Camping means different things to different people. To some it means roughing it all the way – hiking in five miles, lean-to’s made out of branches, sleeping on the ground, eating pork n’ beans right out of the can with your fingers after you smash it open with a rock ’cause you forgot the can opener. Those people aren’t me. These days we use a travel trailer so we don’t have to sleep on the ground anymore. I have a lot of back troubles, and I need a real bed or I’m just not having any fun. We don’t have a television set or a DVD player, but we do bring our share of technology with us.
We spent plenty of time camping in Sebekia last summer. There were between 3 and 5 families each time we went out, meaning we had up to 12 children stampeding around the campsite. Add to that 5 dogs (good thing none of us has a dog allergy) and 10 adults, and it becomes a pretty busy place.
On occasion, we had to fire up the ‘ole chitty chitty bang bang, my antique PC laptop, and see what was going on out there in the real world. Thanks to the invention of the aircard, hi-speed internet can be found anywhere you can get cell service, even in our Redneck Paradise. I never take my Mac camping. It doesn’t like to rough it, even when I pack it in one of those special computer backpacks with extra padding and a gajillion pockets for extra goodies.
You can probably imagine how hard it is to fit everyone around the campfire. With all the kids crowded in there with their chairs, it makes for some excitement. As long as no one gets a flaming marshmellow in the face, or a a jab with a hot dog stick, we consider the evening a success. A couple of times we built two separate fires; one for children and one for adults. The toddlers stay with the adults of course!
Some nights the alcohol consumption is a little high. It’s amazing how much Blue Beaver Beer a bunch of redneck campers can drink! But most of the time we are a pretty mellow bunch of campers. We camp pretty close to home so that every couple of days we can all toddle off to our respective farms and make sure all the livestock and whatnot have enough food and water. We rarely go to a conventional campsite, since we like to make up our own rules and get away from all the other people. Our private campground is fairly isolated and we don’t have to worry about intrusive campers making noise all night and such. Unless we stay up late and do it ourselves, that is!
I went camping with a bunch of mates of mine. Biggest disaster since… well, pick one. Five men, five tents and no knowledge. A lot of unsuitable food – ice cream? we don’t have a freezer, jake! – and a disturbing moment where we realised one of us had brought condoms. We were supposed to camp for a week. We spent five and a half nights in hotel rooms.
Each to there own, camping is all about what you want it to be. If you want a beer and fancy watching a movie on the laptop I dont see the problem in doing so. That said, I do like wild camping in forests… but other times I feel like doing similar to the style of camping you talk about,
Campings are great…for me is like an escape…with a bunch of friends to relax…to have a grill and sleep in sleepingbags….
Never let the children outnumber the adults. First rule of parenting. LOL!
It’s always nice to go camping when you’re the only bunch of people in the area. It gives that feeling of seclusion. Like you’re really out in the wild although the highway isn’t that far!
I have to admit, I love a DVD film late at night sat around the fire
I think camping is such a great way of know people and bonding with your family in particular. The last time I went camping was out in Joshua tree years back and it was near Thanksgiving. I had such a fun time and it was similar to your fill with bunch of kids and tons of food. I think all I did was eat the whole time.
Leslie
I camp a lot with my family, but always need to stay connected to the net. I’ve bought a rugged laptop from panasonic and also have my iphone close to hand all the time.
I know plenty of people who would scoff at the fact you bring your computer but I say why not? Connectivity is so important nowadays and its so easy to get 3G internet anywhere. They even have cell phones that can become a wi-fi hotspot.
Your style of camping is similar to mine – but not my wife’s idea. She has to have electricity, hot running water, air mattress, and a gas stove. No fun at all.
It’s all good fun, and we still got the campfires and well I’ll be a gentleman. The market has changed and very few people really rough it anymore. Thank you for the information that you post.
I like camping as well, and I’m always taking my laptop and iPad with me. What camping would that be, where you can’t acces your twitter or facebook?
Interesting, roughing it these days means taking the old laptop instead of the new one.
Between the cell phone, the computer, the Game Boy and the GPS, the wilderness isn’t much different from Manhattan.
We’ve been camping for 40 years but just bought a cabin in tennessee. The first thing I added to the cabin was a fire pit in the yard, cause there\’s nothing like sitting around the campfire and really getting connected with your kids or in are case grandkids.