Monday, July 7, 2008

Camping as dry dock

A lone tent amid RVs. It's very quiet, if not exactly rustic.


(At last we have email access again....)
We're staying at Meinert County Park, near Montague, Michigan. We are the lone tent in a campground full of RVs, many of them parked here for the season.
How camping has changed since we were kids! Back then, you spent a few dollars for a small spot without water, electricity or too many neighbors. These days, it's not unusual to pay $25 and get all those hook-ups whether you want them or not. Back then, there were lots of tents and few of these enormous homes-on-wheels. These days, RVs are the norm, and many feature outside decorations and well as all the indoor amenities of home (showers, air conditioning, televisions).
We think we understand the proliferation of RVs as car culture meets convenience. They're cheaper than owning a cottage or staying in motels while traveling. They're not really a substitute for tents as much as they are an opportunity to have your home and leave it, too.
This is the quietest campground we've encountered because everybody seems to be indoors watching TV. We have the bathroom to ourselves because everybody else brought their own. It's not all bad!

Neatly docked in their slips. What would you name them? "Lovely lady?" "He's not home?"

This campground reminds us of a harbor in which we are the only kayaks and everyone else has docked their motorboats. But unlike boat owners, RV owners don't seem to name their mobile homes. Imagine if they did. What would they choose? Perhaps they'd go for the corny names boat owners choose, such as "Betsy Sue" and "Dividends." Or maybe they'd go the bumper sticker route with "My other home is a castle."

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