RV park "camping"

[jimlj]

Is there anyone who actually camps any more?
As a youth camping meant loading up the '55 Ford pickup with tents and sleeping bags, the old Coleman ice box and stove and heading for the forest. When dad bought the first camper it was a single axle '66 Shasta with modern things like a refrigerator that needed no ice and a water heater. Since then I have owned several TT's. Until March of this year I had never stayed anywhere with full hookups.


As an electrician, last week I located and repaired a broken underground wire at a RV Park and it got me thinking about "camping". Talking to a few of the customers at this park made me realize this was not a stop along the route to empty the holding tanks and fill with fresh water, but the destination. I do enjoy having the fridge and a hot shower, and the last few campers I've owned even have a bed that is not part of the dinette or couch. but staying in a RV park is not "camping" as far as I'm concerned. Anyone else camp where there is no wireless internet and the closest electricity involves putting gasoline in a generator and pulling the rope?

[BubbaChris]

jimlj wrote:

I'm afraid you would go through the rest of your life saying "I can't un-see that" if I posted a video. In my OP I wasn't criticizing any ones form of camping, I just had never thought of being at a RV park as camping. In March of this year I spent a couple weeks in Mesquite NV at a RV park and as I said it was the first time I ever had water/sewer hook up with a TT. I have owned 4 since my dad bought his Shasta, and other than a generator or plugging them in at the house getting ready to go, they never had power to them.

While you were in Mesquite it would have been a pretty short drive to some BLM land boondocking. No hook-ups, few neighbors and all that. There must have been a nice reason to stay in the RV park, right?

We've camped off and on for years. But it was always infrequent and sometimes uncomfortable. We've done all variety of visits in our TT and the amenities mean we go out for over 50 nights a year.

I do find we spend less and less time in FHU areas, and I could see buying some property so I'm parking well away from neighbors.

[jimlj]

DallasSteve wrote:

HadEnough wrote:
When your dad got the Shasta, other people probably thought he wasn't camping anymore either.

Same with that fancy Coleman stove you used to carry. What, you didn't build a real wood fire to cook like a true camper? 😉

Excellent reply. On Naked And Afraid they have no clothes and they can only take one helpful item. Anything more than that is not real camping. (Don't forget to post your video)

I'm afraid you would go through the rest of your life saying "I can't un-see that" if I posted a video. In my OP I wasn't criticizing any ones form of camping, I just had never thought of being at a RV park as camping. In March of this year I spent a couple weeks in Mesquite NV at a RV park and as I said it was the first time I ever had water/sewer hook up with a TT. I have owned 4 since my dad bought his Shasta, and other than a generator or plugging them in at the house getting ready to go, they never had power to them.

[DallasSteve]

HadEnough wrote:
When your dad got the Shasta, other people probably thought he wasn't camping anymore either.

Same with that fancy Coleman stove you used to carry. What, you didn't build a real wood fire to cook like a true camper? 😉

Excellent reply. On Naked And Afraid they have no clothes and they can only take one helpful item. Anything more than that is not real camping. (Don't forget to post your video)

[ScottG]

As with others, we started out sleeping on the ground, sometimes without even a tent. Once a child came along, we progressed to a Pop-up, TC, etc.
I don't think anyone's form of camping is any more legitimate than anyone else's.

[Ductape_Dave]

For almost ten years from 1964 my dad would load up the willy's jeep and primitive camp at state forests with outhouses and hand pump well water. Then from there with my own family went to pop-up, travel trailer, class A motorhome, class C motorhome, and now a small travel trailer as empty nesters.
Most of us on here started out rough camping but as we get older we appreciate today's RV campground comforts.
But besides that I also have a trailer in the mountains at a 9000 acre atv park with no hookups and use a generator, solar power and collect rainwater, its an awesome place and the campground is 2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide so nobody is on top of each other, we enjoy both types of camping.

[ppine]

Camping goes back at least 5 generations in my family. We grew up that way. I am getting close to 70 but still like backpacking and a canvas wall tent with a wood stove in the cooler weather when the tourists go home. for river trips we use backpacking tents. An RV is handy for road trips in colder weather. I like boondock RV camping most of the time.

There is still something very rewarding about sitting by a good fire outside or in the wood stove, cooking with Dutch Ovens and sleeping outside or in a tent. Nature is is your lap. The view is the woods, desert and water instead of the side of someone's RV.

[westend]

I would still "camp" if the situation was worth the reward. I grew up with tents and even sleeping under the stars. Now, I have a TT with solar and batteries. The Starcraft is like an apartment on wheels, for sure. I try not to stop at RV campgrounds but boondock where appropriate.

[Walaby]

I used to camp

Now I glamp

Body too old to sleep on ground.

Mike

[Lwiddis]

Sure, I’d love to backpack again at least part of the time but my back says...no.

[Bobbo]

Our favorite place to take our TT are NFS or BLM campgrounds without any hookups. We like to boondock a lot. We spent 2 weeks at Yellowstone back in 2011 with no hookups at all. We would use a generator about every third day to recharge the batteries, and drive to the dump station when necessary to fill the fresh water tank or drain the holding tanks.

[GrandpaKip]

My parents never camped. They did boats instead, so I grew up sleeping on the water. As a teen and young adult, I did the backpacking, sleeping on the ground thing. Got a sailboat and water camped all over the Keys, Bahamas, etc.
Now we RV and stay in state, national, and county parks. We don’t boomdock. We only use the RV parking lots, aka KOA, to spend the night on the way to somewhere, unless there is no other choice. We look at our camper as a mobile apartment.

[D_E_Bishop]

Second Chance wrote:
Having grown up in New Mexico with an outdoorsman father, I thought getting in a homemade bedroll (usually surplus Army blankets, etc.) and rolling up in a tarp on the ground in the Gila Wilderness was normal. As a young adult I (and my wife when I got married) progressed through a couple of tents and then a Westfalia VW camper. Since we always used primitive areas I still considered this camping. Nowadays, as full-timers with all the modern amenities, I don't call ourselves campers... I just say, "We are RVers."

Rob

X 2

Our grandson who will be 17 Sept. 11, will be spending two weeks at Denali NP next month. Actually only 12 days backpacking with Boy Scouts from his Council. They get to plan their own trip with some help from a Scout Adventure Group. While he loves traveling in the Winnie, this is his real love.

He was supposed to go to Philmont in New Mexico but a fire closed the camp. He hopes to go next summer with the Order of the Arrow and help rebuild trails, buildings and other things damaged by the fire. All that will be backpacking, including picks and shovels.

Gotta love the young!

[theoldwizard1]

MI has a lot of State Forest Campgrounds. People would call them "primitive" campgrounds. No electricity, no water or sewer hookup. Pit outhouses.

Of course with modern RVs none of that matters.

[IB853347201]

We all "camped" as you called it, in a tent, when we were younger.
As one gets older one starts to appreciate the comforts of life, thus the RV.
Sleeping on the ground is not my idea of fun anymore!

[HadEnough]

When your dad got the Shasta, other people probably thought he wasn't camping anymore either.

Same with that fancy Coleman stove you used to carry. What, you didn't build a real wood fire to cook like a true camper? 😉

Camping is different things to everyone.

I used to camp like you did as a boy. Now I don't camp at all. I tour around the continent seeing things which may or may not involve nature at all.

We all have a certain personal itch to scratch that brings us joy. It's different for everyone.