How did you get started?

[Stormrider151]

I started out in a tent with buddies who shared the same love for water skiing I had. It was so easy to just walk out of the tent and hit the water before all the other boats hit the water. Made for some really smooth water. I got to old for that and moved on to PWC's. Still in a tent but had a great time. Now I'm much older. and moved up from Pop up, to HTT, to TT. No water sports. Not with my back and knees. I just sit by the lake and watch the young folks do what I used too. Brings back great memories.

[B and B]

I started in 1965 with parents and a tent trailer, no hardtop. Moved up through 3 travel trailers. Built my own Van camper in the 80's. Had a family and bought a travel trailer. Many years of camping with Scours and Cubs and kids.

Fast forward DW and bought a Park model we still enjoy.

The DW grew up with tents, Trailer, Motorhomes and bought a Trailer at a park.

The desire to get away hit we bought a 32 ft Rockwood then traded for a the one we wanted a year later. Towing today with a new TV off to our latest endeavour, camping with Frogs in Rallies.

[ryand]

Personally we started our camping experience about 4 years ago when I felt it was very important to start spending some quality time with my kids.....have not looked back. It has been the best investment for my family as any penny I have ever spent. As we speak we are on the gulf coast enjoying 10 days of sand, sun and memories. Best thing we have ever done as a family.


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[loumichelle735]

Started for me as a Boy Scout. Did a lot on my own before getting married, having kids. It's moved on from the family in a tent to our present PUP. Lots of good times and memories camping. The in laws have a motor home so we can have a pretty good crowd along for the trip.


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[BamaBob]

Similar story. Tent campers for ages then, when the kids were about 8 & 4 we were going to take a trip to CO and the weather was forecast to be rainy...did not like the idea of soggy tents and such in the minivan so we rented a popup from Army community services. WHAT a life changer!

We sat in our rental PUP nice and dry playing Mousetrap with the kids and sipping on hot chocolate while the rain poured down on our fellow campers. Got up the next morning and it was still raining, cooked bacon and pancakes under the awning and we all had a great DRY breakfast while watching the unfortunate tent campers struggle to heat water.

Got home, put all our tent camping stuff up for sale and went and bought a Coleman PUP. Kept the PUP for 3 years and then the progression started...

PUP->TT->5th Wheel-> Large retirement 5th Wheel (later this year)

Never.Looked.Back

Oh, and with the exception of the Coleman every RV we have owned has been a Forest River Product. We don't even consider another brand!

[SkipnTerri]

Originally Posted by ryand

Personally we started our camping experience about 4 years ago when I felt it was very important to start spending some quality time with my kids.....have not looked back. It has been the best investment for my family as any penny I have ever spent. As we speak we are on the gulf coast enjoying 10 days of sand, sun and memories. Best thing we have ever done as a family.Attachment 79016Attachment 79017


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Great pics! Your kids will hold those memories and may do the same thing when they have families!

[dave961]

Boy Scouts. Our camping trips were the only reason I stayed in as long as I did. After scouts I continued camping - usually by myself with a pack walking off into the Michigan woods. Never tired of it. After turning 40 and a few downpours, I decided it was time to get a camper. I'll do it till I'm too old to.

[KateE]

Camped in tents as a child with the parents and brother. We remained in tents as young marrieds with young children. Finally bought a small PUP and then a PUP with a slideout and now a HTT with a slideout. Now that the kids are grown, we get complaints about how we spoil the grandkids with the upgraded equipment. We camp with other families that my husband has known since 8th grade. We've been camping together all along (except when DH was stationed in Germany before I met him). The kids from all the different families are so close and it's been wonderful watching them grow up and now raising their families and camping with us. We have never been on a camping trip that didn't involve a great deal of laughter. Happy camping!

[Gaberdeen]

My parents had a pop-up when I was young. I remember taking a cross country trip out to see Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. As a teen I spent many nights backpacking or pitching a tent in the woods somewhere. When I was in nursing school I worked the summers as a ridge runner patrolling the Appalachian trail. Camping and hiking, best job I ever had! Then marriage and kids came and we tented it as a family for many years. Never failed on our annual trip to Sebago lake state park it would rain while we had to take the tent down and pack up. NOT THIS YEAR! Bit the bullet and bought a Microlite 25bhs. Love it so far! No more sleeping on the ground. Really like the amenities such as a shower, heat/AC. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long adventure!

[OutOfTheTent]

I grew up in the Southwest and camped some with Camp Fire Girls, and was outside a lot fishing with my dad. Moved to NYC, and a friend and I hitch hiked cross country with backpacks and a tent. From that experience, I knew when I hit my 30's that I didn't want to sleep on the ground. Kids came along, and the older one went to violin boot camp in the Adirondacks one summer. I asked her teacher if there was anyplace to swim, and we found my dream landscape. It's a small campground on a small lake, no hook ups, but running water every few sites, flush toilets and a bathhouse with showers. That, plus the discovery of folding foam mattresses at Costco did it for me. DH had been talking about camping for years, but all I could think about was how hard and cold it was sleeping on the ground in Utah. DH ran right out to Sears and came home with a tent, Coleman stove & lantern, and zip-together sleeping bags plus two for the kids. We used that tent for about 4 years, then bought a used pup. The first time we camped with the pup, we got to the campground to discover that they had given us site 6 ON THE ISLAND, not in the main campground. We were lucky that they were able to find a place for us, but we had to move in the middle of the week. The pup lasted about 4 years, and then the kids' bunk collapsed with 3 of them in it one morning. We gave it to our upstate friends for hunting, and went back to a tent. The tent is absolutely amazing, with a large, fully enclosed vestibule that we leave our shoes and other stuff in, and DH built a bed with headboard for an air mattress. I found a screen house that had zippers on all 4 sides, so we put that over the vestibule and never had to go in or out in the rain. Alas, it all got to be too much. It was taking 2 days to set up and 2 to break camp, so we are now done with the tent. In a few weeks we'll see how it goes with the new-er pup. I'm hoping we can be done with it all in 2-4 hours, but maybe not the first time, as we sort out the stuff.

[Sharon455]

Grew up tent camping. With 6 siblings, that meant multiple smaller tents, or the Army cook tent my dad bought at a military surplus store. That thing was huge, took my dad and 3 boys a few hours to get it set up, but once done, we had a kitchen area with picnic table indoors, the parents had a private area closed off by canvas walls, and the rest of us used air mattresses and sleeping bags, grouped into girls and boys areas. My 1st husband wasn't into that type of thing, so it was about 20 years before I started camping with my daughter and grand kids. We usually found "unimproved" campsites and were able to spread out with 3 tents, a campfire, and small kitchen area.
Fast forward to 4 years ago, just married my DH, and we were looking at truck campers, or maybe a pop-up for quick fishing trips. Instead, found a 16' Carson FunRunner Toy Hauler, and we were hooked. Camping AND our motorcycles? Heck yeah! Two years later we traded the Carson for an 18' Forrest River Stealth. Took one miserable trip with water leaks in bathroom and kitchen area, almost 6 months to get fully repaired. In the meantime, we bought our 34' Class C, and we love it. Took the Stealth out for a fishing trip, really wished we had kept the Carson. Sold the Stealth last December, still loving the Class C.