I Was Thinking...Why Camp?

As summer winds down, people are eager to get out to camp one last time before fall schedules begin. At home, most people make a concentrated effort to surround themselves with all the creature comforts they can afford. We carpet our floors, air condition our homes, buy specialized mattresses, and have microwaves to prepare meals faster. Yet we forgo many of these conveniences to go camping. But camping can be different things to different people.
If you grew up as a Boy Scout, camping involved pup tents, sleeping on the ground, and learning how to build a fire. There are still some people who want to “rough it” when camping. These are the people who canoe the boundary waters, hike the Appalachian Trail, or find a primitive site to pitch their tent. But that was not us.
Our first camping experience involved a tent and three air mattresses in a crowded 4th of July campground. The cheap mattresses for the kids worked well but our more expensive double mattress was flat by morning.
The next week my wife and I saw a used pop-up camper for sale and our tenting days were done. We were off the ground, had foam mattresses and had a table to sit at. So as our kids grew, we enjoyed many weekends of camping at KOAs, private parks, and at our favorite place Oxbow.
Since Oxbow is only six miles away, camping for us wasn’t about distance, it was about just getting away. Being away from the TV, neighbors, and phones. Yes, we began camping before cell phones were around. Camping was about hikes, playing games, and campfires. It was family time.
When our children got older, became more involved in activities, and got jobs, it became harder and harder to go camping. My wife and I continued to go on our own, but it wasn’t the same. Soon we found the camper spent more time in the driveway than on the road. So, we sold it to someone else who wanted to start camping. But we still carried the camper gene with us.
My wife’s dream was to always have a place on a lake. However, as I explored the cost of possible locations, her dream seemed impossible. But what if we found a campground on a lake where you could put a camper? That seemed more possible.
When we had a chance, we would explore campgrounds. Finally, we found a camper for sale in a campground on a lake and we were campers again. But now we were older, and our camping needs had changed.
We no longer wanted to leave the conveniences of home behind. Our new camping included a microwave, a stove, a TV, a bathroom, a furnace, and an air conditioner. We weren’t into “roughing it.”
Being in an established campground where most of the trailers stayed for the whole summer, we also weren’t alone. It took a little while, but soon we had a whole new social network, our campground family. But why drive an hour or more away from home to just stay in a miniature version of what you left behind? The answer is really the same as it always has been for campers, to get away. It isn’t the TV, phone or conveniences anymore, it is just getting away from all that “things to do” list we all have at home.
At the lake it is okay to just sit and read, take a nap, visit with other campers, or go fishing even if you don’t catch anything. And you can do this without anybody judging you or feeling guilty about not “getting things done.” When you are camping it isn’t just okay to relax, it is required.
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