Camping for Life

I have enjoyed camping for longer than I can remember. My family enjoyed camping, and prioritized spending time with each other. Often, the trips included grandparents, aunts and uncles and/or friends. In the beginning, we camped in a tent.

That first photo is my daddy and me. I was teeny weeny. The second one shows me a little older, but in front of the same tent. Eventually, my family got a pop-up camper. Also, my sister joined the fun!

The pop up camper was neat. My parents eventually hung a curtain down the middle rod over our bed so that we would leave each other alone. Some time after that, we upgraded to a pull-behind camper. It had an overhead bunk that we could climb into to sleep and a lower bed for my parents. When more family joined us, they could bring tents.

Camping was something that we did a lot of. My daddy got us all matching hats and my parents brought so many things along for fun. You can see in the photos that we had a carpet in front of the camper, chairs, swings… I recall us having a set of darts that was SO much fun to play with. My grandparents got a camper too and would set up their site beside ours so that we could adventure together. My Oma and Opa would bring their matching bicycles and we would all bring ours too. Our family eventually upgraded to a camper with bunks, so that my sister and I had our own space.

We lived in Maryland and traveled to so many places. We went to Florida to go to Disney World. Maine was where we enjoyed huge lobsters in our camper. We took an epic trip “Out West” when I was a teenager. My grandparents brought their camper along for that one, too. I wasn’t the happiest camper- hormones.

We would wake, hours before dawn, and get take our pillows into the vehicle and sleep while Daddy drove and drove and drove. When it was time for breakfast, sometimes we would stop at McDonalds for their Big Breakfasts and then get back on the road. I remember stopping at rest stops for lunch and having our liverwurst sandwiches and German bread (SO GOOD!).

Camping was such a big deal for our family that my Daddy took inspiration from many photos from our adventures and painted an amazing painting of himself with my sister and me. Below is that painting. We tried to duplicate the scene as much as possible to celebrate. In the photo, you can see a ridiculous campfire (based on a real campfire we had once,) a tent like ours and our first bigger camper. I am super lucky to have this painting in my home!

Not only did we camp as a family, but my Mom was my Girl Scout Leader and my Dad was also a volunteer. Our family camped with our Girl Scout troop often and introduced many other families to camping in that way.

While we enjoyed tent camping, buying our first camper was super exciting! We called it “The Booger!” The green truck wasn’t beautiful in the typical sense, but it offered us a comfortable chance to have adventures on most weekends. We had one dog, back then, and took him everywhere. There were many places where we could park right next to a lake and my husband could go fishing and I could nap or read in the camper. Then, I could cook the fish he caught and we had amazing soups and goodies. We kept our freezer stocked with popsicles and coloring books and crayons in case we met families whose kids weren’t as enthused about the fishing as they were. My family was astounded to see that I quickly learned how to set up and maintain our new getaway vehicle.

After five years of living in Alaska, we decided that it was time to head back to the lower 48 states. My husband had been born and raised in Alaska, and I in Maryland. By that time, we had learned that I couldn’t have children and my health had declined. In order to facilitate flexibility in our location and affordability with one income, we decided to buy a fifth wheel trailer and make it our home. We drove from Alaska, through Canada and to Texas with our truck, fifth wheel and our Durango. We took turns driving the truck hauling the camper. The Durango served as the scout, driving ahead and radioing back if there were challenges ahead. We changed tires on the side of the road, learned that you should always get gas at every station in remote areas because the next station listed might not be open.

The adventure didn’t end there. Somewhere along the road (pun intended), I became pregnant with our son. If you made it this far and thought, “Wait, she said she can’t have kids.”, that’s what we thought too. My health was still being complicated and I ended up having pre-term labor and being told to rest as much as possible. My father-in-law actually came down from Alaska to help take care of me (us) during the end of my pregnancy. For part of that time, he lived IN our camper. He slept on a bed that came down from the ceiling in the toy hauler area. He was able to rent a camper unit at the resort and have his own space for the rest of the time he was there. Our son was born, healthy and strong and came home to the RV.

The resort had a wonderful laundry room and great wire rolling carts. Those carts were such a blessing when I was doing laundry with him. Another blessing was the amount of walk-able area in the park. I could easily walk the dogs and take the stroller for exercise. Once the little dude was able, we could also put him in his walker and he could explore like crazy. He really enjoyed the park. Many of the residents were in Houston for The Medical Center, or seasonal work like the Rodeo. Seeing a baby was a highlight for many of them.

Our son’s first birthday was celebrated in the RV Resort Clubhouse. The staff and some residents attended, as well as people from our church and family from out of town. He absolutely loved all of the attention there. He did wonderful, living in the RV. Things did get a little crowded and we purchased a house when he was about a year and a half old.

While we were in the process of buying our house, we learned that I was pregnant again. This time, we had a little girl. We didn’t camp again for several years. 2 years of RV living was enough to last a while. Two under two was also enough for a while. After a few years and having another little girl, we moved into another house. We ended up buying a giant tent to go camping with our AHG friends. I camped once with the girls, while our littlest was still nursing.

We knew we wanted to camp more as a family, but we also knew we didn’t handle the heat well. We bought our first family camper- a pop-up. The pop up was fun and my husband got to take the girls camping a few times in it. After a situation where some hardware failed while I was trying to pack up to come home and my husband had to come rescue us to help, we ended up repairing it and upgrading.

In anticipation of my traveling to the East Coast to visit family, we purchased a Minnie Winnie motor home.

Unfortunately, the Minnie had maintenance issues that became quite burdensome AND my oldest daughter and I got involved with Backpacking with Girl Scouts. We decided to sell the Minnie Winnie, after all and invest in our camp gear.

Since getting involved in Backpacking with Girl Scouts, I have steadily acquired more gear. We have several types of tents in various sizes and whenever possible, I glamp a little too. I have learned I much prefer my tent to a dorm as I like my privacy. I rarely travel without fairy lights, though. In fact, my camp name is “The OP” (The Over-Packer).

Our adventures are far from over. Eventually, I’d love to have a camper again. Texas summers are too hot for me to enjoy camping during them without AC. For now, I greatly enjoy my shelves of various gear and seeing the joy on young faces as they get to explore the world by being right out there in it. I hope you enjoyed seeing our journey and maybe we will see you on the trail one day!