Yearly Rv Camping

Camping: Give Me a Marshmallow, a Campfire and the Key to a Hotel Room

Now that school is over, I’ve eagerly pulled out my annual summer checklist: s’mores on the firepit, BBQ with friends, trips to the beach, ice cream outings... Unfortunately this year there’s something new on the list. Camping.

Camping shouldn’t be a yearly endeavor as far as I’m concerned. It’s more of a bucket list sort of activity that you should get credit for if you’ve tried it once. I already had it crossed off my list when I was 25. Since I was smart enough to do it in my twenties, I feel I shouldn’t have to experience it again in my forties, at least not without a tricked-out RV. Camping couldn’t possibly get better with age.

But it’s something my seven-year-old son has been looking forward to as summer inched closer. Those picture books make it look so fun with the campfire and the weenie roast and grinning people sitting on logs playing a guitar. He’ll be disappointed to know nobody in our family plays guitar. Besides, what the book illustration doesn’t show is in about four more minutes their butts will have gone numb sitting on those hard logs, which by the way are probably sprouting poison ivy. They’ll wake up the next day torn between which to scratch first, their oozy rash or all their mosquito bites. I didn’t want to squelch his love for the outdoors, but unless you’re a cartoon, after sunset nature is best viewed through a picture window. 

The first time I went camping was in the mountains of Vermont with my husband and six of our nature-loving friends. It sounded like an easy weekend; we’d throw a tent and a couple of sleeping bags in the trunk of our car and head out. My new husband (an expert camper) kindly informed me that unless I was planning to hunt or fish for our food, I would have to take a little more time packing. Since I wanted to eat, I took his advice and our car trunk ended up holding most of the contents of our refrigerator… and something to cook the stuff in… and to eat it on… and to wash everything with afterwards. After we stuffed clothes, pillows, toiletries, folding chairs, lanterns, and the bug spray aisle of the CVS in the back seat, the tent and sleeping bags almost seemed superfluous. Getting away from it all is fine as long as you take most of it with you.

The eight of us arrived at the beautiful camp sight. I staked my spot and then sprayed what I hoped was an impenetrable barrier of OFF around me. My friends were horrified, but I was willing to sacrifice a pine tree or two to keep myself from being able to play connect the dots the next day with my scores of mosquito bites.

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Camping has always been a part of Jane Fowler’s life. As far back as she can remember, the mother and grandmother has spent holidays and summers communing with nature, according to a report in the Greenville (S.C.) News.

Now Fowler, her husband, her kids and their families still go camping at least four times a year. But it’s not tents they pitch these days; they’re rolling in RVs.

“We’ve just been camping forever, but it’s so nice now to have the running water, the warm water, the refrigerator, the bathroom,” she said.

Camping is not what it used to be. Thanks in part to the growing popularity of recreational vehicles, which now come with washer and dryers, flat-screen TVs, and central heating and air – and in part to a more connected culture – people are redefining what it means to go camping.

Starting last year, Kampgrounds of America (KOA) began adding “luxury park model kabins” to their sites nationwide. The KOA campground in Spartanburg. S.C.. added two of the new housing options this past winter. Each costs $119 per night for two adults and two kids, versus the $29 a night it costs to camp, but they’ve been booked consistently since, says Vicki Canto, a work camper with KOA who is currently stationed in Spartanburg.

The cabins offer television, multiple beds and rooms, bathroom, and a full kitchen and den area complete with all utensils and linens.

“If you are coming from the idea of camping in a tent, it’s definitely changing because a lot of people have these travel trailers, fifth-wheels, motorhomes, and they are really nice inside,” Canto says.

“You have all the amenities and comforts of home, and the lodges are like that … except they don’t have a dishwasher or washing machine. But still you’re not giving up a whole lot to go ‘camping.’”

Having more non-tent options has also opened up camping to more people. Fowler admits that if it weren’t for the travel trailer, she doubts she’d go camping very often. Being over 50 and sleeping in a tent is just not as appealing.

Plus, the RV is helpful with the young kids, who don’t last too long in the summer heat. The family does an annual Fourth of July trip to Crooked Creek RV Park on Lake Keowee each year, a tradition that would surely get nixed if it weren’t for the air conditioning.

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