Back when camping was camping

[senior-cit]

Iknown thought I would post this to bring all of us who have these homes on wheels and "camp-out now.
Back years ago, my wufe and our then 2 children took a camping vacation down into Kentucky to stay in a State Park.
Packed evetthing in a 2-wheeled trailer, we tented, and I had installed a plywood area in the back seat so the kids could play. Yes, I know, they weren't restrained, no seat belt law in the "olden days". Unkown to me at the time, my wife had put a small cooler with fresh eggs in the back window. We arrived at our campsite, only to discover our son had gotten into the eggs and you can guess the mess.Wifey tosses the egg mess into the woods and I informed her that we are going to attract animals tonight. Off to bed we go and about 2hrs. later, we hear something outside out tent. Our tent, being well used, had a zipper that wouldn't zip all the way down, so got flashlight out and snuck a peak outside and stared face-to=face with the biggest skunk in the forest. Now unfortunatly he wants to come in and the tent won't zip up so we took the diaper pins off our son and as careful as we could, we fastened the tent opening up. After trying several times to get in and us huddled in a corner of the tent, laying out a plan, he left. After a while we went back to bed until the next morning, and life went on.

[crosscheck]

Some great stories about the some of the good old days of camping. Thanks. Brings back good memories for sure.




Cooking over the fire. The only way we cooked in 1978. The future Mrs. Crosscheck, Smithers- Vancouver, BC cycle trip.




Camping on Vancouver Island, same trip.




Cycling in Austria, summer, 2013. Nothing much changes in 35 years.

Dave

[ksbowman]

In the sixties and seventies our family camped and fished almost every weekend. First in a tent and a 1959 Rambler station wagon that all the seats laid down making it relatively flat. Then my Dad had an idea that he could make a camping trailer that was built on a boat trailer and when the boat was launched different panels moved around and became living quarters, much like todays toy haulers. It made my Mothers life much easier. When I hunt I still tent camp most of the time, but have a 5th wheel for my lazier hunts.

[FordDiesel250]

I started with the Scouts in the sixties while my DW camped her entire life with her family of 10. Her Dad was a scoutmaster and when the troop went out so did the entire family. After we were married with children we bought her family's old popup and our camping trips really took off. Up until then we tented and as we got older it was nice to get off of the ground. Great memories of the things we did with the kids and the simple things that kept them entertained.

[Trlrboy]

When we got married our honeymoon with a 4 week tent camping trip that went from NJ down to Carlsbad Caverns in NM and then up through 5 national parks in the west and back to NJ. We did this in a 1979 MGB convertible. We still say it was the best trip we ever did.

[Supercharged]

1951 Chev, state fair, tent, 4 older brothers, water in jars, ham , bread, cookies, one week, we talk about it today. 63 years ago.

[Katdaddy]

I joined the Boy Scouts when I was a kid to get to go camping. My parents idea of roughing it is staying in a 3 star hotel, rather than a 5 star. Been at it ever since. We do most of our camping now days in a fifth wheel, but still have the tent and accessories and take an annual Spring trip to Cades Cove in the tent.

[goin2themountai]

I've spent plenty of nights keeping the rain off my face with a dirty forearm before buying a tent. DW had a penchant for wanting to leave on a long weekend camping trip right after I got off work, so I have set up the tent many times at midnight in the rain with a flashlight clamped under my elbow. In DW's latter years we moved to a 5er and private campgrounds so she could have her oxygen collector plugged in all night. Now, while I love taking the 5er out, my youngest son and I will load a tent and sleeping bags to pull an ATV and dirtbike into the high country. I have given up sleeping on the rocks altogether though. We set the tent up on the utility trailer for the night.

[mlslcan]

I have pretty much used all of the different means to "camp" or rv - backpacking in the mountains, tent camping, pop up (borrowed), truck camper,taken seats out of mini van, bumper pull trailer, fifth wheel (with friends), class c (inlaws) and currently own a class a. They all have their benefits / drawbacks and have created many memories. I still desire to backpack, have used the tent as recently as last summer but like using the motor home as much as possible.

Now for the best story I have.

In the late 70's my dad took me and my twin brother tent camping for a few days at Buccaneer State Park on the Gulf Coast in MS. As we were pulling in to the camp ground we could see the afternoon thunderstorm coming in off of the water. We rushed to set the tent up before the storm hit and succeeded. The first drops of rain fell as we put in the last stake. We retreated to the tent to wait out the storm before cooking dinner. My dad being tired of driving all day and putting up the tent fell quick asleep. My dad woke up hollowing at us to quit horse playing since we knocked the tent over. We stated that it was not us. As we found our way out of the tent we noticed that there were branches all over the place, other people were scrambling around and the hail was golf ball size. The park rangers came through checking on people and stated that a tornado was spawned from the storm proving that it was not us causing the damage that time.

Although there was damage and some scrapes and bruises there were no serious injuries in the camp ground.

Mike

[MNGeeks61]

We started out in a Coleman 9 ft tent. I think it was our third trip that we made reservations at a KOA up the road from us in St. Cloud, MN (or was it Clearwater?). The tent site we got was close to a cemetery and had only two trees but otherwise was wide open. That night, the wind picked up and the downpour began. I spent about 20 minutes sopping wet trying to tie off the tent to one tree on one side and the cemetery fence on the other side. DW spent the night huddling in our sleeping bags because it got pretty chilly for June, maybe into the 40's. The wind kept both of us awake most of the night because the tent kept threating to blow over while she worried about the cemetery fence and wildlife coming into the tent to get warm.

That was one of the few less than fun tent trips we had, most of them were very enjoyable.

[2012Coleman]

Camping in my TT is still camping to me - and to my children. And yes I started in a tent. I do the same things while camping, but now I have a warm or cool place to sleep and better choice for stuff to do if the weather stinks. I don't pine for the tent days at all.

[LilJack]

Good stories here, thanks for the read.
Wife and I did the tent thing too, motorcycle and a tent. You get real good at packing that way.
Decided to upgrade so we built a Tear Drop camper in our carport. Took a couple of months and had it setup with hutch kitchen and even cable tv. Then, first trip, find out the Wife is a bit claustrophobic. Also discovered you cannot be anti-social in that thing. Woke up one morning to some guy sitting out side waiting on us to get up so he can ask about the camper. Told him he better have coffee.

[oldbeek]

We started with a 1947 jeep cj2a with a 1965 ford v-8 engine and a 1947 3x6 Bantam, jeep trailer with a aluminum dome top and built in camp kitchen at the tailgate. We would take 2 and 3 day trips into the CA-NV desert with 3 children (oldest 10) carrying only 5 gallons of water and would sometimes return home with water left over. One memorable trip on new years weekend we camped at 9,000 ft elevation above Death Valley. It was 10 degree F. DW was trying to wash the dishes but her dish rag would freeze when she would pull it out of the dish water. Our gear was not suited for this cold and we nearly froze. Next week we bought new sub 0 sleeping bags. Still have that same old jeep and trailer. Doesn't get used much!

[JiminDenver]

When my family started camping when I was 5, it was a tent. When that progressed into a pop up and then trailer, my brother and I stayed in a small two man pup and we were happy too. The campers were hot and stuffy, the old man snored and farted and we could not get away with anything.

When Honey and I started camping in the 80's it was out of a van and then a old can ham trailer. Neither were much more than a hard sided tent to sleep in. I barely could fit on the trailers bed, sit at the table or stand up so we decided to switch to a tent for more room.

The first one was a two room with one being a screened porch. We thought that would be nice except there were no curtains for privacy and while the screen was so tight a breeze couldn't get through, the rain had to such issues. After waking up to 6 inches of water a few times, we decided to try a different tent.

That's when we got the Mountain Manor. A 10x20, 8 1/2 ft tall, 3 room tent with 9 windows and four doors. In one end goes a king sized air mattress, the other is the bathroom/ storage with the kitchen and a seating area in the middle. It's nice having that kind of room when it rains for 3 days. We sat there as the tent tilted one way and then the other but never went down.

The last time we used the Mountain manor was a test run to see how the dogs would handle it. The dogs handled it well, my back not so much. So now we have the trailer and are enjoying having showers and heat, tenting will always be a fond memory but it's going to stay that way.

[welove2drive]

Yes, tent = rain! We tent camped with our kids from the time they were 10 months old. We always made the best of it despite the rain and have some wonderful memories. When they were in college we bought a small TT. Our first week long trip around MO, AR & TX it rained every day! We were so excited to have an awning and a roof over our head even if we had to battle a leak! Bracing for another ice/snow storm in the St. Louis area tomorrow. For the last three years we have camped the second weekend in March... I'm sure it will be good camping weather by then:)
Happy Camping Everyone!
Marcia