I'd have to go way back to 1966 when my parents rented a tent camper (as they were called in those days) for our travels down South to visit Myrtle Beach, to some former neighbors who moved to Tennesee, and my dad's Army buddy in Texas. My dad cooked all our meals on a Coleman gas stove outside on a picnic table (under one wing of the camper in bad weather). Maybe "magical" isn't the right word, but we had a blast. Did that for a few more years but as we grew the experience wasn't quite the same. My parents eventually bought a cabin tent and before you know it my brother and I were off to college.
Fast forward to 1985 - my new wife & I used that tent on our honeymoon, then graduated to a Coleman pop-up around 1992. We had some moments that were the polar opposite of "magical." To my continued astonishment, we are still married. By 1997 there were four of us instead of two and that year saw our purchase of a used 15' Sunline. The thunderbolt hit our first weekend out with that TT on the "shakedown cruise" - THIS is what we were going to be doing as a family.
Even before a year went by in that Sunline we knew a larger TT was in our future as the kids got bigger and we got closer to our real goal - touring the United States. It took us 9 years and 35,000 miles but as we look back there is not a thing any of us would change.
The kids are grown now, and as I write this I'm next to a small campfire at our site in a CG in New York. For DW and me, this is still what we want to do. We are already making plans for the summer of 2017.
