We need to just get up and go

With the few days of really nice weather we’ve had in recent weeks, Mick and I are getting in the mood for some camping. Campgrounds will start opening the first of next month.

We haven’t camped once in the past two years.

Oh, we’ve de-winterized and re-winterized the RV. We’ve washed the linens. We’ve vacuumed and dusted. But the poor old camper hasn’t been hitched up and moved a single time since August 2015. Last year we even activated our ‘Tailgater’ satellite in May and paid the monthly fee for it, only to shut it off in October, having not used it a single time.

I guess we always managed to find other things to do on the weekend ... or it was raining ... or it was too hot.

I admit, I can be a fair-weathered camper at times. But I believe a lot of people would think twice about camping in the rain if they had three dogs in tow. No matter how much you love your fur-babies, a wet dog is a wet dog!

Yes, we’re those kinds of campers — well, I am anyway. Comfort comes first.

We’ve more than paid our dues.

We’ve had to find warmer lodging when we awoke to four inches of snow outside our tent one summer in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming when Carson was a baby. We had to abandon our tent when it filled with mud during a rainstorm in the mountains in Frisco, Colo. We’ve had to fix broken cables in our pop-up camper while vacationing in Missouri and even prop its roof up during a trip to Deadwood, S.D. Thinking back on those adventures makes me smile now, but back then? Come to think of it, we usually ended up laughing at our follies.

Now it’s all about the air conditioning, pillow-top mattress, microwave, refrigerator, television, and of course, the satellite.

Our RV isn’t new ... anymore. We only dream about the amenities offered in those fancy-schmancy RVs fresh off the factory floor — fireplaces, TVs that remotely appear from inside a cabinet, outdoor kitchens and entertainment systems. I wish ...

So anyway ...

We’re perfectly content with our 18-year-old, 28 foot fifth-wheel.

We used to camp much more often when the kids where young. I’m really not sure why since camping with a family in a tent is a lot of effort! It wasn’t a whole lot easier in the old pop-up. And the work involved once you get home is every bit as exhausting.

I do like the fact that now our little home-on-wheels is, for the most part, ready to hitch up to the truck and go. The work preparing for a weekend of camping is quite minimal in comparison to years past. Dishes and cookware stay in it all year. We keep clothes, shoes, toiletries, bedding and towels and dried goods in there through the summer, along with a partially stocked refrigerator and freezer, so really the toughest part is deciding where to go.

Now we just need to actually just load up the ‘girls’ and go ... once it’s a little warmer.

Contact Dana King at dking@shawmedia.com