Winter blues

[Finster]

About every few days since about November, my 3 yr old has been coming up to me and asking: "Dad, can we go camping this weekend?"

"No, honey. We cant go camping again until the snow goes away."

"Ok......." You can really hear the disappointment in her voice. A few days later she asks again:

"Dad, can we go camping with my cousins?"

"No, honey. Not until spring time when it warms up."

"But my camper is right there." She points out the window facing the back yard.

"I know sweety, but its still really cold out. It wont be much fun."

"Ok........"

Yesterday she came up to me and asked:

"Dad, can we go visit Yogi? He's my best friend." Referring to a long weekend we spent at Jellystone near the Dells last fall.

"No honey. Yogi sleeps all winter long. He wont wake up until the snow goes away."

"Ok......."

This is going to be the longest winter of that poor kids life.

[Wobbles]

There will be a couple of "Warmer" weekends this winter. Perhaps you could workout away for her and friends to "Driveway Camp" without water. Might be just the right medicine.

[Skyliner]

Our camper is in storage about 10 miles from our home. Every couple of weeks after church, we go camping for an afternoon in it. We watch a movie, read books, and take afternoon naps. Its a great getaway and opportunity to check the camper out and make sure the solar is keeping the batteries charged. Our camper's heater does a great job warming things up and having one of those portable Mr. Heater buddy heater speeds things up a bit on colder days.

There is no reason why you can't go out on an quick overnight trip? A quick trip doesn't require water for bathing, drink from bottled water, and human waste can be taken care of with a cassette toilet or even commode liners Carebag Commode Liner with Super Absorbent Pad by Cleanis - CLE7831738 I'm sure you can find things to do, such as video games, playing board games as a family, movies, popping popcorn on the stovetop, etc..etc...

If my wife and I were blessed with children, we wouldn't allow winter to stop us from making more memorable memories during the winter. Driveway camping would also be easier since you can plug in electric heaters to warm things up.

[SidecarFlip]

Originally Posted by Wobbles

There will be a couple of "Warmer" weekends this winter. Perhaps you could workout away for her and friends to "Driveway Camp" without water. Might be just the right medicine.

My thoughts exactly (and something I do as well) even though mine is inside my equipment barn. Turn on the heat (in my case and electric space heater) and kick back and pretend camp. Good therapy for wintertime doldrums.

[timfromma]

Our TT is right next to the house but it's covered, winterized and the batteries removed. Opening it up enough even just to go hang out in there on a warmer afternoon would require some work.

[Finster]

Ours is also near the house, and winterized. We have a hybrid, and I worry about messing with the seals and canvas when it's this cold and they could potentially be frozen. We've had several days the past week or so well below zero. Maybe it's an unwarranted fear. I used to have a boat with a canvas cover I put over it over the winter and if I messed with it much before it warmed up it would Crack and develop a tear in that spot. But maybe that was just a much cheaper material, I don't know.

[sherman12]

I think you are correct Finster with the thought of the canvas cracking and tearing frozen seals trying to driveway camp during sub freezing temps. I will check on my rig every couple of weeks, its stored at a friends house about 12 miles away. When I go out there regardless of weather I'll take a couple of beers with me and just hang out in the camper. My wife and I get by the winter doldrums by sitting at our kitchen island with a bottle of decent wine and making reservations on Reserve America for the local weekend stays at our two favorite state parks. Same goes for planning long travel trips usually starting in July and getting in as many as we can predict out 6-9 months or so. My co-workers and boss always give me an evil eye type thing when I put in time off requests for the time period, they think I'm trying to hog the vacation calendar. They just can't comprehend the need to book some campgrounds 6 months or more out.

[MainelyUS]

Finster
Show your daughter these pics and tell her the Maine Black Bear cubs and their mom are waiting for winter to end as well.


I think we will all be glad when hibernation season is over.

Happy Trails