With two days to departure we are preparing for our first camping trip of the year. As this website is pretty new and this blog has been dormant for months, I thought I would share with you the post I wrote two years ago that describes how we came to own The Camping Machine. Here is the post:
It started in February 2004. It was a cold, snowy weekend and we were looking for something to do with the kids. My wife had been talking to one of her friends earlier in the day, and this friend happened to mention they were going to the RV show. My wife said, “Maybe that would be something to do this afternoon.”
So we loaded up the truck and went to see RVs. 5th wheels, Motor Homes.
Chris and Tommy loved it. When we walked through the door into the convention center Chris stopped dead in his tracks and said, “Look at all these Camping Machines!”
Thus the name was born. We spend a couple of hours there that day, and over the course of that time I thought maybe this would be a fun way for our family to spend time together – get one of these ‘camping machines’ and explore our part of the country. After all, we live in a place with fantastic access to mountains, lakes and National Parks within a day’s drive. What better way to spend quality time as a family, away from the city, TV, video games and the normal routine?
I spend the next year doing research on RVs, tow vehicles, and the whole camping lifestyle. The more my wife and I talked about it the more we thought it would be fun to give it a try. I spend hundreds of hours online (rv.net is a great resource) looking at trailer specs, reading message boards and asking questions. It took some time but I started to understand what would be a good fit four our family, our travel plans and our budget.
This past February we went back to the RV show. Three times in two days. We narrowed our selections to four models. The week after the show I went to the dealers and looked at each one more carefully. Two weeks later we ordered the one we liked best from the factory.
Today we picked it up and drove it home.
Our two boys couldn’t be more excited. We ate lunch in the Camping Machine – in the driveway. We ate dinner in the Camping Machine. In the driveway. And right now they are both sleeping in the Camping Machine. In the driveway.
And I’m writing this in the Camping Machine. IN the driveway. Before I, too, will go to sleep in the Camping Machine. In the driveway.
My wife is in bed already. In the house.
Maybe next weekend we’ll go camping.
Well, we did go camping that weekend. The first year we only got out three more times, but last year we got out seven times. Not bad considering we also had youth soccer, T-ball and other family obligations. Plus, here in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, our season is short – basically Memorial Day to Labor Day.
It’s interesting how we came to be a Camping Family. As a boy I did not go camping with my family. We just didn’t do that. My wife did not go camping with her family when she was a child. We don’t have many friends who are serious campers. So the whole thing was very new to us.
But because we live in such a beautiful area with virtually endless possibilities for outdoor recreation, and because my wife and I are committed to spending more quality time with our kids doing things outdoors and less time in front of the TV, we looked into the whole RV/Camping thing as a way to honor our commitment.
Even more than that, I want to make sure we make the most of our time together while our children are young and live with us. It is hard for me to believe my boys will turn 7 and 5 this summer! Where did those seven years go? I am afraid the time will fly by and before we know it, the boys will be off to college. So our investment in our travel trailer, or rather our Camping Machine, is to make sure we get out and do things together. Get out on the road and see places outside of our back yard. Make those memories as a family so that when our kids look back on their childhood they say to themselves, “We sure did a lot of fun things when we were kids.”
So there it is, the context for this website and this blog. It’s not about the Camping Machine. It’s about our family and what we do together. The Camping Machine is one way, a fun way, for us to grow together as a family, see new places, have fun and spend time in the great outdoors. Plus, in my humble opinion, it makes an interesting hook to the website – I am a marketing guy, after all.
I hope you’ll check in when you can for updates and dispatches from the road. Please feel free to leave your comments. Thanks again for reading! And, if I can plug it one more time, please visit The Camping Machine website.
It's great to be The Family Man (especially when we're going camping!)
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3 comments:
I am so glad you are back Family Man/Mr. Camping Machine Family. I truly missed reading your stories of daily life. Your expressive way with words never failed to put a smile on my face and the sad stories (Your Mom) truly touched my heart. I had actually stopped checking your sight when so many months went by with no entries and then low and behold you are back and I am so happy to see that you are all well. When six months passed with no entries I seriously wondered if something tragic had befallen your family and I prayed that it had not and you were simply too busy. One thing I will say as an objective observer as your boys grow up for yourself, your wife and them when they and you can go back and read your journal they will love it even more and more as they get older and then when they have kids.
My family camped as kids. We did not have a lot of money but those camping trips still bring such a smile to my face at the memories. In the Fall my husband and I found the favorite campground which was bought and turned into a private residence since the 80;s. I did not know the address I only remembered what it looked like and knew the town. My husband patiently drove for three days up and down driveways of tree lined streets helping me look until we found it. I then had my brothers come up and the people who owned the place let us look around and we actually told them lots of stuff they did not know about their place. Those memories with my brothers will be with me forever.
My husband and I don't camp we are more the "Hotel Camping" type but we love traveling. So many people who live in the US have never seen the Grand Canyon and it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. So you are fortunate to live in such a beautiful place as the Rockies.
Always wishing you and your family the very best and good health in life. I have a nephew who is now a teenager ( I still spend as much time as I can with him ) and the years went by faster than I could have ever believed. Our memories with him are priceless. So continue on this memory making journey with your wife and children and I hope you will allow us to continue to be able to read your stories. It is an honor to read your stories.
I remain Your Interested Reader Erin
The memories that your boys will have of The Camping Machine are priceless. I hope you all have a great summer together - even if you only go down the road to the nearest State Park with the price of gas so high.
Can't wait to read about your adventures! :)
Thim
I love it that you want to camp with your boys. I never camped when I wa a child, our family never did anything together. When my children were coming up, though, we camped a lot. We had a tent and camped with friends who also had tents. I was the Girl Scout leader for my two daughters, and took my troop camping four times a year.
My husband and I bought a pop-up after the kids were grown and gone, and loved camping in it so much that we sold everything and now live fulltime in a travel trailer. We have been living this lifestyle for 7 years now and have no desire to go back to a house.
thanks for inviting me to share links with you.
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