We are camping again after three long (at least to me) months of sitting still. We have pulled the RV out and even though we are camped just 18.8 miles from our home, it seems a world away. To top it off, we are meeting dear friends to camp together.
For seven months we traveled—hurrying from one national park to another national monument, helping with our kids’ houses, or working as camp hosts. RVing from destination to destination with always the next 200 or so miles in mind.
The best part of this camping trip is meeting up with friends we met while being here years ago. We were all park hosts then and have now gone from full-time to half-time RVers. Leslie and I agree we could still travel indefinitely as full-time RVers and our husbands, Jay and Jimmie, prefer a home base. We have all reached the perfect compromise: half-time RVing.
Now we travel to get together a few times a year. We meet up and spend endless hours talking, hiking, eating, and sitting around a campfire. Making lifelong friendships with other RVers is an unexpected joy!
Today, we are doing the camping I fell in love with so many years ago. Sitting in my rocking chair looking at the mountains, desert, and saguaros on every side of me and doing absolutely nothing.
The doing nothing part of camping is what appealed to me so much in the beginning. We had two young kids then, worked full time, and were in the midst of never-ending house renovation. Our trips for a weekend of camping meant we had no work to do. No laundry. No painting. And no driving the kids and their friends all over. Nothing to do but a little grilling, taking walks, and campfire s’mores.
Never mind that it took almost a week to get the RV packed and ready to go and an enormous amount of work unpacking, and washing clothes, when we returned home on Sunday afternoon. We were the consummate weekend warriors.
Many, many years later I now remember that exquisite feeling of having nothing to do. Maybe we will meet up with our friends and take a hike. Maybe I will think about writing an article or maybe I’ll get up and have lunch. Or maybe I’ll just sit here, rock, and contemplate this wonderful life we have.
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Joy, Joy, Joy! We’re camping again!
##RVT1191
By Golly, the 1st again.
I have really enjoyed meeting and visiting with folks from all over when camping.
This last summer I met a couple from Connecticut where o.ur mom was from and sharing stories. I can usually tell who wants to say more than Howdy and that’s O.K.
I’m getting the spring -summer items back where I know where to find them in Lucy.
My Winnebago. Chomping at the bit to head out for more adventures.
Ya-Hoooo, Head-em Up and ride On!…Or Move-em on Out!
⭐ (for being 1st) Have a good night, David. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Wait, wait, Nanci! Aren’t you registered to vote in South Dakota? Or have you officially moved?
Andy, we winter in Arizona and have become Arizona residents. We RV the remaining six months. We voted in Arizona and not South Dakota this election cycle.The importance of voting hassle free was one of several reasons we became AZ residents.
Good on ya!
Fabulous article, Nanci. I think you captured my thoughts about RVing. When we first started doing the RV thing (when the last kid left home – and we gave him the tent to take with), it was almost 30 years ago. Not being on the ground was the biggest thing. We’ve been to bunches of places withing 100 miles of home, just to ‘get out of Dodge’ and – do nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, but a lot less than hanging around the house where there’s always something to do. Thank you for reminding me of the joy of doing nothing.
Thank you, Nanci! Well done! Have a great weekend and safe travels! 🙂
I am so showing this article to my wife and friends… usually I just want to relax or putter around doing things on the travel trailer… My wife and friends always seem to be in a rush to do something or go some where, which is fine. Just let me sit some times and enjoy my doing nothing!!
Putter is my middle name and in retirement I find myself running out of putter every day. There is just so much puttering that has to be done. I didn’t realize how much nothing there was to do.
You hit it just right Nanci. We too are half-time (plus) RVers. We didn’t sell our paid-for home in the far north CONUS, but we throttle it down as much as possible and head south for the winter living in the TT we leave down here. We weren’t sure we would stick it out, but found a better social life than at our house. We bought a 2nd much smaller TT for the weekend to week long wanderlust at both locations and the trip between.
We did same as you in Florida for 10 years. Sold out in 21 because of covid. Heading down in spring to find a new site for this winter.
You described the camping I hated from my childhood years. Desert camping. Oh well. To each their own. Give me forested mountain lakes and rivers. The call of the Loon in the distance while kayaking or hiking. Morning dew dropping from the evergreens. No sand in eyes or blistering heat.
Excellent article Nanci! Seems you were racing all over the country in minimum time and distance and forgetting to smell the roses; i.e., doing nothing! But alas, don’t let the old girl in while in that rocking chair, but do savor and enjoy those times when nothing is the priority of the day! Being retired, I find I have no time to get everything done and to just sit! Thanks for reminding me.
Amen!
Thank you for this article Nanci. It made me feel good…
When people ask us what we do while we are camping, I tell them, “Nothing, and we try real hard not to start that until about noon”.
Of all the places we’ve been, out favorite place to be is together.
Your comment about starting at noon, sounds like two old people we know …. US! Safe travels!
Our motorhome manual says to run the engine and generator about every month. It doesn’t complain when we do it every six or seven weeks instead. It says driving is better than idling. Excuse for spending a few days at any one of our local Thousand Trails campgrounds anywhere from 30 miles or even up to 200 miles if meeting with our FMCA chapter for a rally. Even when we two are alone we never seem to have time to watch any of the DVDs and generally don’t have over-the-air TV signal access. Time away provides opportunity to finish some magazines and books. If with a group, then we are enjoying their company and activities. Even after 63 years of marriage we still enjoy each other’s company.