Are you from an RV/camping family?
- Thread starter Zzman
- Start date
T & R Willson
Member
Tom did not yet I did, of course that was when camping was camping and not glamping! Our camper was a station wagon my Dad outfitted. There was a long low box built on the top to carry everything in, which doubled as a sleeping space. The back hatch swung open where he had fixed a mini kitchen. A place for a little 2 burner camp stove, a hole for a water basin and some shelving. Then the back seat would fold down and be more sleeping space. My Dad loved trout and fly fishing along with rock hounding, so many of our trips included these activities. Many wonderful memories! They got their first camper in the 60's a tiny Boeler it was a good thing my parents were not real tall, I think it was only 6' at its tallest.
spasm3
Active member
It used to mean searching for various types of rocks/minerals collecting. Like quartz, geodes etc.
T & R Willson
Member
One of my Dads favorite things was hunting agates, especially the rare ones you don't see often. Cold water agates were his best, and of course they were always close to a trout stream!
No not really. I tried tent camping and hated it. But my brother has a camper and loves to go and sometimes I've visit. I also have a friend who just sold his 36-foot older motorhome for a nicer 30 + foot motorhome.
No doubt a camper would be wonderful. Bed, air, heat!
ctechbob
Well-known member
Sort of? But not really?
When I was 5, my parents co-owned a motorhome and I remember taking exactly one trip in that before they got rid of it. (I'm sure there were others, but I don't remember them.)
My grandfather was a huge RV'er though and would go 'out west' usually once a year, although oddly, when he retired, he sort of gave that up and stayed around home. He kept that camper as a man cave and I spent many a day in the summer sitting out in it getting him to tell me stories of whatever came to mind while I helped him reload his hunting ammunition. He loved traveling out there, but I don't really know if the camping was part of that love, or just a means to the end of being able to afford to do it. That I'm not sure of, although he did own at least 3 different camping rigs through the years.
We think this was his first one in 1966:
I've always had it in the back of my brain that I wanted to travel/camp, it just took me almost 50 years of my life to get to a point where I could do it, but growing up, I didn't have a ton of exposure to it. So, is it in the genetics? Who knows.
Grandad in what I estimate to be the late 70's at the Grand Canyon
His last camping setup. He'd had a few others before this, but this is the one I remember. I also remember that that Dodge had a massive extra fuel tank in the bed. No telling how far it would go on a fill-up. It still exists as a rotting hulk in the woods near their old house that my mom now owns. The camper finally rotted into the ground and was hauled off.
When I was 5, my parents co-owned a motorhome and I remember taking exactly one trip in that before they got rid of it. (I'm sure there were others, but I don't remember them.)
My grandfather was a huge RV'er though and would go 'out west' usually once a year, although oddly, when he retired, he sort of gave that up and stayed around home. He kept that camper as a man cave and I spent many a day in the summer sitting out in it getting him to tell me stories of whatever came to mind while I helped him reload his hunting ammunition. He loved traveling out there, but I don't really know if the camping was part of that love, or just a means to the end of being able to afford to do it. That I'm not sure of, although he did own at least 3 different camping rigs through the years.
We think this was his first one in 1966:
I've always had it in the back of my brain that I wanted to travel/camp, it just took me almost 50 years of my life to get to a point where I could do it, but growing up, I didn't have a ton of exposure to it. So, is it in the genetics? Who knows.
Grandad in what I estimate to be the late 70's at the Grand Canyon
His last camping setup. He'd had a few others before this, but this is the one I remember. I also remember that that Dodge had a massive extra fuel tank in the bed. No telling how far it would go on a fill-up. It still exists as a rotting hulk in the woods near their old house that my mom now owns. The camper finally rotted into the ground and was hauled off.
Last edited:
AutoMechanic
Active member
I’ve never considered myself one. We’ve been camping occasionally but my dad can’t sleep on the ground and even struggles with an air mattress. We have also stayed in cabins and cottages. My grandma had an RV for awhile but it was old and a piece of junk. I don’t mind camping as it’s so peaceful but I consider vacation staying in a hotel and seeing a baseball game. But I do love camping especially if there is a place to fish.
Looking at those pictures is the very definition of reminiscing. So cool to see them 50 years later.
Reminds me so much of sitting and talking to my grandfather. Hearing about farming with horses and working in the wheat fields of the Dakotas when he was a kid during the depression.
That's kinda sad. An end.
ctechbob
Well-known member
To be fair, they lived in PA and that poor Dodge had more salt rot on it than anything I've ever seen before. I think it actually ran up until 5 years ago or so, but they finally shoved it back in the woods when the frame broke to the point if couldn't be patched anymore.
Yea, I really enjoyed scanning all of those old pictures, I'm in a bunch of them, but I'm anywhere from newborn to 5yo or something.
I miss the old dude, he was a helluva guy with some good stories. I'm blessed to have grown up with all 4 of my grandparents and I didn't start losing them until I was in my late 20's so I was old enough to absorb a lot of the things they told me, and smart enough to listen. Still have one of them left as well.
Last edited: