your RV - use it or lose it - money invested

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by spinningbull

With three teenagers, the cost of hotels (2 rooms, at least) and eating out 3 meals for 5 people gets close to $450 a day. With the tt we are way under that and travel a lot more. Plus the memories we create are priceless.

You are 100% correct about the memories. My grown kids all talk about times we camped in tent, popups and trailer. I guess kids see it more of a adventure and something new from the everyday hohum.
Life if too short. Cherish the time you have together.

[Mountainmanbob]

Originally Posted by Iggy

My grown kids all talk about times we camped in tent, popups and trailer.

not to be blowing smoke up my own tailpipe
but
my son says that of all his friends
none of them went camping as much as we did
when they were young living with mom and dad
it was a blast
so many weekends and any other times that we could

getting out of dodge

Mountainman

[iluvlcy]

I had never camped never wanted and my husband started tent camping about 5 years ago. After a trip to Black Hills and seeing the beautiful camping areas and the not so good motel rooms I said lets give it a try. Bought our trailer a year ago and you can barely keep me out of it. We take 3 and 4 days and just go to state parks, its cheap, close and we are seeing things we never new Oklahoma offered. My only regret is not doing this while my kids were home.

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by iluvlcy

I had never camped never wanted and my husband started tent camping about 5 years ago. After a trip to Black Hills and seeing the beautiful camping areas and the not so good motel rooms I said lets give it a try. Bought our trailer a year ago and you can barely keep me out of it. We take 3 and 4 days and just go to state parks, its cheap, close and we are seeing things we never new Oklahoma offered. My only regret is not doing this while my kids were home.

iluvlcy
I see you are from Broken Arrow, OK. Have you met Nancy and Bob?
( Bobfidy ) from Broken Arrow OK? Bob is always around here getting into trouble.
After a trailer comes a motorhome.

[j2detroit]

The wife and I bought our 30f Cherokee new in 06 and had it delivered directly to our seasonal camping spot we use it a minimum of 5 days a week some weeks every day so from may through Oct we get lots of use ourss

[alphadog99]

We bought our 8314BSS in Sept last year and we are embarking on our 7th trip this weekend. This will be our 14th and 15th nights in the RV. We are sleeping in it once every 10 days on average. We used to take 1 big trip a year, now we are taking a mini-vacation every couple of weeks. Yes it's expensive, but I can't think of anything better to spend money on!

[Mountainmanbob]

Originally Posted by Iggy

After a trailer comes a motorhome.

after the large Super Chief motorhome
came
our nice little trailer

easier to heat on a cold night

harder for sweetTHING to get away from me in there !!

Mountainman

[camperou812]

I don't think its expensive considering... My bride and I had been looking and looking for a lakefront lot or possibly a lakehouse. Even with housing prices down, we soon realized that a home on a lakeshore was beyond our means, ...so we purchased a TT and never looked back. Now we have our lakefront house and even a beachfront home when the urge hits us at a fraction of the overall cost.

Our TT initially cost 26 grand after all said and done. We live close enough to several area lakes with State Parks that can hook up and be lounging waterfront in less than an hour. Course we don't own the lot but for way less than the price of a waterfront lot, we can live like we do with our TT. And if the fish aren't biting that week on one lake, we can move our lakehouse to another. I say our TT is priceless!

[tentcamper1]

over the past 5 years we have averaged about 50 nights. before we had the camper we vacationed maybe 10 days a year. we did a cruise one year and that cost as much as doing a month or more in the camper! I don't worry too much about depreciation- when you stay in a hotel you loose all you invested in that night. I like the fact that we can take the dogs, have our linens, our food, etc.
the things we have seen and done are just awesome, last year I think we hiked well over 100 miles, camped with dozens of friends and made a lot of memories. just can't wait for it to start this year!!

[Rod Johnson]

I've camped in my trailer every Friday night since I bought it. Granted, 75% of those nights were in my driveway. But, I get two or three broadcast TV stations in the trailer (We don't have any, cable or otherwise, in the house)

Its something different, even the GF is used to getting dragged out there.

[Mountainmanbob]

Originally Posted by Rod Johnson

Its something different, even the GF is used to getting dragged out there.

just back from Borrego Springs
saw a lot of Jeeps being towed out to the desert
some big Jeep event going on in Ocotillo Wells
what one guy has to say about it below
Mountainman

Thread: TDS Ocotillo Wells: March 4-6, 2011



TDS Ocotillo Wells: March 4-6, 2011

This was the fifth time I've attended the TDS Desert Safari, and this was the best one yet! The weather was perfect! The days were in the low 80s, and the nights were in the 50s, and the wind was very gentle (until Sunday afternoon). Winter is over and Spring is just around the corner! The Trail Bosses, Joey Holden and his sister, Amanda Holden are commended for a great job at planning the route. They wisely set up multiple green and red routes at the start of the run, which minimized the wait at any of the obstacles.

I arrived at about 4 pm on Friday and set up camp on Holly Road, about a quarter mile east of the headquarters area. I went through safety and registration at about 6 pm with no delay. The safety and registration were set up further apart this year, so there was less congestion in the area. I saw George (TDS SD) and Guenther at the Registration tent and saw them again on the trail. I exchanged some text messages with Erik (Nailer341) but I never met up with him during the weekend. I also saw Gerald at the Savvy Offroad display area. Michael (Pikeman) and his friend, Edwin arrived at the campsite shortly after 10 pm in the Toyota 4Runners. They just missed the close of registration by a few minutes. On Saturday morning, Michael and Edwin got up early and took their 4Runners through Safety and Registration. They got back to camp about 6:30am, and we took our vehicles to the lineup at the starting point. We hoped to get near the front and we were surprised to find that we were the eighth, ninth and tenth vehicles in the lineup!! The run started exactly at 8:00 am. There were multiple red and green routes, so by the time we reached Checkpoint 1, there were plenty of vehicles that had taken alternate routes and were ahead us, but there were seldom any lines at any obstacles, and at those obstacles, the lines were short.

At Checkpoint 1, ORW handed out M&Ms and a coupon with instructions to enter their raffle. Michael, Edwin and I took the red route through Chuck Norris' Playground. At Checkpoint 2 we took a break and picked up some water from ICON Vehicle Dynamics. Obama Notch was restricted to short wheelbase vehicles, so I took my Jeep TJ through while Michael and Edwin had to keep their 4Runners on the green route. This was the only obstacle where I had to wait for vehicles that were ahead of me. At Checkpoint 3, we took a break while we watched vehicles on Tower Hill. At Checkpoint 4, we enjoyed a free hot dog lunch provided by 4x4Him Christian Four Wheelers. We returned to headquarters via Bad Girls Bluff, finishing the run shortly after 1 pm. I heard on the radio that over 500 vehicles had been counted at the start point of the run. We visited the exhibit area, explored some of the Truckhaven Hills area, and attended the raffle, but we didn't win any raffle prizes.

of Chuck Norris' Playground:



Mike and Edwin at Amanda's Notch:




On Sunday, Edwin and I ran the Pinyon Mountain Trail. His descent of Heart Attack Hill in a 4Runner was the scariest that I have ever seen!