Camping mentality

Wifey B: My hubby is even more adverse to roughing it than I am and I'm pretty adverse to it. I just don't grasp leaving comfort to go suffer through the elements. Five stars is better than four... Although the boat is better than any hotel. It's like we've docked at the Westin and the Hyatt Regency in Savannah and used their facilities, but never have we been tempted to get a room. We might have had it suggested to us sometimes that we should "get a room" but that's different and we didn't listen.

B: You really know how to get the reminiscences happening.
In 1972, my wife and I camped from Vancouver BC to Cape Breton Island , south to NYC, and back home, all in a 3 man pup tent, except for the night after a rainy night, when we took the $8 motel in Moncton NB, so she could wash her long hair and we could collect bedbug bites. After that, a little tenting, then in 84, we already had a 30 ft sailboat, but took the 3 kids tent camping. That trip confirmed that I HATE TENTING! When the 1 yr old was crawling, and we discovered that the wet ground was the overflowing septic field at the campground.......
Recently, to use the new concept of unlimited free time after retirement, we bought a class A motorhome. Loved the lifestyle it allowed us to adopt, so we bought a lot in Indio CA, loved the improvements to that lifestyle, so we bought a much bigger, 44' motorhome and now spend 5 months a year living in it, mostly not moving. This is much more luxurious than our 44' boat, has more modern stuff, well, it is 27 years newer, and is usually located in a luxurious lot, in a luxurious RV park.
Some would say, "not camping" but now that we have arrived at this level, there is no going back.

Interesting thread. Much camping as a kid, including kids-built tree house and "forts". Most memorable was tenting in Kenya, awakened by lions sniffing tent flaps in am. First boat camping was aboard my Cape Cod Typhoon which I considered a floating Ritz. Later lived full-time aboard a 23' sailboat (basically a FG pup tent), and then a small houseboat in Key West. Today spend summers in Northeast aboard Rosborough RF-246 with full galley, 215 W solar power, inverter, tufted toppers on bunks (luxe), kindle and portable CD player. No TV, thank you very much. So relaxing; near comatose at summer's end.

The wife clarifies the difference...

Flush toilet... normal

Anything else, including pump, is either camping or the equavelant of camping...

I happen to be camping right now - and loving it.

CarlinLA said:

The wife clarifies the difference...

Flush toilet... normal

Anything else, including pump, is either camping or the equavelant of camping...

I happen to be camping right now - and loving it.

Click to expand...

Strange as it may sound, it was camping got me into boating. I loved many of the aspects of camping, like being out enjoying nature, no traffic noise, seeing wildlife, even not having all the mod cons of home except the essentials appealed. But all the packing of the car or trailer , then unpacking, setting up the tent, then all the taking down and packing again, used to sort of spoil it.

It got me thinking, hey what about if you just had all your camping gear in one place, and better still, if that place could move from that place...to other places..? I thought caravan, (what you guys call a camper trailer), but that didn't appeal so much, because I love the sea. I have always loved messing about in boats. That was it..! A boat with all your camping gear in it, that you could move from one nice place to another, without all the putting up and taking down,, and packing and unpacking. We got a large trailer yacht we could tow to cruising grounds, and the rest, as they say...until, that is, we wanted more room and less hard yakka...solved..!...a trawler..!

BandB said:

Wifey B: My hubby is even more adverse to roughing it than I am and I'm pretty adverse to it. I just don't grasp leaving comfort to go suffer through the elements. Five stars is better than four... Although the boat is better than any hotel. It's like we've docked at the Westin and the Hyatt Regency in Savannah and used their facilities, but never have we been tempted to get a room. We might have had it suggested to us sometimes that we should "get a room" but that's different and we didn't listen.

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Roughing it is a relative term.

Some people camp and are tired, cold, wet, and dirty when they come home.

Others with the same equipment will come home rejuvenated, warm, dry and clean/shaven when they return.

The difference is experience and attitude.

Boating isn't any different. Janice right here on TF doesn't sound like a minamalist to me....she seems to already have or is actively seeking as many comforts as she can. Yet they are either simple, inexpensive, non-automated, etc..etc..as they need to be fo fit either boat or budget.

Nope...roughing it to some is 4 stars instead of 5 and to others it is having only a pocketknife instead of a few things in a backpack.

Of course don't think I am so tough or stupid to think camping in the Everglades in the summer is the same as the high Appalachian after the first frost. I don't mind bugs and things that go bump in the night.....but I also know when and where most of those things have thinned out to the tolerable level.

For kulas44...that's never in Saltery Cove...the big Brown things are always nearby when you are catching salmon.....THEIR salmon according to them... And the 2 years I was there...taking a truck down that road during fishing season was tantamount to leaving it there till the ground froze. Pasagshak was good enough....and easy enough for me!

These are some spots from my scouting trip on Wednesday to the Cherokee National Forest. The trout stream surrounds the campsites on 3 sides. This is dry camping with no hookups Kinda like life on the hook. The other is roughing it in the Airstream.

Scouting trips require a fish sighting report where I come from....

Why flies should I bring....

Hell, we're camping now in Taledaga.
Yes I would say I bring about the same amount of beer boating

psneeld said:

Scouting trips require a fish sighting report where I come from....

Why flies should I bring....

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A Tellico Nymph would be a good choice. Kinda resembles some local insects. Live bait on that stream is verboten. That is one of my favorite campsites of all times. Wednesday was the first time seeing it in 45 years. Still the same. There are some native brookies in that stream and its smaller tributaries. Some put and take rainbows, too. It is up in the mountains near the NC line.

Started out at a very young age camping alone. Carried everything I owned on my back through jungles all over the world while in the Army. Tent camped with the kids when they were young. After they left the nest, I returned to the Horse Culture. Can't take much on one horse Elk hunting in below zero weather in Montana. Had enough of that. Bought a bunch of horses & mules, to include ALL THE STUFF THAT GOES ALONG WITH IT. Pulled a pack train for hundreds of miles. My wife loves the life style. We have what one wants in that environment. We bought a Living Quarters horse trailer - took it to New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Utah. Had a great time with it. My health went south. Sold the trailer, most of the horses & mules, some equipment. Bought a boat that is more comfortable than the fancy horse trailer . Here we are. Great topic by the way. Tonto

Greetings,
Mr. M. Agree fishing local flies but one should ALWAYS have a few Muddler Minnows in the box. Might try a Parmachene Belle as well.

swampu said:

Hell, we're camping now in Taledaga. View attachment 51289
Yes I would say I bring about the same amount of beer boating

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I want on your crew!