Our home on wheels

I realize that there are camping purists out there who enjoy being in a tent, roughing it, sleeping on the ground, minimalists who probably look down at what we do and don’t consider it true camping. More power to ‘em. Really. I just can’t do it! When the kiddos were 4 and 5, we had a crazy thought. Even though we had a great camper, we were going to rough it! We bought all the supplies and equipment to tent camp and headed for the Chattahoochee National Forest. Lovely area, a place I enjoy driving through. We chose a nice spot in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road that it takes two hours to drive down. Our campsite was midway down that road, so at least an hour from any sort of civilization. We had the tent, the sleeping bags, the flashlights, the Coleman lanterns and stove, and we were going to pioneer camp for the long weekend. Three whole days of exploring nature, hiking, taking pictures, and good old family togetherness. Did I mention three whole days? That’s like, what, 72 hours? The ground was hard and cold. There was no toilet. We had tp, but no toilet. My youngest refused to go to the "bathroom" for three entire days! No electricity. No heater. No fridge. No bed. Ohmigod… those were the longest three days ever. We were dirty. No running water. Trying to change clothes inside a tent that was supposedly built for 4, but really comfortably only held 2 was like trying to get an entire family into a clown car. Laying in the dark, with only a thin piece of nylon separating us from bloodthirsty bears, snakes, and skunks, only a sleeping bag between my old back and what had to be the hardest, most rockiest piece of ground known to man, listening to every little sound thinking it’s a bear coming to claw his way through our tent and maul us… not conducive to a good night’s sleep. We came home from that trip, packed all the stuff up, and sold it!

Our wonderful camper has so many things a tent does not… like a BED, air conditioning, heat, a TOILET, electricity, water, cooking facilities, storage space, a fridge. We consider our camper to be our home on wheels. I’m the “city girl” of the bunch, so my expectations are pretty high. We’ve crammed pretty much every creature comfort we can think of into our 31 by 8 foot Jayco. At home (Home- home, not camper home), we have a king size bed complete with 4 inch memory foam topper. In the camper, we have a queen size mattress, flanked on both sides with built in nightstands… you know, the usual bedroom layout in a camper. We’ve taken the king sized memory foam off our home bed and put it on top of our camper mattress. It covers up one side of the nightstand, but it’s increased the size and comfort of our bed exponentially! We take our Wii and Xbox and plenty of movies for rainy days. 2 TVs for bedtime. My old dorm fridge sits outside. Nail polish- I swear, the only time I ever have TIME to paint my nails is when we’re camping! A crockpot and George Foreman grill for easy meals. That’s what makes it like a home to us… all the comforts and luxuries we’re used to. Tent campers of the world, my hat is off to you…