Flashback to pre-Escape camping....

[cpaharley2008]

Found some old camper photos, Hyperlite, T@da, Lance, and Dutchman....we started camping when my wife went thru chemo and could not be around a lot of people.....

[Vermilye]

Here is a serious flash back - a 1950 trip across the country in a 1938 Plymouth towing a homemade camping trailer.

[cpaharley2008]

I see now where camping is in your blood.....Jon...

[oldwave]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Found some old camper photos, Hyperlite, T@da, Lance, and Dutchman....we started camping when my wife went thru chemo and could not be around a lot of people.....

Very Nice pictures and reminiscent!

[7Gentex]

Tents and a motorcycle for me for many years.............

N. Georgia / Cloudland Canyon SP (almost a 1k ride) and Kerrville, Tx (3 Sisters run)

Then a redone 1965 27' Avion for 5 years: (Blanco SP shown)

[Ron in BC]

My earlyist memories of tenting weren't so great.

First of all it was with the family in one of those old style canvas tents. Despite warnings not to touch the sloping canvas side when it was raining......kids will be kids and down sleeping bags don't dry out very quickly.

Then in my teenage years travelling cross country on my little Honda throwing part of a parachute over the bike and crawling in to sleep beside it. Wow, the ground can get hard in a hurry. Cold too.

And then there was the time my friend and his wife and I didn't have much in the way of camping equipment with us. They had a little pup tent with a floor. I had nothing but a tarp thrown over a picnic table. Then the heavy rain started. The water soon found its' way in. I envied their tent.

I heard this solid thunk, thunk coming from my friends tent. I asked him what the heck he was doing. Stabbing holes in the floor to let the water drain, he said.

I've paid my dues. Every time I hear the rain beating down on my Escape roof and I'm warmly tucked in my dry warm bed I smile. Every thing wasn't great in the old days.

Ron

[7Gentex]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

Here is a serious flash back - a 1950 trip across the country in a 1938 Plymouth towing a homemade camping trailer.

Looking at your website........

Where you in Hue during Tet?

My older brother was at Camp Radcliff (The golf course) during such then flown into Hue for "clearing". (MP with sentry dog)

Cousin was a Lt. Col. 1st Cav Airmobile ARA at An Khe/ Radcliff, (Blue Max) later became a base Cmdr. in Tx. as a full bird.

I, luckily, got to miss it.............too young.

[gbaglo]

Flash forward. Who is going to open the first virtual RV resort? And, who will be the first to book a virtual site?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/met...ness-1.6378908

[brroberts]

My parents started us in various tents. Then a 13’ Mobile Scout pulled by a slant 6 Dart. Often there would be 7 of us in that rig. Moved in to a 19’ Nomad in ‘73. I left home and downsized to a backpack. In ‘98 we bought a truck and an Alaskan Camper because we were living in the bush and wanted a refrigerator so we could have fresh produce when we came out to travel in the summer. Next was the used Bigfoot camper in 2008 followed by a used Rockwood 18’ trailer in 2014 and now the Escape. We visited with Reece in 2012 at the factory. They were closed, but he met us there to show us around. After owning boats and having to be meticulous about keeping the balsa cored deck sealed, and after having some paneling delaminate from the foam in the Bigfoot while living in a rain forest, l knew I wanted a single skin solid fiberglass shell.

[HABBERDABBER]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Flash forward. Who is going to open the first virtual RV resort? And, who will be the first to book a virtual site?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/met...ness-1.6378908

Some people early on made scads of money buying & selling internet domain names when it was starting. Looking around the world these days, I'd say humanity is losing it's grip on reality, if it ever had a grip. So metaverse is no new thing.

How about a vertical, high rise campground, a spiral parking garage structure where you can drive into and UP, and enjoy your virtual meal, camp out with full....I mean FULL hook-ups. Fiber-optic supplied wi-fi, 100 AMP electrical for all the gizmos and do-dads....you get the idea, No muss, no fuss.

Having real fun is a lot of work.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by 7Gentex

Looking at your website........

Where you in Hue during Tet?

My older brother was at Camp Radcliff (The golf course) during such then flown into Hue for "clearing". (MP with sentry dog)

Cousin was a Lt. Col. 1st Cav Airmobile ARA at An Khe/ Radcliff, (Blue Max) later became a base Cmdr. in Tx. as a full bird.

I, luckily, got to miss it.............too young.

I was in Hue after Tet. August 68 - 69.

[skiman]

My parents and I borrowed a tent and we went to the 1964 world fair. We stopped at a beautiful state park somewhere in New York on the way home and we’re hooked. My folks bought a 1966 Ford camper special pickup and drove to Elkhart and bought a very heavy Franklin camper. We took trips to Canada and west.

When wife I were first married we borrowed a tent and took a two week trip to Colorado. Last night there were thunderstorms around Boulder so we drove an hour back toward Ohio. We stayed the night at a brand new park just west of the Rockies. Thunderstorms caught up during the night. Several inches of rain fell and out came tent pegs and down came tents. After several attempts to get the tent back up, we retreated to the car. In the morning the car was stuck in the mud and all gear was a disaster.

I still remember a neighbor in the camp opening his door of his RV and surveying the destruction before him and walking high and dry off to the restrooms. I looked at him and thought, that’s for me. RVer is born.

After school I bought a 1976 Chevy van and converted it. Bed, icebox, sunroof, all the typical van craze items of the 70’s. Wife I took many a memorable trips. Was pretty basic but boy was setup a breeze! About 30 seconds, turn off the key, crawl into bed.

With kids we bought 88 Astro van and a Hilo trailer. Many wonderful family vacations. Hilo had a bad habit of loosing connection on the road and running the battery down. Stoping for the night and push the button to raise it and just a grunt of a dead battery. Would have to unhook, turn the van around and use jumper cables to run it up. Later upgraded the tow to a full size Chevy with room for kids.

We went camperless a few years when kids were teens and a pain to take and a problem to leave behind. Then the Escape.

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by HABBERDABBER

Some people early on made scads of money buying & selling internet domain names when it was starting. Looking around the world these days, I'd say humanity is losing it's grip on reality, if it ever had a grip. So metaverse is no new thing.

How about a vertical, high rise campground, a spiral parking garage structure where you can drive into and UP, and enjoy your virtual meal, camp out with full....I mean FULL hook-ups. Fiber-optic supplied wi-fi, 100 AMP electrical for all the gizmos and do-dads....you get the idea, No muss, no fuss.

Having real fun is a lot of work.

That would be fun in a big city (with some security for the campground) instead of a hotel. Not that I want to tow a trailer up and up in a parking garage!

[Bobbie54]

I started tent camping with my parents at 7 months old. I can't recall that trip very well but I remember the canvas tent with the pole in the middle! Later camping and backpacking with Girl Scouts (Dad wouldn't go once there were five kids) and later with my own kids. Then in 2007 I bought a 1970 Trailswest Campster.

[Jake930]

This was our first camper Aliner Alite. Had it for 5 years and went everywhere with it.

[oldwave]

Tent camped on our way to pickup our escape in 2017, our air mattress died in the middle of the night. I threw it in the trash and we stayed in hotels the rest of the way out. At 70 I’m done with tents. Or too small trailers even.

[HABBERDABBER]

Living in a tent & eating dog food so I could save up and buy an Escape. The tent was a storm proof 5 person North Face dome.

[daniel108]

Still have way too many tents, only one of which was used 1 time since we got the Escape 2 springs ago. We have some backpacking trips planed for the summer, which will be preceded by car camping in places that trailers can't go, so the tents can still be useful. I strongly prefer canvas tents like our Kodiak if weight and storage size are not a concern.

We used to tow a cargo trailer that I had outfitted with a 12V refrigerator, invertor/microwave, hot water and sink, and storage for all the other stuff and toys. It would take probably 2 hours for setup/take down if I did the whole kit with a big tent, 2nd tent for picnic table, kitchen, cots/mattresses, etc., even a small shower/bathroom tent.

[wjwoods01@gmail.com]

Originally Posted by 7Gentex

Tents and a motorcycle for me for many years.............

N. Georgia / Cloudland Canyon SP (almost a 1k ride) and Kerrville, Tx (3 Sisters run)

Then a redone 1965 27' Avion for 5 years: (Blanco SP shown)

I traveled , still do, with a tent on the back of a motorcycle. There's nothing like it, except for the sleeping on the ground part. I have a VStrom now but one of my favorites was my ST 1300.