# Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??



## LEN (Jun 8, 2009)

I started camping at as soon as I can remember tents, Ice chests, white gas lantern and no air mattress to start with. In 62-63 dad and I built a camper(slide in) as dad said I can do what those factories are doing only better. Built from the inside out with very little 12 volt and even less 110 volt. Gas , stove/oven, hand pump water and recirculating pot with a gas light and an Adams furnace then the aluminum skin over the outside but none of the fancy kind(WE didn't need that). Even Elk hunted in it back when there was no global warming and the temps reached into the low single digits, and that was inside the camper. But it was warmer than the wall tent. This is in the 55-58 years range and lots of miles.

LEN


----------



## C Nash (Jun 8, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

Wife and I started in 67 in a tent but I had spent many nights before that on a creek bank with my teenage buddies fishing.  Lot of great memories.  Well some were not to great like the time me and the buddies decided we would swim from one year to the next  . Jumped in the creek at 11:59 PM and out at 12:01 AM.  Laid in bed for a week with NM :laugh: It gets cold in Alabama last of Dec. and no we was not loaded. Strongest thing then was rabbit tobacco :laugh:


----------



## SnowbirdInFlight (Jun 8, 2009)

RE: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

    DH was born camping I think, lol. However, I got a late start and didn&rsquo;t start until around age 24. We actually went sort of backwards as we started out with a truck camper (slide-in) and then went to a tent, then a very small TT, and now our 38&rdquo; TT.

  I remember the gas lanterns too and the wonderful campfires. When the kids were young we had an old metal washtub and we had a camper top on our truck. I put curtains/covers over the windows. Then we took the washtub and filled it around &frac34; full of water and set it on top of the big campfire. We heated the water until it was bath-comfortable and then would set it in the back of the truck and take turns taking bathes, lol. Wasn&rsquo;t the Ritz but was fun and felt good to get clean!

  Another thing we did one summer when it was extremely hot was to go to Wally World and get a small child&rsquo;s swimming pool. It was about 8 foot across and I think about 18-24 inches deep. It was the kind that you just fill up and it supports itself. We filled it up and with the hot sun it wasn&rsquo;t long before the water warmed up. The kids really enjoyed it and even Jim and I got in and cooled off! We didn&rsquo;t have A/C then. Well the next day as we drove around the campground we noticed that about four other campsites now had the same pool we got! No one had them before we did, so I guess they thought it was a good idea too, ha-ha.

  My favorite thing is cooking outside, especially breakfast! Nothing like the smell of bacon cooking early in the morning at the campground. Ahhhh, memories!


----------



## rjf7g (Jun 8, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

I grew up tent camping with the family.  We hit a period where we did the hotel thing, but the first summer I had a "real job" (defined as "not the same job I had in high school") bought a big tent and I convinced my parents and my baby brother to go tent camping again.  We went to Blackwater Falls in WV and had a blast.  Later that fall, we talked my older brother and his wife in to going with us to Sherando Lake in Lyndhurst, VA.  They had such a blast, they bought a pop-up and started camping one or two weekends every month.  I had to buy a smaller tent so I could set it up myself and enjoyed tent camping alone or with a friend here and there.  Then, I became part owner in a pop-up as I entered in to a relationship.  I am in the same relationship, but it is one other pop-up, a travel trailer, a park trailer, and a class C later.  On most nights, I would jump at the chance to sleep out in a tent again, though.


----------



## C Nash (Jun 8, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

Becky the wife and I decided several year back that we wanted to go tent camping again so we got us a little two man tent and left the TT we had then at home.  We went to the Blue Ridge Parkway for two weeks.  After a bear walked around the tent snorting and bones acking so bad when we got up in the mornings we decided our tent camping days were over.  Haven't tried it anymore but sure have fond memories ot tenting days.


----------



## Darlin (Jun 8, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

My dad , now retired army, bought a pop up. Us kids thoght we had arrived. 4 kids , 1 dog & 2 adults. We did not spent too much time in it but as a kid it was better than a tent. As the years went by we graduated up to a TT.  I left my parents home and a few yrs later I met Honey.

Just after Honey & were married our youth group (14-17 yr olds)needed extra chaparones for their camp out at the beach.  So we volunteered. We arrived fri late afternoon, set up the tents, seperate one for the girls & the boys. We cooked out & had a campfire going, It was great. About midnite it started to rain & continued all weekend. BUT we were at the beach & the kids did not care. We got back late Sunday, soaked, sandy & sore.

We decided then we loved camping but we were not tent people.  GOD Bless all of you that are. 

Darlin


----------



## Guest (Jun 8, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

well i started out spoiled i guess ,, i was prolly 4 or 5  and dad had a conversion van ,, with fold down bed area and a couch ,, and we did the white gas thing ,,, everything was done on the coleman stove ,, and lights also ,, then moved up to a slide in for a pick up ,, now that was nice ,, but still had no john or shower ,, used a porta potty ,, and we did have a on board stove ,, but no refer ,, then came the first class A ,, man what a diff ,, but didn't have roof a/c ,, and no genset ,, the bathroom was the shower ,, the whole area ,,, then came the next class A ,, now we were up town ,, one a/c unit ,, and genset ,, then the next class A which i own now ,, and a DP ,, which was the way to go back in the early 90's diesel was cheap then     :approve:


----------



## rjf7g (Jun 9, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

Chelse-
That might do it for me, too!  I just have such fond memories of tent camping (of course, I was younger then) and the seasonal camping I do now is very different.  I am hoping to win the lottery and hit the road, but that plan isn't working very well.


----------



## jetboat (Jun 11, 2009)

RE: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

i started out going with my grandparentsin the 50's.when i got married,and couldnt afford those fancy vacations,we got a camper for the truck.then a 12'trailer,6 trailers later,a couple trucks later,wenow have the a f-350,35' 5th with all the full timer items.now my kids are getting into the pop ups.


----------



## cwishert (Jun 11, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

Well I have been camping since probably the summer I was born.  We didn't have a camper or a tent, we just slept in the back of the Rambler station wagon.  Mom and dad would stay out on the pier all night fishing and then we would head back home when they got tired.  We only lived about 30 minutes from thier favorite spot.  After that my dad rented a few pop ups and I have a few stories about that but that's another thread all together.  Then in Jr High they bought a conversion van with all the amenities except the toilet which they purchased a porta potty.  We would just get a blanket and wrap it around us if we were on the road, otherwise we would run everyone out to go.  My dad hauled us three kids and at least 4 others all over around the Gulf coast areal of Texas.  We had a blast.  After that van, my mom decided it was time for a bay house so we sort of quit "camping".  But after I got married, we have been camping for the past 25 years, sometimes in tents, sometimes in someone elses travel trailer and now in our own motor home.  We love camping.  Can't wait until I can come and go as I please.     :bleh:  :clown:


----------



## utmtman (Jun 13, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

Well if you count camping with family while growing up, I have been camping for 50 years.  If you count doing it on my own than its been 37 years.   I have had at least a dozen tents, five cab over campers, two travel trailers, one tent trailer, and three motor homes of which one was a class C and two were class A.


----------



## DL Rupper (Jun 14, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

My wife and I started out tent camping in the early 60's right after I got out of the Marine Corps.  I don't considered the long hot or cold nights I spent sleeping on the ground with only a heavy plastic poncho wrapped around me as camping out.  That was just an all night date courtesy of the Corps.

Next (early 70's) the wife, 2 kids and I moved up to a 8 foot Aristocrat truck camper without a shower and a wobbly Port- a-potty that had a tendency to collapse in the middle of the night if you drank a few too many beers and happen to be sitting on it

We really moved up in the late 70's to a 13 foot single axle TT that again didn't have a bathroom or shower.  Same old port-a-potty.

Early 80's saw another move up to a bigger 17 foot single axle TT with no shower or bathroom.  Yup, same old port-a-potty.

Finally we hit the big time in 1995 when I retired and we bought our HitchHiker II 5th wheel and went fulltime RVing.  The side bathroom with tub/shower and real toilet are so great we still have the 5er.

Counting the boy scouts and family camping when I was young I've been camping a total of 60 years.


----------



## H2H1 (Jun 14, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

CONGRATS TO ALL, It seem we have a lot of history here in camping from just laying on the ground to more up scale MH. I started when I lived on the farm and we would slip off on the weekend and go night fishing on the creek and just lay on the ground with a warm blanket and a fire. Us boys was dumb back then we would forget to take some food, so if we caught anything it was food, if not, what climbed, crawled  or flew was our food. Now would I DO DIT AGAIN---NO,NO,NO, I have gone from a slide in to 2 tt and now we have a MH. And enjoying it. :laugh:


----------



## *scooter* (Jun 15, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

My story reads just like about everyone else.  At a real early age, went tent camping with my folks.  Thinking back on it, I don't know how they did it.  Weeks at a time with three kids and just the usual tent, lantern, camp stove and ice chest.  Some great memories...Thanks Mom and Dad !  I graduated to a pick up with a camper shell, and two interior doors across the bed of the truck that  served as our bed.  Then on to a MH and then to the current MH.  Boy things sure have changed.


----------



## onthecoach (Jun 15, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

I think I am embarrassed to say I did not start Rving/camping until I was 46 years old! One Sunday my late husband and I were on a drive...we happened to see an RV dealer. We stopped, just for the heck of it.  We were able to go through several motorhomes on the lot....I WAS COMPLETELY IN LOVE!!! Right then and there I wanted to chuck it all and jump into the coach and take off!!  DH said we had to wait a bit and figure out what we wanted and how to pay for it -- such a practical guy!!  Less than a year later, we had our 1995 Pace Arrow!  We LOVED it and we were able to put about 7K miles on it in the 18 months before he passed away in 1998.  I had never seen him happier than when he was behind the wheel driving that big rig!!!

Since that time, I did some traveling on my own in the Pace Arrow...it was my dream, too.  Now, 11+ years later, my new and wonderful DH and I are living the dream: Full-timing in our newer (2005 Bounder TD) coach!  Of course, for the last 18months, DH is working in the Middle East, so I am living near Family until he returns.  But, I love the coach and hope to see you all on the road for the next 20 or 30 years!!!  Thanks for asking and letting me tell my story!


----------



## brodavid (Jun 17, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

Dave started camping over 50 years ago and has traveled all around the United States and Canada, even some in Europe. His dad took his family everywhere he went and they camped. Saw pics of them when Dave was a small boy. I married him on 06/07/1986 and I told him that I wanted to go camping, we spent our honeymoon  in the mountains of Va. That started the want tos, so we have been camping since.

love and prayers,
Ms Jackie


----------



## Domingo (Jun 18, 2009)

RE: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

I started camping maybe around 24 or 25. I met some people who would go rock climbing every weekend. I taged along,little did i know that they only took their sleeping bag, climbing gearand lots of pot to keep them warm at night(Our motto was'IF YOU DIE ON A CLIMB WE SPLIT YOUR GEAR).At the time I did not mind since the minute Ihit thetrails. I was addicted to the outdoors. Went camping and rock climbing almost every weekend for years. We would even give up girls who would not tag with us. some of the girls where hot.Years latter, I met Alicia. She wanted to tag with us, so she started climbing with the group however as she felt comfortable with our relationship she confessed to me that she was not up to camping and climbing with the pot heads.I had a decission to make. GladI made the right decission three wonderful kids.Two years ago I decided to start camping again. Alicia hadtwo conditions for me. "I want my own bathroom and my own shower". Without thinking. I talked Alicia into purchasing our first RV.):angry::blackeye::disapprove::dead::clown:)This emotions have been our experienced in last two years.


----------



## Kirk (Jun 18, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

My first camping experience was in 1954 in Boy Scouts, camping with an old WWII Army tent. We really liked it and had a lot of fun. From there it stopped until I got out of the Navy in 68, when the wife and I started to tent in a very old umbrella tent that her grandmother gave us. We moved to a real luxury life when we purchased a used, 10' X 14' wall tent with all outside frame! Next came a very used pop-up in 72 which is what really started us moving toward the RV world. Our first new RV was a 74 Starcraft pop-up with a hand water pump, furnace and very small refrigerator. We kept that until 86 when we bought a used Great Divide trailer that was self-contained and even had a recirculating potty.  After a move from Wyoming to Texas we moved to an 87 class A of 25', three years old and even with a genset. Then in 98 we got our present home, 35' class A with the intent of living in it. It has most of the frills which are now mostly vital to survival as we all seem to not be able to do without once we have the latest amenities.

Along the way we did a great deal of tent camping and backpacking with our three sons in Boy Scouts. We really never completely moved away from the tent style of camping until our last son left home. We still own a small tent, but it is sleeping quarters for grandchildren as we have never slept in it and we don't expect to do so.


----------



## WandaLust (Jun 27, 2009)

Re: Just how long have you been RVing or camping or both??

I was in my 30s when I went camping for the first time with friends.  It was tent camping. Then I dated a man with a van conversion and we camped in that. That was back in the 1970s.  I just got back into camping last year with my husband. He's never camped before.  We started with a van conversion and quickly moved to a TT.  We just got back from spending over a week on the road.


----------



## anamarie (Jan 31, 2012)

Really great storys here, brought back memorys of camping with my Gramps, he had an ole truck with a camper top, he built storage compartments, and two bunks, had an old tin box that he unfolded, which made a stove, for his tin pot coffee,he had lots of gadgets to make things happen, my memory is a bit hazy, (i may have been 4 or 5 yrs old) he has long since passed away, but those memorys are priceless. Gramps was an engineer at a place called Webb City in St Pete,Fla... all he did was work, and go camping, took 3 very young grandkids with him, i can remember falling asleep on the beach,waking up running into the ocean, Gramps was always fishing, i think he fell asleep, and woke up, with the pole in his hand.  I can almost taste those fire burnt hot dogs, wise potato chips(Gramps wouldnt buy any other brand), and cheap soda... Gramps would buy a few cases, and let us kids pick out our favorite flavors, that was a real treat, cant believe it was just 10 cents for a can of soda, oh and the burnt marshmallow/potato chip sandwiches, good stuff.


----------



## Shorty (Feb 8, 2012)

Started to love te camping life in the 60s  & 70s. Dad would rent a slide in camper for our pick-up. During 1 trip to Rapid City from SE MN we found that 13 year old cousins should not be allowed to have bottle rockets around dry hay fields. I think there is still a wanted poster hanging up just west of SiouxFalls looking for 2 little pyromatiacs.
Graduated to a Winnebago Brave in the 70s to go smelting in northern MN. 80s were more geared toward 'other' interests until I found my bride that had a father in the RV business. Got married and bought my 1st RV (94 Georgia Boy Swinger) in 90s. Found time to put 128k miles on it. These were some of the BEST family memories. 15 years and hit every state east of the Mississippi. Now moved up to a pusher and can't wait for any excuse to take it out. Just got back from 1 week Spec fishing in Astor FL, Tailgating at Jimmy Buffett concert in Orlando, and now taking a bunch of people to a Lacrosse game near Tampa.


----------



## KarenS144 (Feb 9, 2012)

Interesting thread!

Like many others, I grew up camping with my parents & siblings.  We had an old army tent that weight 500 lbs and took forever to set up.  After waking up to snow in Yellowstone in June and having to break camp and move on, the tent was replaced by a pop-up by the next trip.  Great memories of those trips trips across country and those of camping closer to home.  

As an adult, I showed horses (barrel raced specifically) and had various campers.   That part of my life ended in divorce & the loss of the Winnie & horse trailer but I kept my horse!   Life got in the way of lots of things and camping took a backseat.  Once I retired, I got back into horses but trail riding and not showing.  That led to "horse camping" in rented cabins but the campfires & fun was all it took to get the camping fever again.  

Unfortunately, my DH now never camped as a kid, didn't see any reason to sit outside by a fire when one could have one inside in a fire place and for sure didn't need another motor to deal with.... blah blah blah.  It took several years of dropping hints, mentioning places we could go and finally the trump card... fly fishing.  Finally, once he thought it was HIS idea, we bought a B+ 2 years ago, sold it last year and have a Class A and a jeep to tow. Talk about an about face!


----------



## Thomas M. (Feb 26, 2012)

We started camping in August 2009 after I retired. We purchased a 2007 Coachmen Freelander and already put close to 30,000 miles on it. The longest trip was last year's Alaska adventure. We travel with a pug dog and now pull a Chevy HHR.


----------



## H2H1 (Feb 26, 2012)

Let see, if you count the Army, you know the army tent and sleeping bag, well that was back in 68. But to get to the real camping. That started back in 79, I borrow my brother truck and slide in and my son and I went out for the weekend. So I GUEST it was that time frame that I was hooked. But instead of a camper I bought a 21 Bayliner cuddy cabin and the son and I did river camping in it. After he left home for the AF I sold the boat and stopped it all for awhile. I bought a TT with no slide and that did not work out, next was a TT with one slide, ok for awhile. Then Maria decided she would like to go WEST, fine but I wasn't pulling a TT that far, and that is when the MH came into being. Well we have been out west  2 times and hoping to make it this June if gas does not get much higher. So that is how I began.


----------

