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Old 11-29-2020, 04:19 AM   #1
jasin1
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Camping nostalgia

I didn’t want to hijack another thread “traveling bug” but it got me thinking. How has rving and camping changed or stayed the same for those of you that have been camping since the 1960’s and 70’s or earlier. I love history and I especially love tradition. There is something comforting to me about doing things as a family the same way over the years. I do love new things but we also enjoy going back to familiar places. I know they have WiFi at private campgrounds but state parks seem to me very traditional. Like you could squint your eyes and look around and it just might be 1972 with more modern campers ..... I just feel like camping is one of the last American ( and international) traditions that has stood the test of time.
I’d be interested to hear other members stories about camping from many years ago Thanks
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Old 11-29-2020, 02:25 PM   #2
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And........crickets........lol ... tough crowd
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Old 11-29-2020, 02:55 PM   #3
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My first camping trip was Labor Day 1968, and I was all of a month old, so I guess you can say it’s in my blood. Our first camper was a 1964 Apache tent trailer.

As we grew we went to a 19’ Nomad in 1972 then to a 26’ Nomad in 1975 when my Grandfather came to live with us.

When I went off on my own at 18, it was just a basic tent until I bought my first camper in 1995; a 1972 Starcraft Starmaster 8 pop-up (a real fixer-upper that I sold for 6x what I had into it) then a 2000 Coleman Bayside Elite pop-up, then a 2003 Jayco Kiwi 23B, then a divorce and remarriage and back to tent camping with the motorcycle until we adopted our daughter.

In the interest of instilling the love of the outdoors to a new generation, we sold our beloved Harley and bought a truck and our current Passport (that might give an idea of the value of the Harley we sold). As painful as it was to sell the bike (I have been riding motorcycles since I was 8) it has been worth it to see the love of the outdoors and camping that has blossomed in our little girl.

Up until our newest camper, we had camped exclusively at State park campgrounds (none of which had hookups). We enjoyed and preferred the woods and the trees separating the campsites, the old brown painted buildings reminding me of summer camps of my youth and the stone fireplaces typically built by the CCC in the 1930’s. We still prefer those campgrounds, but with two English Bulldogs traveling with us now, having power is now a must-have for the AC to keep them cool and healthy, and I must admit us humans like it too.
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Old 11-29-2020, 02:58 PM   #4
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I started out as #2 of 5 kids in a Sears 3 room tent. We thought we were Sh$$ing in tall Cotton. Ended up in a 1969 Ideal TT.

Fast forward to marriage and kids. Started with a 3 person tent so we could bring the boat. 3 kids meant no boat and a cab over camper. Then my first fiver, 1989 terry resort 215B. No A/C no awning $4800.00 included hitch. Lost it in a flood in 1986, and got divorced. Insurance paid for a new 1996 Terry 27’ with 1 slide. A year later got married to current spouse and got a 1997 Jayco Eagle 323RKS. Took it across the country in 2009, decided it was too big and spent 3 yrs looking for current trailer. Paradise fire burnt my middle son and family out so they lived in it in my back yard for a few months. Can’t wait to get time to deal with the issues caused by them and thier rottwieller.

All in all lots of great memories, couldn’t imagine life without an RV.
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Old 11-29-2020, 03:00 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog View Post
My first camping trip was Labor Day 1968, and I was all of a month old, so I guess you can say it’s in my blood. Our first camper was a 1964 Apache tent trailer.

As we grew we went to a 19’ Nomad in 1972 then to a 26’ Nomad in 1975.

When I went off on my own at 18, it was just a basic tent until I bought my first camper in 1995; a 1972 Starcraft Starmaster 8 pop-up, then a 2000 Coleman Bayside Elite pop-up, then a 2003 Jayco Kiwi 23B, then a divorce and remarriage and back to tent camping with the motorcycle until we adopted our daughter.

In the interest of instilling the love of the outdoors to a new generation, we sold our beloved Harley and bought a truck and our current Passport (that might give an idea of the value of the Harley we sold). As painful as it was to sell the bike (I have been riding motorcycles since I was 8) it has been worth it to see the love of the outdoors and camping that has blossomed in our little girl.

Up until our newest camper, we had camped exclusively at State park campgrounds (none of which had hookups). We enjoyed and preferred the woods and the trees separating the campsites, the old brown painted buildings reminding me of summer camps of my youth and the stone fireplaces typically built by the CCC in the 1930’s. We still prefer those campgrounds, but with two English Bulldogs traveling with us now, having power is now a must-have for the AC to keep them cool and healthy, and I must admit us humans like it too.
Thanks for replying! I love those old tent campers from the 50s and 60s. And I’m sure it was hard to sell the Harley but you will be repaid 100 times over in smiles and memories with your daughter and your family
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Old 11-29-2020, 03:09 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by chuckster57 View Post
I started out as #2 of 5 kids in a Sears 3 room tent. We thought we were Sh$$ing in tall Cotton. Ended up in a 1969 Ideal TT.

Fast forward to marriage and kids. Started with a 3 person tent so we could bring the boat. 3 kids meant no boat and a cab over camper. Then my first fiver, 1989 terry resort 215B. No A/C no awning $4800.00 included hitch. Lost it in a flood in 1986, and got divorced. Insurance paid for a new 1996 Terry 27’ with 1 slide. A year later got married to current spouse and got a 1997 Jayco Eagle 323RKS. Took it across the country in 2009, decided it was too big and spent 3 yrs looking for current trailer. Paradise fire burnt my middle son and family out so they lived in it in my back yard for a few months. Can’t wait to get time to deal with the issues caused by them and thier rottwieller.

All in all lots of great memories, couldn’t imagine life without an RV.
Yeah memories are what it’s all about for me. I want to make this life as good as it can be for my family and not wallow in the negative things in this world
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Old 11-29-2020, 03:51 PM   #7
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My parents weren't into camping much. I remember 2 times when I was young - both with borrowed equipment and both ended badly; got lost on the first trip when I was about 5 trying to head to Utah, generator went bad on a borrowed truck with a borrowed canvas bed cover for us to sleep in and I was relegated to "wave down" someone in the middle of the night. 2nd time we were on a camping trip in the mountains of NM I grew to love. They knew nothing about camping and had a borrowed tent (about 1959). Dad just left all the cooking gear outside along with a skillet filled with bacon grease when we went to bed. In the middle of the night I woke him and told him there was something "snooting" around the tent - he just poofahed me and told me to go to sleep. I sat there and listened to it then the next thing I know the side of the tent is ripped out and crashing down on my sister on a cot (I was on the ground) with a big bear's paws landing on the edge of the cot. Lord the screaming and yelling! The bear was terrified as much as they were (a large beautiful red colored black bear). Dad yelled at it and put the flashlight on it but it happily licked the skillet clean, tore open the ice chest and took what it wanted then left. We did too the next morning.

Although weird, I developed a love for the outdoors, fishing and the mountains on my own with my friends as a teenager. I left home at 16 and went on my way. I found any and every way to get to camp and be in the mountains (or desert). Bought a shop built cabover camper in 1969. Put it on a 1969 Chevy C10 and began my education in weights (and being overweight). I had my son young and he was with us on every trip. I swore he would get the kind of time in the outdoors I didn't....and he did - experiences of every kind, including finding a baby deer separated from its mom, carrying it and looking for the mother. The baby was crying and we finally heard the mother as we walked in a gully (in the dark) hoping to find her. Saw her with my flashlight so told my son to let the baby go. Man, it went straight to the mom and she was so happy. Something we remember to this day - about 1980.

Started with the cabover, then back to tents, then to pop ups, Layton travel trailer, Terry Taurus travel trailer and on and on. My kids were with us every step of the way and we made so many unforgettable memories. My son is as avid a camper as there is and relives those old days all the time (he's 52). My DD loved camping with us but her husband and daughters don't care for it so they don't go much.

Our lives and memories would be very bland (and empty) without camping. As we have aged our camping style has changed. We now use developed campgrounds exclusively due to health and convenience. Used to be I couldn't stand the thought of an RV park; trees, campfire, black at night, quiet....that's what I loved.....and still do.
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Old 11-29-2020, 04:07 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by sourdough View Post
My parents weren't into camping much. I remember 2 times when I was young - both with borrowed equipment and both ended badly; got lost on the first trip when I was about 5 trying to head to Utah, generator went bad on a borrowed truck with a borrowed canvas bed cover for us to sleep in and I was relegated to "wave down" someone in the middle of the night. 2nd time we were on a camping trip in the mountains of NM I grew to love. They knew nothing about camping and had a borrowed tent (about 1959). Dad just left all the cooking gear outside along with a skillet filled with bacon grease when we went to bed. In the middle of the night I woke him and told him there was something "snooting" around the tent - he just poofahed me and told me to go to sleep. I sat there and listened to it then the next thing I know the side of the tent is ripped out and crashing down on my sister on a cot (I was on the ground) with a big bear's paws landing on the edge of the cot. Lord the screaming and yelling! The bear was terrified as much as they were (a large beautiful red colored black bear). Dad yelled at it and put the flashlight on it but it happily licked the skillet clean, tore open the ice chest and took what it wanted then left. We did too the next morning.

Although weird, I developed a love for the outdoors, fishing and the mountains on my own with my friends as a teenager. I left home at 16 and went on my way. I found any and every way to get to camp and be in the mountains (or desert). Bought a shop built cabover camper in 1969. Put it on a 1969 Chevy C10 and began my education in weights (and being overweight). I had my son young and he was with us on every trip. I swore he would get the kind of time in the outdoors I didn't....and he did - experiences of every kind, including finding a baby deer separated from its mom, carrying it and looking for the mother. The baby was crying and we finally heard the mother as we walked in a gully (in the dark) hoping to find her. Saw her with my flashlight so told my son to let the baby go. Man, it went straight to the mom and she was so happy. Something we remember to this day - about 1980.

Started with the cabover, then back to tents, then to pop ups, Layton travel trailer, Terry Taurus travel trailer and on and on. My kids were with us every step of the way and we made so many unforgettable memories. My son is as avid a camper as there is and relives those old days all the time (he's 52). My DD loved camping with us but her husband and daughters don't care for it so they don't go much.

Our lives and memories would be very bland (and empty) without camping. As we have aged our camping style has changed. We now use developed campgrounds exclusively due to health and convenience. Used to be I couldn't stand the thought of an RV park; trees, campfire, black at night, quiet....that's what I loved.....and still do.
Great story! Sounds like a nice life. If people looked at what they have around them they would see that they are millionaires and don’t even know it. I’ve always said I hit the lottery when I look at my wife and kids and what they mean to me

The Bear story reminded me of when I was about 10 my grandfather bought 7acres of farm land from a Russian man near OC Maryland. It was just dirt and fields. He put an old popup camper in the middle of the field that he towed down with his old rambler 4 door. Well no one told the Bull and herd of cows that we were the new owners because I can remember being surrounded by a herd of cows at dusk and a bull huffing and puffing and snorting looking like he was going to ram the popup and kill us all. My grandfather was trying to “sleep” after being at the American legion for a meeting so he was no help. My grandmother,me and my sister were practically in tears. The old Russian man appeared and yelled something in Russian and the whole herd....bull and all abruptly turned and went back through the fence......my grandmother made grandpop put a mobile home there shortly after lol I don’t think she ever went in the popup again
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Old 11-29-2020, 06:18 PM   #9
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My family never camped or RVed. I'm the first in my family (my son now has his own). Always had a thing for trailers, of all types. Loved the idea of mobility on demand, whether for lodging or for storage. Wanted to buy and live in an RV straight out of college, was dissuaded by my sibs. Over the next 30 years, did a minor amount of tent-ish camping with my two boys in Scouts. Didn't buy my first rig until 1998, and we've had one ever since. Luckily, DW was as enthusiastic. Immediately fulltimed for a year doing a grand tour of the US with our 10-year-old. After that, made cross-country Southland trips and other excursions pretty much annually until COVID.
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Old 11-30-2020, 04:59 AM   #10
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My family never camped or RVed. I'm the first in my family (my son now has his own). Always had a thing for trailers, of all types. Loved the idea of mobility on demand, whether for lodging or for storage. Wanted to buy and live in an RV straight out of college, was dissuaded by my sibs. Over the next 30 years, did a minor amount of tent-ish camping with my two boys in Scouts. Didn't buy my first rig until 1998, and we've had one ever since. Luckily, DW was as enthusiastic. Immediately fulltimed for a year doing a grand tour of the US with our 10-year-old. After that, made cross-country Southland trips and other excursions pretty much annually until COVID.
Thanks for replying. I would love to be able to take a year off and see the whole country
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