Do you still go tent camping after you got a RV?

[mixerman]

When we first got married 46 years ago, we stayed in tents and did that for 20 years as we had a road bike. But we sold that and got 4 wheelers and quit tenting. We still have all of our tents but they sit collecting dust. That was about the same time that I retired from the Seabees. We have a two up ATV and a side by side which we pull behind our 5er. We get back into some pretty rugged country here in Montana with our side by side but don't camp that far back in. I doubt my wife would want to stay in a tent when we have the comforts of our camper.

[jfspry]

No!

[nrkmann]

BLUF: Hell no

Retired from the Army in 2003 after 39 years of field duty where I slept on the ground, in a poncho liner, in the rain and snow. As I gained rank I got to sleep in a tent on a cot that had various kinks of sleeping pads (the Army seems to like to change the style every few years) with all kinds of noise going on all around. Never relaxing or pleasant.

No RV or hotel, well I will just stay at home and sleep in a real bed, cook on a real stove; use china, crystal, and silver ware; stay in if the weather is bad, love my cats, etc., etc., etc.

Lord, its nice to be an old curmudgeon.

[Alan Carvel]

Once you have did the tent camping and then Rving it’s hard to go back. I have done survival camping when I was younger and then after being married with 3 boys we did remote camping. But the RV is so comfortable and now we are older with three dogs it’s very nice to to pull in th a resort and set up. Very relaxing!!!!

[itat]

Nope. We never did backpacking or backcountry trips but we camped in a tent for quite a few years, even on our honeymoon. We eventually got tired of sleeping on the ground so we bought a used, very basic popup. When I got tired of camping without AC we bought a hybrid so we’d still sleep under canvas. Eventually we bought a regular TT and now our 5th wheel because its so much easier to hookup.

I do miss having a smaller RV that can get into smaller sites but I don’t miss tent camping at all. We’ve thought about buying a little Geo Pro to give us the option to stay at places we can’t now with the 5th wheel.

[rmcefhuff]

👍🏻

[camaro80]

I'm an RV camper with the family, and we do the full long-term private seasonal thing, so quite a long ways from tent camping. But that being said, I'm an officer with a Royal Canadian Air Cadet squadron (youth 12-19) and we go out on weekend field training exercises a couple of times per year. We sleep in tents, heat meals on camp stoves, learn various survival techniques. It's great fun, and I wouldn't miss it!

[nic7320]

I carry a tent in a class-C RV for one very specific reason:
To hold my campsite when I'm gone.

And once -- at Death Valley, I used a tent space because every other space was full (not that I actually slept in the tent).

Why Death Valley is so popular that time of year is a mystery; it was so miserably hot! But there were lots of campers from Germany that seem to like it.

Maybe this should be a separate thread, how do you hold your campsite?

[flamingoholly]

Here is what we have discovered: We have a 37.5 foot bumper pull toyhauler which we bought to haul our side X side and take to the desert. Going to pull thru RV parks is great and desert camping is great. We can not fit in any campgrounds in Northern CA because 1. The roads are to tight 2. The RV spots are few and far between to fit the length of the trailer and the truck. We are very limited with where we go with our RV now and can't just go to a lake hoping they have an opening on the first come first serve basis. Trees in campgrounds are now a factor that we have to watch for. All the campgrounds ran by forest service are old and the trees and roads are tight (Trailers were obviously not this size in the 60's) So we do have some spots that no trailer can get to and we are back to tent camping and or sleeping in the back of the truck. We know our limitations with the trailer but we also love it and would not look back on our decision.

[winter]

We still tent sometimes. We have our trailer set up for when we want to go for longer trips to one location (usually 9-16 days) and ideally we have the trailer for the years when we get lottery style drawn for a seasonal site.

But we also have our tent for a few specific locations where the roads getting in are so bad that we will never tow our trailer there again or if we want to go really far and road trip through some large cities on the way.

A few summers ago, we did a 9000km (5600 miles) road trip that involved a day in Chicago, Toronto, Ottawa and then a wedding in Montreal. We then continued on to the east coast to camp off the coast of Maine, then the Bay of Fundy, up to the St Lawrence River and then back to the prairies. Towing our trailer would have made it impossible to visit most of the locations in the cities and the two weeks on the east coast wouldn't have been the same in a hotel. Camping on the water where we could hear whales all night was really cool for kids from the prairies. Towing our trailer would have made the multiple ferries we took impossible.

[Rambler]

Still go a few times a year with the Boy Scouts. It miss the RV. No tent camping this year due to COVID.

[IsItFast]

I do once a year for the float trip I organize (12 years strong and about 20-30 people). While I love having my toyhauler for camping and carrying my toys to my off-road adventures, I can "rough it" 2 nights a year. But I have been "car camping" for so long that I have about anything I need. I essentially fill up the bed of my truck with all the crap I take with me.


Over the years many of my friends have brought their own campers and RV's to the float. But I got to keep it real.....at least until the GF says it's time to bring the camper.

[Bugs Off Pads]

Originally Posted by ppine

Of course I sleep in tents. All of the really good places are not reachable with an RV. I still backpack, but mostly do overnight river trips. I am going camping this week without the RV. I will probably sleep out on a cot so I can see the stars. The only thing better than a tent is no tent.

I am 70 and still sleep on the ground sometimes, in the back of my truck or with a cot. I like an RV just fine.

Agree - there is room in my life for both an RV and occasionally a tent. I do use an air mattress though; not as young as I used to be!

[ppine]

Modern inflatable foam pads can have great R value and insulation from the ground.
You can freeze on an air mattress. I often sleep on several pads.

A cot with a cot pad and a Thermorest is very comfortable.

[Bugs Off Pads]

[QUOTE=ppine;2552832]Modern inflatable foam pads can have great R value and insulation from the ground.
You can freeze on an air mattress. I often sleep on several pads.

Interesting! Shows how long I have not been in a camping store to upgrade my equipment. I will check those out.


Thank you ppine for that info.

[oxcamper]

4 wheelers?

BLAH


A blight on humanity


Get rid of em!

[NJKris]

cowboy across street from me uses 4 wheeler to round up herd. Fun to watch.

[chriscowles]

I backpacked a lot in my early adult life but DW isn't into that even slightly. My adult DD likes section-hiking the AT. I'm trying to figure out how to make that work for me with CPAP. Can't sleep without it. (I have an AirMini but no batteries. Don't know how long they'd last on the trail, nor how to recharge them if that's even a possibility.)

[moose074]

Yes but without the tent, friend has deer lease so during the first two seasons I drive out on Friday 4 hours. Take the cheap twin mattress we bought for Great Dane. Sleep in bed of the truck on mattress Friday and Saturday nights head home Sunday. Ice chest for drinks, pop tarts, loaf of bread and package of bologna and I’m good.

[efi460]

Use to switch between sleeping in the tent or the air up queen in the Sub or pickup topper(I even made screens to Velcro on the Sub windows).
We were camped at Egg Harbor on the Upper (sweating our asses off) one night and at about 2:00 am heard a ruckus. Campers were up and yelling and the cute bear was sitting on our picnic table working on our ‘bear proof Coleman’. Turns out, bear is smarter than Coleman.
We finally got to sleep and next morning the folks in the fifth wheel next to us brought coffee out and handed to us.....didn’t know anything about a bear. Wifely said that is it.
We have now had fifth wheels for 20 years. Miss some Alpine and beach camping a little, but love hitting the fireplace in the morning for a little warmth while the Kuerig warms up. AC if it gets hot in the afternoon. Flicks on the big screen, full kitchen with microwave/convection.....now that’s camping.