Monday, November 14, 2011

Camping Through the Years

Sweet hubby and I squeezed in another camping trip before Old Man Winter forces us to park our camper for a few months.
We love fall camping trips. As a matter of fact, we just love camping trips whenever we can take them.
This trip was to Guntersville, AL State Park.


While there, we saw this cute little camper and it got me thinking of the campers we've owned over the 23 years since we first started camping.


Our first camper was a 10 foot Scotty similar to the one below.


Picture courtesy of Roaming Times

It was a 1960 something model that we bought for $300 in 1988. 
It didn't have a bathroom and we could barely stand up in it because it was so small.
We had two small children at the time.
Sweet hubby and I put a lot of labor into the little camper along with about $200 worth of materials.
We were so happy when we went out camping in it for the first time and we fell in love with camping on our first trip.
After only one trip in our little camper we were offered a bigger camper ~ 15 feet long!~ at a very good price.  And it even had a bathroom!  Okay, the bathroom was a little space about two feet square with a toilet that you had to close the lid on to be able to take a shower.  But still, it was a bathroom!
We snapped that one up and sold our little Scotty at a $350 profit. 
We kept that one for a few years and then bought one a little newer, but still only a 15 footer.

Then along came baby #3 and one trip out in our 15-footer made us hit the road looking for something a little bigger.
That's when this new friend came into our life.
Our 1971 Airstream (Avion peeking around the end)

Our family of five had 14 years of camping fun in our 27 foot Airstream.
We have so many fun memories of our camping adventures over the years.
We found having a camper made Alabama History come alive for our little homeschool.
We were able to visit the places we were studying. 
My favorite was Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, AL. 

My clever hubby built the blue fabric cot you can see over the bed below.
Our three children giggled (and sometimes argued) themselves to sleep many nights in their cozy beds.


The table (below) let down and the couch pulled out making a full size bed for hubby and me.
It was a pain to have to set it back up every morning for breakfast, but so worth the trouble.


Here's a few more interior shots of our Airstream.




A few years ago we found our current camper, a 1988 Avion.
It was larger and nicer than our old Airstream, so we decided to make a change again.

We have always seen camping as a blessing to our family.
I think we are closer-knit because of it.
We were able to take family vacations that we couldn't have afforded if we'd had to stay in hotels and eat out.

Oh, and here's a hint in case you decide to go camping and want a private spot:

When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant. ~Author Unknown




Thank you for taking this camping trip with me down Memory Lane today.

Come back soon!


10 comments:

  1. Alabama is certainly a great place to camp. I know you have many wonderful memories tied up in those campers. Loved the tuba comment. haha

    ReplyDelete
  2. What an interesting post! And the camper is so nice.And..Alabama is a beautiful state.
    Happy day!
    Shirley

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great post! My hubby and I have always camped in a tent and never owned a camper (through raising a daughter and later with our grandson) but we have always loved Airstream campers and yours was just beautiful! I'd be happy to have one just like it! Glad you have taken your family camping so much! It is a great way as you say for kids to see the world we live in and learn about nature!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love vintage Airstreams! You are a lucky duck! Neat post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Something I have always dreamed of. Still dreaming.
    How I laughed at the tale of the tuba!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aw, makes me miss our trailer!! we loved camping with our boys.

    Love the tuba tip! Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow! those are really cool RVs.

    We just tried our first camping this year, and it was just way too cold for the month of June. But it was fun and we will definitely do it again.

    ~ Jo's Precious Thoughts ~

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'd LOVE to hear about how your hubby created that bunk. Was it there permanently or did it sometimes fold up/down? Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm interested in learning how you fastened the cot to the wall.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Jessica! I'm so untechnical-minded that I don't know if I can help you at all. As you can see hubby fastened notched boards on the walls. I asked him last night how he did that and he said with nuts, bolts, and washers. I forgot to ask him what he used for the metal rods but I know he made the cot from Sunbrella fabric (he also replaced our awning with the same fabric). The cot was removable and so handy for us. P.S. The cot was very strong, hubby tested it out himself before letting our kids use it and hubby weighs 200 lbs!

    I don't know if that's what you were asking, but if you have any other questions (that I can pass on to hubby :) let me know and I'll do what I can! Happy Camping! BTW, do you have an Airstream?

    ReplyDelete

I'm so happy you're leaving me a comment! ~ Sherry