Tarpon Springs, Florida. No electric either time.
ReplyDeleteWe camped in a tent twice. Once in the Dry Tortugas and the other at Anclote Key off Tarpon Springs, Florida. No electric either time.
ReplyDeleteHave spent years camping in a tent. Started out in one of "those smelly big green" tents and graduated to one of the newer versions. They don't smell any more with all the ventilation designed in. Had our trail motor bikes for a time as well. To find out haw to buy a camping or trail tent, plus a wide variety stop in and see us at www.4usleepingbags.com
ReplyDeleteStarted out tent camping on a cross country trip on my motorcycle in 1973. Liked it so much, motorcycle/tent camped on our honeymoon. Later when kids came, we tented in a bigger tent.
ReplyDeleteFinally got tired of rivers flooding the tent every time it rained and graduated to our first RV, a 20 year old 21' Class A.
Three more motor homes later, we are fulltimers with all the "goodies". At campgrounds when we see tenters, we're amazed that we actually did that. :c)
Spent a few tenting nights in a 2-person tent - hated every minute of it. My back hated the ground, every rock, and air mattresses went flat during the night. I hate hotels, but I would sleep in one if the other choice was a tent. I like my life to be comfortable. But the 'camping' part was fun.
ReplyDeleteI spent seven months living in a 2 person tent while climbing around the Western USA and BC in1973. Did a bunch of tent camping with the family from canoe trips.Last shot at tent camping was 13 years ago as newlyweds (3rd time's a charm). SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) met a porcupine while ennroute to latrine ... last time she didn't have a solid wall between herself and Nature.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great 2012.