Number of Years Camping/RVing......

[xrated]

Since the thread about "Age of Members" was pretty interesting, I thought I'd start one about how many years everyone had been camping/RVing.

Since I started the thread, I'll start it off. I started camping in 1976, that was my first year of deer hunting. Back then of course, my camping consisted of a tent, sleeping bag, a cot, And just the bare minimum for living in the woods for three our for days. I also tent camped in the springtime for Turkey season, but not as often as the fall for deer hunting. Temperature extremes ranged from 90+ in the spring to one weekend for a December deer hunt that was 15 degrees in the morning....and yes, we were in tents. Fast forward to this past Oct. when I bought my very first ever camping type trailer, Toy Hauler. A couple of weekends ago, we went out for the very first time and experienced it. I have to say, it beats the h€// out of tent camping for me/us.

So, I'm pretty much a total rookie in one respect, but have many years of towing trailers (all of them smaller than my T.H.), and camping a bit.

So, how about the rest of y'all.......how many years have you been doing the camping/RV thing?

[bsmith0404]

Started camping when I was a kid (1973), we went to Canada several times each year on fishing trips, also did hunting trips to SD and WY. Those were all in a truck camper. When I ventured out on my own it was tent camping, hit negative digits in a text during hunting trips, that really sucks when you wake up in the middle of the night and have to go to the bathroom.

Purchased out first 5er in 2009 and now on our 3rd.

[Javi]

If you include tent camping, I've been camping since 1949 or so with the folks... on my on since I got my driver's license in 1963... us kids would be hunting or fishing nearly every weekend and that usually involved camping on some river or lake bank.

After high school I'd drive up to Colorado, Wyoming or Montana for a week or two and pack back into the wilderness to hunt or fish...

[chuckster57]

As a kid I camped with family in a tent, a camper and then a trailer starting in about 1965. With MY family I started with a tent around 1982, went to slide in camper in 1985 and first fiver in 1989.

[SummitPond]

I guess I started camping when I was a boy scout (this would be the early 1960s). The DW's idea of camping (before we married) was a Holiday Inn.

My family (of 6 plus the ever-present pet) eventually got involved in camping. We started out with a U-Haul pseudo-pop-up rental (basically a wooden box on a trailer frame with two large panels that folded out for the beds, covered by a canvas tent, and that was it!). A memorable occasion was when my youngest sister (5-6 years old at the time) slipped out between the canvas and the plywood and ended up on the ground outside. She walked around to the wrong side of the camper - no door. She sat down and whimpered all night. My father's comment was "Who would let their kid cry all night." Was he surprised the next morning.

The family eventually got a proper Starcraft pop-up, then an 18 foot Shasta, a 31 foot Holiday Rambler, and (by now I'm off to college so I don't get to experience this one) a (30 foot?) Winnebago motorhome.

When I got married we had a 1974 VW Kombi camper, complete with air conditioning (if it was cold outside) and heated water (if it was hot outside); we took it on a trip around the country, from FL to CA and up through parts of Canada, down through ME and back to FL just before I entered graduate school. We moved to New Orleans in the late 70s and had no garage. Street parking was not kind to our camper (lost the driver side mirror and rear bumper from people who didn't know how to drive). We eventually gave the VW to my folks, who had since sold the Winnebago but still had the itch to camp.

We started tenting, but after several years the DW determined she was not overly fond of that mode of camping, so we abstained from living in the great outdoors for some 20+ years. Two years ago, with retirement upon us, we decided to get back to camping. The DW wanted proper conditioned air, her own bathroom and kitchen. I wanted to be "free" of having to take our living accommodations everywhere we went, as we had to do with the VW. Thus the trailer instead of a motorhome. It's small, but big enough for us and the cat. Living in FL we get to use the trailer year round, and as further encouragement, we joined a square dance camping club; the have monthly camp outs.

So, while we've been camping for a while, I wouldn't exactly call us "experts", which is one of the many reasons this forum is so useful.

[canesfan]

I started backpacking in high school. My dad always had some sort of camper and was always dragging us around the country starting when I was around 8. I didn't really appreciate it then though. First "camping" trip was to Dover, DE for a NASCAR race. Borrowed the fathers Mazda pickup, threw some sleeping bags, a grill, cooler, misc stuff in the back, grabbed the girlfriend and went for the weekend. Upgraded to a cargo van so we had a roof a little while after that. After kids came along we didn't go camping for awhile, but finally got the itch and rented a Class C a couple times to see if it would work out. Made the mistake of taking the DW to an RV show. Well, I needed a new "car" at the time anyway, so why not a truck and new TT to go with it? That was 20 years ago or something? Can't keep up. Anyway, a couple TTs and I think 3 fivers later and here we are, camping and roughing it. :rolleyes:

[66joej]

We started camping in 1968. Girls were 2-4-6. First one was a soft top tent trailer. Since then rigs have been all over the map. 2 - hardtop tent trailers, 5 -
travel trailers, 3 - camperized vans, 2 - motorhomes, 3 - 5ers. Current RV is a TT. Most enjoyable was when the kids were with us ( about the first 15 years) Lots of water under the bridge since those early days.

[jmak]

Wow, I am a late bloomer I guess. 2016 I dove into camping with the purchase of our Keystone Cougar TT. Before that I can count on one two hands the amount of times I have been camping.

[heiserk0410]

My parents took my sister and I camping from a very young age. Probably 5 years old or so. We started off in tents (which I hated because when it rained we always would spend 1/2 the day at the laundry mat), then they bought a pickup camper. When my wife and I got married in 1994, our first vacation together was tent camping up at Pikes Peak in Colorado. Wind was so strong at night we ended up throwing the air mattress in the bed of my pickup which had a fiberglass topper. Worked out pretty well. Since then we had a pickup camper for a couple years when our boys were young. Once they were out of daycare, we purchased our first T.T. Now the boy are teenagers (one a sophomore in high school and the other in college) and they don't go with us as much as they used to. So about 4 years ago we bought our first 5'er and we just sold it and should be taking possession of our new Keystone Laredo within the next week or 2. Can't wait! So all in all, we've been at it for a long time. :-)

:camping:

[xrated]

Wow, some of you guys have been at it for a long time. I'm definitely a late bloomer when it comes to RV camping, but I think I'm really going to enjoy it.....especially combining it with taking our motorcycles with us. I've been riding since 1971 and that is my true passion.

[Ken / Claudia]

I was camping before 1 year old. As the story goes. We were deer hunting in eastern Oregon and camping in a tent. One of the nights a cougar came thru the camp site but did not harm anyone. Dad awoke to noise but, did not go outside the tent. His friend was sleeping in his car and that morning told my parents it was a cougar. We tent camped until I was high school age. We got a pop up trailer and used that for many years. I took it and Dads land cruiser deer hunting with friends several times. When younger I backpacked a lot and took motorcycles out and camped with them. At 60 years old, no more sleeping on the ground. I have owned 9 rvs of one type or another since about 1990. The latest TT is the only rv I have purchased new.

[Tbos]

Started camping in the mid to late 60s in the Boy Scouts. Tents and backpacks of course. My folks took us with them in the early 70s when they bought the tent camper. After one or 2 nights they kicked my brother and I out to the van. We really didn't mind except there was no heat. When the folks moved to the class Cs they moved us to a big cabin tent. I moved out in the mid 70s and tent camped off and on until May 2013 when we bought our first TT. A Passport 238ML. Needed more space and I wanted a couch or somewhere other than the dinette or bed to sit so we upgraded to our current Passport 2810BHS in Oct 2015. My intention is to keep camping until the good Lord decides it's time to call me home.


2016 Passport GT 2810BHS, 2016 F350 CC DRW

[fatcatzzz]

Well they tell me that when I was less than a year old when Mom and Dad took my brother a I trout fishing (Dad loved to trout fish) in 1951. Been camping ever since. Backpacking Pacific Crest Trail and tent camping all over the west. First RV was a 1981 Nomad 21' TT. Boy how things have changed.

[Mandolin]

Camping with the family since I was an infant - generally with my father's relatives, so it would be a large camp, maybe 7-8 adults and 15-16 kids. Chaotic and fun.

Backpacking and camping in my late late teens, a camping hiatus for university + grad school, some tent camping after with our own very small child, then my father bought us a tent trailer when my son was, I dunno, about 5. We stuck with that for probably 20 years, then bought a 16' trailer, kept that maybe 8 years, then bought our current trailer (21' box, 26' overall).

It is nice having our own space that is set up so that all we need to do is throw our clothes and fresh food in and we are off, but the problem is that neither of us enjoys towing or driving a big truck around. Neither of us enjoys RV parks, either, and the state and national parks are so crowded and have to be scheduled so far out in advance that it pretty much kills off the old spontaneity of get-up-and-go.

This is likely our last trailer and then who knows? A lot of the state parks hereabout have yurts or cabins and that - plus hotels and rental vacation houses - might be the way we go.

[sourdough]

I guess the first time I remember camping was when I was about 5 years old with my parents on a trip to UT from NM in a '52 Chevy pickup with homemade metal frame and tarp. Torn tarp, getting lost in the mountains, generator dying causing no battery....not fun.

Went with the boy scouts on several trips and had a lot of fun. Then the parents took us camping again (they didn't go much) to the mountains. The first night I spent outside the tent in a sleeping bag (I was maybe 10-12). When we awoke there were 3 brown bears on a picnic table about 75-80 yards from us. That evening we had supper and went to bed. In the middle of the night I woke my dad up and said I heard something outside the tent; he said "go to sleep". The breathing became heavier and I told him again with the same response. In a few minutes there was the sound of ripping tarp material....a lot. I was on the ground with my dad and my sister was up against the tent wall on a cot. I looked up and the side of the tent opened up and there was a large bear coming down with the side of the tent onto the side of my sister's cot. Obviously the girls were screaming while me and dad yelled at the bear. It did go away. My dad made the rookie mistake of leaving the Coleman stove out with a skillet full of grease and a trash bag with all the leftovers etc. The bear took a LONG time to eat the grease, tear up the trash and go thru the ice chest.

Fast forward to after I was married (1967); we tent camped for years, then had 3 different slide in cabover campers. Went back to tent camping in the early 80's. In '84 took a trip to Yellowstone tent camping from the trunk of the car. Stayed in a campground either just outside, or just inside, Yellowstone (Jenny Lake??). Put up the tent, had a great evening, locked everything up in the car. In the middle of the night we heard screeching sounds of all kinds; banging and then people yelling and screaming. It went quiet for a bit then we heard the sounds of someone just throwing things into the bed of a truck, engine cranked and they were gone. In the morning we walked down to see what happened. There were remnants of a Coleman ice chest, the ones with the metal top and sides SHREDDED! There was a lot of other debris strung around. The guy that was in the campsite next to them said a grizzly had come in and found their foodstuffs and had a time. The folks just ripped up their gear and threw it in their truck and left in the middle of the night.

We completed that trip and when I got back I bought my first TT in '85. We figured we needed something a little stronger to fend off the bears in the future:) Tried a pop up for a few years. Felt more "outdoorsy" but we still liked the regular TT better so went back to them with the exception of about 8 years when we didn't have anything (TT) and reverted to a tent (we had bought a summer home in the mountains so that cut way back on going camping). We still have the summer home but I guess it's sort of old news now and we want to go other places so we're back to TTs again.

Sorry for the long story but I'm desperately looking for a way to delay going out and cleaning the yard:facepalm:

[zuley]

My wife and I were boaters for a number of years starting in the early 90's. The boat was our cottage on the water. As the kids got older they balked at coming with us every weekend. Zodiacs and Sea Doos kept them interested for a few years but remembering what I was like there was no chance I was leaving a 15 and a 16 year old at home by themselves every weekend. The final straw was the $700 fuel bill to head to our usual week end haunt and back again. Sold the boat and did yard work for a few years. Friends invited us to go camping with them one summer to the same place we had been going for years with the boat. Started out with a tent and a bunch of our left over boating gear. Next came the Coleman pop up for a couple of years. Next was a high wall pop up that was going to last us forever. While attending a show with friends we spied the Passport. Happy wife, happy life. This will be our 5th summer with the TT. We on average camp 42 days per season. This past weekend we were with friends who have just purchased a diesel pusher. It was suggested we should do the same. I'm saying no way. We'll see what the future brings.

[fourfourto]

I guess I wasn't even 1 the summer of 1962 but was told we camped in tents seen some video 8mm with stupid music , they got put on vhs then disk now on pc.

Moved to a trailer soon after , I went from ny to ca and back in 1969.

Was in NHCA as far back as I remember
Seagulls chapter LI ny camped every other weekend. I stopped when I got my licence in 78, 16 I stayed home :eek: :angel::facepalm::cool:

Tented at smith point beach a lot in HS .

For the last 10 years been using the trailer as mobile hotel room been all over several times a year
Just went camping at the beach easter weekend.

[gearhead]

Sleeping on army surplus cots with a "skeeter bar" next to the lake while trot lining at about 8 years old. First rv trip was with my uncle and cousins in his rv....a converted bread truck step van, about 1963, to Arkansas. Wife and I tent camped some in the 70's. Then we bought a 8ft cab over from a co-worker in the early 80's. Went all over in it......Arkansas, Yellowstone, Colorado elk hunting. Kids came along and we bought a new 1987 travel master class c. Kept it for 6-8 years until the kids got busy with school activities on weekends and summers. Didn't camp anymore until we retired in 2008? Too busy at work....basically on call whenever anything broke. Bought a lightly used GMC 2500 then the Cougar XLite 28SGS. Then the f350 diesel, then the Montana HC, then discovered I was overloaded and bought the Ram, then the cab over. We like to go to NASACAR races and do some genealogy in the Carolina's & Virginia. I do some trout fishing when i can. We are way overdue for the west.

[GlenY]

first camping trip April 1963 that was a tent we have had pop up travel trailer now on our 3rd 5th wheel

[notanlines]

Boy Scout camping in the early 60's, pop-up trailer in late 60's from Special Services, tent and van camping and deer hunting in early 70's, tent camping with the kids all through the 80's and early 90's along with one 26' trailer. Kids left home and we continued with a Hi-Lo and then to the 5'ver. How about all those good times that the youth of today will be talking about when someone asks what they did for family activity and they give them a play by play account of their sister's volleyball game and how the family enjoyed it. And they had to stay home the whole week-end because the game was Saturday afternoon. I have probably opened up a can of worms.....:angel:

[sourdough]

Boy Scout camping in the early 60's, pop-up trailer in late 60's from Special Services, tent and van camping and deer hunting in early 70's, tent camping with the kids all through the 80's and early 90's along with one 26' trailer. Kids left home and we continued with a Hi-Lo and then to the 5'ver. How about all those good times that the youth of today will be talking about when someone asks what they did for family activity and they give them a play by play account of their sister's volleyball game and how the family enjoyed it. And they had to stay home the whole week-end because the game was Saturday afternoon. I have probably opened up a can of worms.....:angel:


Same can of worms I try to undo every time I can get the grandgirls to listen or go with me. That's the purpose of our trip to CO in June. I've still got pictures of the first time the girls went out on our boat and caught a fish along with the first time they went trout fishing with me in CO. That picture is still on the front of my fridge...and it's still on theirs as well:) I remember those things vividly, I can't remember smart phone games, facebook, twitter etc. etc. Just "real" things.

[ctbruce]

I'm a late bloomer too, with no regrets and I don't do anything half-way. This will be our 3rd season camping, stayed out 46 nights each of the first 2 years. Roughing it to us was having to stay at Motel 6. The DW grew up camping with a Boy Scout dad and brother and hates campfires. I just never camped except for maybe 3-4 times in high school. DW retired and we were wanting to get a place on a lake but being saddled down to one location didn't appeal to us. Some friends were campers, they took us under their wing to get us going and haven't stopped since.

We went to Mount Rushmore/SD last year and Yellowstone. Arkansas and Oklahoma the year before that. This year we will go to Wisconsin and Michigan and Arizona early next year. I know its a good thing when DW calls me at work and says, "guess what I did? I made reservations for us at that campground we have been talking about!" Now that is a good life.

[sourdough]

I'm a late bloomer too, with no regrets and I don't do anything half-way. This will be our 3rd season camping, stayed out 46 nights each of the first 2 years. Roughing it to us was having to stay at Motel 6. The DW grew up camping with a Boy Scout dad and brother and hates campfires. I just never camped except for maybe 3-4 times in high school. DW retired and we were wanting to get a place on a lake but being saddled down to one location didn't appeal to us. Some friends were campers, they took us under their wing to get us going and haven't stopped since.

We went to Mount Rushmore/SD last year and Yellowstone. Arkansas and Oklahoma the year before that. This year we will go to Wisconsin and Michigan and Arizona early next year. I know its a good thing when DW calls me at work and says, "guess what I did? I made reservations for us at that campground we have been talking about!" Now that is a good life.


There's one thing wrong with your post....calls you at WORK??:eek: You need to work on fixing that.....:D

[ctbruce]

There's one thing wrong with your post....calls you at WORK??:eek: You need to work on fixing that.....:D
I agree but since I love what I do haven't had to work for years and it keeps both of us in insurance. It's getting closer...every day....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[vampress_me]

I guess technically my first time camping was when I was about a year old. I have been told our family went camping with friends in their pop-up. Mom put me in the camper for a nap one afternoon. A little while later everyone came running when I started screaming and the next door neighbor yelled out "hey lady, your kid just rolled into our campsite". A few of the snaps on the canvas were broken and I rolled off the bed and down the hill. After that, it took another 19 years before I camped again. My parents (mom, I think) prefer camping in hotels.

Hubby grew up camping, so got me into tent camping in college in WY. He was very patient, even to packing up at midnight once in the middle of a thunderstorm since I couldn't take that in a tent. :hide: Then, jobs got in the way, and then children. In 2014 he decided he wanted to fly fish more than he was able, and figured the only way to do that was to get us camping again. And, so not to repeat the thunderstorm fiasco, decided we needed a camper. We found one we love, and that's that. :D In 2015 we took it for a week in NY state and two weeks later left for MT and WY and spent a couple weeks that way. 2016 the big trip was again west: Glacier, Missoula, Yellowstone, and the Big Horns. And we spend as many weekends as possible in the southeastern corner of MN.

[66joej]

Sorry for the long story but I'm desperately looking for a way to delay going out and cleaning the yard:facepalm:

I think you should write a book,:bow:

[sourdough]

I think you should write a book,:bow:



I almost did!!:hide:

[DAN d]

started in 1970 1st fith wheel was a 27'' sandpiper wow how big four more 5vers they got bigger now we are getting smaller lots of fun enjoy every one:marshmallow:

[byrdr1]

WOW,
grew up as an ARMY brat. If you are military you know every base has a type of recreation area near a lake or something like that. So we always camped in tents, back of cars etc. My dad served two tours and so we never did anything those two years but the rest of the time every other or every 3rd weekend we were camping out somewhere. My best memories are of us in Ft Gordon GA. we had a boat and a slide in camper in the back of a 1966 DATSUN pickup truck and pulled the boat behind it. Clark Hill Reservoir. a different name now. Back to the original question:
We tent camped at NASCAR races for the last 25 years. ONCE the tent got old we bought a POPUP and it was still just a guys thing. the wife had never camped at all.
SO I got her to go by doing everything. I mean everything connected to the camping trips. That was around 17-19 years ago. NOW 4 campers later we camp as a family and my kids love it. MY oldest and her family have their on 5er now. My youngest tents when she gets a chance and the middle, he and his girlfriend come along when he's not working at the fire department.
So I have camped most of my life off and on and as a family unit for around close to 20 years now.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
randy

[B-O-B'03]

I remember camping with my parents and their brothers/sisters/kids when I was little, by the time I was 7, I had my own, canvas, pup-tent.
We moved to the states, when I was 9 and the parents bought a 24' Winnebago, we went all over in that.
Out of high school I bought a full-size Dodge van that I customized and camped in, totaled that one, bought another one, customized it, camped in it, with the DW and kids as they came along.
As the kids got older we graduated to a 2 room cabin tent and camped across the south west in it... I got to where I could set it up, in the dark, by myself, in about 15 minutes... while the DW was in the heated van asking if it was ready yet.
We bought a starcraft popup in 1995 and drug the wheels off of it, until the "kids" had lost interest in camping with the folks.
Took an 8 or so year hiatus and bought the current trailer in Feb of 2015.

I guess I have been camping, in one form or another for almost 60 years.

-Brian

[CrazyCain]

Started camping when i was around 8y/o in 1966..with my mom,dad 2 brothers and a sister. with an old pop up that Dad pulled with a Chevolet station wagon..Got into Boy Scouts and did the tent thing. When i met the DW and got married, bought a tent we used for a few years then we bought a Starcraft Pup. Then went to a conversion van, tried that for 3 years or so, went back to pop up and then last year bought our 1st TT.. ALl great times for the last 50 years or so..
:camping::bdance::bdance::marshmallow::marshmallow :

[Ken / Claudia]

This is the most fun to read thread I have read on this forum. Come on folks who have not added anything. Post your story.

[busterbrown]

My earliest memories of camping begin on the western shores of Michigan many moons ago. My parents loaded all of us kids in the "family truckster" and headed westward during the warm summer months. Accommodations included lavish nylon tents, weathered canopies, and plastic ground tarps. Dad fired up the Coleman mantle lantern at sunset while Mom tended to dinner preparations on the propane stove. Memories of searching for campfire kindle and exploring the adjacent woods are vivid still today.

After college, life became busy and camping fell by the wayside. An occasional white water rafting trip and backpacking adventure barely satisfied my outdoor desires.

Fast forward another decade into 2012 and the story continues with my DW and first DS. The DS was 18 months old and us new "parents" decided it was time to re-live a pastime of tent camping and all the enjoymemt it brings.

The maiden trip with our toddler son included a 6x10 enclosed utililty trailer and all the outdoor "tent-camping" essentials. The weather predicted was fair with just a slight chance of showers. We assumed the tent would keep us dry in the likelyhood of rain. Boy, we couldn't have been more wrong.

On the first night, with the pack n play setup in the tent, the DS fell fast asleep. An hour or so after enjoying the campfire, the DW and I retired inside the tent as well. Not 5 minutes after getting comfortable on the air mattress, the drizzle began. 10 minutes after that, the drizzle became a steady rain. The tent was holding strong though.

Another 10 minutes goes by and the thunder begins. Five minutes later, the steady rain becomes a downpour. The wind is now relentless and pushing in on the entry side of the tent. The DS is awake and crying at this point. The dog is barking. The floor of the tent is becoming a river. The DW is screaming at me over the shockwaves of thunder, exclaiming that the camping trip was my idea and that we needed to leave now. In defense of "our" decision, I refuted back that it was mutually agreed upon to come. Tempers were flairing, kid was crying, and everything we brought with us was sopping wet.

As the wife was upset and frantically packing up our possessions inside the tent, I began looking outside at a group of RVs parked nearby. In one of the coaches, I took notice of 2 heads looking out the window at us. I could only imagine what dad was telling mom as they sipped on nighttime toddies: "Goofballs decided to rough it in the rain, in a tent, with the baby, and with the dog".

Suffice it to say, July 2012 was the last time we camped until last year, March 29th 2016, the day I surprised the DW (for our anniversary) with the gift we all know as an RV.

And the new "glamping" decade of memories have begun.

[Richard Noble]

Started in mid-'50's in the Boy Scouts. When I had boys of Scout age I became a Scout Master and really got into backpacking with them. Found an old home-made crank-up camper and got the then wife and daughter into it. Enter second (and last) wife (1988) and she had a 12 1/2 ft cab-over camper on a 1966 Ford 250. I converted that Ford to DRW because that camper was way heavy. We have since had 4 fifth wheelers and are looking at a new one. Since retirement (2000) we have spent about 6 months/year in them; three Fords and now a 2007 Chevy Duramax DWR four door. I blew the trannys out of all three Fords. Love that Chevy!

[Kemp716]

I’ve been told that my first camping trip was when I was about six months old. My father had a 60’s something Chevy with a camper shell. My dad did a lot of sailing so most of our camping was done at lakes all over California. Over the years my parents had several cabover campers, popups, and VW vans.

In high school, I started tent camping with my friends. We did a lot of fishing and sailing, and eventually acquired and old Star Craft tent trailer. Since then, my camping and Rv’s has ebbed and flowed. The only type of RV I haven’t owned or extensively experienced is a toy hauler. Most recently, I purchased my first Keystone TT and have passed along the camping bug to my children. I really enjoyed most of my past rigs, but I believe the Passport TT I just bought will best fit the needs of my family and be great for the places where we camp most often.

[EagleandFox]

I don't quite remember what prompted us to buy our first camper in 2002 - maybe it was listening to the adventures of friends? My hubby camped off and on in tents for years, me - only once with him, that was enough for me - our food was tied up high in trees away from our site so as not to attract bears :eek: Our first camper was a 24' Sportsmen trailer with a rear slide out for our bed (we had to climb over the dinette to get into our bed) and the front 6' was a huge bunkroom with 4 bunks! I loved it for the kids - no issue with room for friends to come along! We upgraded to a 24' 5th wheel in 2005, and have had that since this February, when we upgraded to the 2017 Hideout 299RLDS. No kids along with us anymore, but hopefully they will join us on the occasional outing!

[Desert185]

The Boys Scouts introduced me to camping during the 50's. We were living in the SF Bay Area and had uncles and cousins living in the rural central valley. I always liked the country.

Viet Nam and the Army caused me to "camp" in Southeast Asia for about 18 months during the 60's. That experience ended any desire to camp for almost 15 years.

Having a son and a stepdaughter during the late 70's there was an expressed desire to go family camping so I bought a popup tent camper to tow behind the K10 (that I still have). The initial campout resulted in mixed success. I was actually thinking perimeter and the best defensive position, the wife at the time hated it, my son had me kill a rattler and the stepdaughter thought she was going to die when a bug nipped her foot. The tent camper sat for a few months, then was sold. The son and I did enjoy the experience, though.

Fast forward to the 80's, new wife, same son, we bought a motorhome and enjoyed that with a front bumper mount for the son's Yamaha YZ80.

1990's: The next iteration was a popup Four Wheel camper on a Dodge 2500 4WD diesel. This allowed getting a bit farther into the backcountry (without any lingering thoughts of perimeters and defensive positions, I might add).

We found ourselves spending summers in Alaska and found ourselves driving a used, killer deal motorhome to AK to use as a summer home. It was fun, but since I fly we decided to sell the motorhome, buy a plane and a cabin off the road system. This allowed us to explore AK and parts of Canada camping with the plane. This eventually progressed to flying/camping the Idaho backcountry, which continues to be my favorite camping to date.

In 1999, I bought a BMW GS and camped AK with the wife both in a tent and the occasional tempting lodge in the middle of nowhere. Had the son fly to AK so the two of us could ride/camp with two bikes down the AK Hwy towards the end of summer. That was a great father/son trip. So much so that we're considering another on motorcycles.

2014: We bought the 326SRX toyhauler, primarily for boondocking with an ATV. Its comfortable and allows us to explore the big empty of NV, it's ghost towns, abandoned mines and other interesting attractions.

I will always be indebted to the Boy Scouts for their introduction to camping and the principles and skills I learned as a kid stuck in suburbia too close to the city.

[GMcKenzie]

While I don't remember this, apparently my parents went tenting in June, 1965, and got flooded out. My diapers went floating downstream. Last time they tented as Mom put her foot down about a trailer and Dad got one a couple weeks later. So I've been in a trailer since I was ~ 4 months old.

[buzzcop63]

Back when tent's were made of "drilled cotton", they stunk, were stiff and small and the cot's were flimsy and the sleeping bag would get too hot or too cold and I would get tangled up with my leg's as I turned a lot and then their is the run to the out house at 3 am which stank. Those are my earliest memories and I would guess it would be around the early 50's. I do remember great times during the day running and playing on the trails through the woods of Eastern Oregon, our coast and in the Cascades. Then dad bought a 16' or so Travel Trailer which he towed with a 51 Ford, I remember the trailer had an ice box, light was from a double filament pressurized light and my brother of 6 years older would sleep on the folded down kitchen table and mom and dad had the bed in the back. I thought it was pure luxury!

Late 50's and the Travel Trailer got sold and no camping for a several years and then Mom and Pop started making money in a new business venture and got into boating. During the summer of my freshman year in High school we spent every weekend out on the river camping in a 25" Chris Craft, then a 28' Tolleycraft and finally a 34' houseboat with a big V-8 engine. That camping went on through collage and after wife and I married way back in 1967. Parents sold off the boat in the 70's. I got into motorcycles in 1970 and went back to sleeping bags tossed on the ground in some far off part of Oregon and eventually graduated up to a pup tent. Their were times when the bugs were big enough that the only way to get away from them was to zip up the sleeping bag and hope you still got enough air to last the night! But as I got older and the bike trips got longer the call of the Motel took over and so camping was put aside again until 2012 when wife and I purchased our 27' Cougar. Now in retirement we go out an average of 44 nights during Oregon's summer months and absolutely love it. Our state is beautiful and the county and state parks are great destinations camping spots.

[Mhoward324]

I began camping when I was in my single digits. My parents would team up with uncles, aunts, and cousins and every year we would do a two week tent camping trip to Cedar Point County Park in Eastern, LI. That was about 40 years ago and the camping trips stopped after we moved out of NYC and did not start up again until 2008 when we bought our first camper, a Keystone Passport 245RB. From there we moved up to a larger Jayco Jay Flight 325BHDS and this year we bought our first 5er, a Laredo 325RL.

Most of our trips are in Northern NY with weekend trips to the local state parks (Cedar Point State Park, Wellesley Island State Park, Coles Creek State Park, and Robert Moses State Park) along the St Lawrence River. We do take two, week long trips a year and this year those are in Watkins Glen starting this Friday and in September to Maine at the Moorings Oceanfront RV Resort.

We've been out once in the Laredo on what was our shakedown trip. Discovered issues with the water pump and diverter valve which has since been resolved and looking forward to getting on the road Friday!!

We schedule at least one weekend trip a month between May and October, but usually get two weekends a month in. This year we have 8 trips scheduled and still looking to get more in if we can!

[kjohn]

I had never trailer camped until 2012 when I bought a near new Jayco 197, with the intention of using it mostly for gopher shooting expeditions and other hunting trips. Well, we are now on our third trailer, and likely our last, a new Cougar 21RBS. We have covered some major miles since 2012, that's for sure.

I have slept in a tent a few times in the past, but not on a "trip", so to speak. My old Dad would have rather joined the French Foreign Legion than go camping. :lol:

I love trailering now. :cool:

[scottz]

I've been camping all my life. Of course started with my parents, then, as others have mentioned, Boy Scouts. I've camped in everything from sleeping on a tarp (no tent needed in AZ winters), tents, pick-up trucks, station wagons (pulling my race bikes). Finally got the first RV (cab over camper) in 1979 and have had some sort of RV ever since. After the camper, we have had four bumper pull trailers and two 5th wheels. All camping is fun; some trips more adventuresome than others. Like the time I let the bumper pull slide off a muddy side hill in Idaho and it took two days of digging, cutting trees and winching to get it out; it was not funny at the time but we laugh about it now. Or the time I flooded a trailer (full time then) in the winter and came home to 3" of ice covering the floor in the entire unit. Maybe we should start a thread for people to post their "adventures". In any case, all good memories.

[theasphaltrv'er]

Number of Years Camping/RVing...... 67 yrs.

[RandyandDeb]

We are now on our .25 year. Started in April of this year. ��

[Tbos]

We are now on our .25 year. Started in April of this year. ��



We hope you enjoy the new experiences and camping lifestyle.


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