Vapor_Trails
Yucaipa, CA
Senior Member
Joined: 09/29/2004
View Profile
|
1968 (Spring): Mom and Dad took me tent camping at Doheney. But I wasn't born until August. 
1968 - 1983: LOTS of camping with family & friends. In that time Dad owned a couple of trailers and a truck camper. And, of course, a few different tents.
1983 - 2002: A lot of tent camping & backpacking. After getting married DW and I got a Coleman Air Mattress. YUCK!!! After a couple of years tent camping with a "city girl" I'd had enough.
2002 - 2003: Our first RV. A 1995 Coleman Roanoke. No Fridge. No Air. No heat. Small bunks. And a lot of fun!!!
2003 - Present: We sold the pup and bought our current rig. A 23' Tahoe with a single slide. Perfect size for comfortable boondocking, but I wish it had bunks for the kids.
***1986 - Present: I learned that I like solo camping almost as much as with family and friends. Sometimes I tent it. Sometimes I bring the TT. After years away from backpacking, I'm gonna try a little again this summer.***
68 Me & DW
93 DD
03 DD
06 F150 Screw 6.5' Bed, 4x4, 5.4, 3.73
04 Tahoe 23RB-GL
Honda EU2000 Parallel Cables
"I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for...food." Col. Jack O'Neill, Stargate SG-1.
|
wayne_tw
South Dakota/Georgia
Senior Member
Joined: 07/21/2007
View Profile
 Offline
|
sbebenelli wrote:I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone got started RVing.
I got started when I bought the RV. Hard to RV without one!
|
shenandoahvalley
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Senior Member
Joined: 02/09/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
I started camping as kid with the Scouts and with my pals. DW never camped until we met. We tent camped for six or seven years, then bought a very small TT, then a large TT. Then we moved into the city and took a sabbatical from camping. About ten years ago we started tent camping again, but...DW turned 60 last fall and I will be 60 in two weeks and getting up off the ground was a little tough. Last year we bought a PUP, then about Thanksgiving we traded that for a TT. A few luxuries in life are nice. We plan to RV it as long as our health and finances hold out.
|
crazyinkc
Overland Park KS
New Member
Joined: 02/11/2008
View Profile
Offline
|
It all started with a $200 boat I bought from a co-worker site-un-seen in September of 2006. I went home that night and told the wife I bought a boat figuring I would be sleeping on the couch for a few days but I knew I couldn't hide a 40 year old 15ft runabout in the garage without her knowlaoge so I figured I would fess up and get it overwith. To my suprise she seemed excited about it so we took it out the next weekend after I rewired the motor (only thing wrong with it) and we had a blast. About three weeks later, there was an RV/Boat show just down the road and I talked her into going to check out the new boats (we were already thinking of upgrading). As soon as we enter the convetion floor she runs to the biggest class A there. I have tried for nine years to get her into the "lake thing" and thought it would be a great time to get her interested in camping too. We looked at the A's and they were way out of our price range and I tried to get her interested in a pop-up that we could afford but she did not want a tent. We finally bought a 1966 Aristocrat 16ft trailer 200 miles from home on craigslist and went to pick it up on a Monday night. That was one crazy night. I get lost coming back form Lincoln NE twice and end up on the same wrong highway and finally get frustrated and turn around on a gravel road and the back hatch popos open and I loose the stands. After a 3 month remodel, we use the camper for the fist time and she is hooked. She thought it was so neat to bake corn muffins in that tiny little oven. It was like seeing a 40 year old kid with an easybake oven. We now have an old class C that I remodled over the winter and 3 boats. I don't think she would give up any of this for anything and before that $200 boat we really had nothing in common but now we have discovered that we have more in common than most of the couples we know and she will now try different things. She cought her first fish two weeks ago and is now wanting to convert her 15ft fish/ski into more of a fishing boat with livewells and pedestal seats. I never thought she would get more into this that I am but I think she is hooked.
|
thunderstruckhd
Ft.lauderdale,Florida
Senior Member
Joined: 04/24/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
I bought my first rv for my dog. Used to put a tent and SB on the back of the Harley. Friend of mine was selling a nice used Winnabago, bought it so I could take the dog on trips too. Now 4 rigs later,"she" has a 42ft Alegro Bus, and now I tow the Harley...
2006 Allegro Bus, 42QDP, Tag axle, 400ISL,
2001 Roadking on trailer.
Caddy Escalade and 28ft Mallard TT.
|
|
|
sbebenelli
Iowa
Full Member
Joined: 07/06/2007
View Profile
|
wayne_tw wrote:
I got started when I bought the RV. Hard to RV without one!
So you couldn't have started with your parents or friends? 
2008 Jayco Jay Flight 22FB
|
SH
Lynden, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 09/27/2006
View Profile
Offline
|
I got too old and mamma got too tired of camping with a tent and sleeping bags tied to the back of the bikes! She can't carry enough pairs of shoes and my Heritage can't run a hairdryer! 
2003 Springdale 279
2007 Chev 2500 LMM Duramax/Allison
1993 Heritage
1989 Sporty
|
dgsanders
Exurban Chicago
Senior Member
Joined: 03/04/2002
View Profile
Offline
|
In the late 90's DW read an article about the emerging popularity of renting RVs for for family vacations. We rented a class C in 2001, but weren't ready to buy because we lived in the city. In 2003, we moved and within months bought a TT. We are now in a 5er.
Derek & Ginger
2005 Tiffin Allegro Bay - 37DB (aka Freedom)
|
fla-gypsy
North Florida
Senior Member
Joined: 04/19/2005
View Profile
Offline
|
My folks never camped but Grandma had a lake place which was almost like camping. The DW's family did PUP camping and I went with them one time before we got married(don't ask). When the kids were little and we were broke we decided the only way we could ever go on vacation was to go camping. Bought a large tent and enough gear to get by and started going to places in the summer where we could go and swim and cookout to have some fun. Later as money got better we got a PUP.One kid decided he wasn't camping any more and we got a 26' TT. Finally in 06 when neither went with us regular we got the "Cracker Cabana", which is 32' hitch to bumper and is so comfortable we are still ecstatic with it. The youngest still goes with us occasionally. I fell in love with camping and will not do anything else on vacation now.
05 Super Duty XLT CC 5.4/3.73 5 sp auto Torqshift
06 Keystone Hornet 29 RLS/(The"Cracker Cabana")
Reese HP Dual Cam
Camping Photos
Northeast Florida Camping Club
St Andrews SP cult member
|
Cookie Mom
Poughkeepsie, NY
Senior Member
Joined: 04/23/2003
View Profile
Offline
|
My DH has been camping since he was a child. I tent camped with the Girl Scouts as a child but never liked tenting. When DH and I first got together we tent camped because we couldn't afford to do anything else for vacation. We used to look at other, older (late 20's and up, LOL!) people in their RVs and dream that that would be us someday. About 5 years ago we bought a used 1988 34 ft. Mallard TT. We used it for one summer and then traded it in for a 2003 Gulfstream Innsbruck TT We are on our second fiver now (2007 Cedar Creek Silverback) and have 2 kids, both of whom who have been raised RVing.
|
|
|
