Those comfy beds, indoor fireplaces/stoves, and the facilities are the best reason for my trading my Lance truck camper for my camp on the lake(s) - that and the either the camper goes or the camp discussion with my DW - she got a boat and is happier.

Course it coulda also been the small short bed pickup and the 4 steps and maybe a trip  (always camp with 2 dogs) between bed and bath vs. the 30 steps presently. Bigger is better when staying in the same spot for 1-3 months at a time. With never a holding tank to drain, cept maybe in winter when it must be deposited in outhouse.

Nothing quite like a wood fire anytime year-round. Outside in the firepit, campfire,woodstove, cookstove, or fireplace,etc.

Sorry bout that the joy of moving 3 of 6 cords of firewood today - has got me started thinking in terms of woodheat again - and soft woods for kindling and hard woods for overnighters. Either that or it was the chimney cleaning sign-up with the local FD for a donation to the fireman's fund.

I have gotten kind of spoiled myself the last few years. I like soft beds, warm showers, and an indoor fireplace if it's damp outside. There's a lot to be said for modern convieniences.

Sure nuff,

Picture this - college days in the evil lands - sorry MAss.

Took my girl friend to the Cape and we weren't planning on overnighting just gazing at the stars in Plymouth at a cranberry bog. Round about midnight, It was her used Mustang Mach something - we tried to start the car, and it wouldn't turn over, we spent the night and most of the following couple of days just camping, on a blanket (warm weather with no rain) and fishing with a fancy length of string and safety pin. With a really fancy piece of tarp slung from 2 trees with a piece of string.

I thought what the heck as long as we were stuck and it was warm why bother calling anyone - or hiking out. Introduce the new GF to camping close to the big city. Caught bass - and managed to cook it over the campfire using some pieces of aluminum foil saved from a pair of subs, eating berries and doing what the bears mighta done in the woods, after pointing out the "old three leaves let it be bit". Whatta gentleman.

Heck, we even manage to stretch our yoohoo's, and soda's. OK, maybe one more beverage.

Round about the third day I did remember to check the ground(s) and we managed to get back to Bahston and school. Hey, I admit I was enjoying myself and she had started to NOT miss the indoor facilities.

When last I went back about 12 years ago, the place hadn't changed much except, they now had a bowling alley or ice rink, at the beginning of the road. The bog was still being used for cranberries and the bass were still biting.

I think I've probably mentioned Wildcat Mtn in NH, and true wilderness camping once too often with my wife and the misplaced Travelcraft Class C. The moral of that one - is never follow your significant other on a blue dot trail.

Truth be known we still go out on those funky little camping trips even now. But, my back starts missing the Camp round about the fifth day, and everything else starts missing the modern conveniences round about the 7th day. I've become spoiled but, for several days it's happy times in a tent, with a sleeping bag.

Froze

What golden memories! Thanks for shareing that one with us. You are 100% right about cooking on a campfire outside. I don't think I do it often enough but I plan on going camping again in about 3 weeks.

This time, I plan on using a cot, an air mattress, and a tent, but I will still be cooking over an open camp fire.

Some of my fondest memories are camping with my mom and dad and sisters and brother. We never had much and we went camping for recreation. One trip we had was from Cape Cod, to Maine. My father had a 1956 Dodge pickup in baby blue, and was he proud of that truck. He built a wood camper on the back of it and put in shelves and drawers and such to store the food we would take. We took off from Mass. and drove to Mt Blue State Park in south west Maine. All four of us kids were in the back which would be against the law now but we rode back there all the way up and all the way back on a pile of blankets. It was in '56 so I was 8 yrs old and I had a sister 10 my brother was 7 and my little sister was 4 years old. We pulled into the park and daddy went to check us in and momma made us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When she got done she put us all on the tail gate of the truck and went to get daddy who was probably telling his life story to the ranger. While they were gone a big bear wandered into camp and decided he liked our sandwiches so we fed them to him. When we ran out my older sister made more and he kept wanting more so we just kept giving him more.  We used an entire loaf of Wonder Bread and almost all the peanut butter before my mother came back and started screaming. She alerted the ranger who came running with a broom and yelling the bears name. Cant remember his name but he was a regular around the camp. Well he ran off and the ranger reassured my mother that we would not be eaten in our sleep and we had a great time. We slept in the truck bed and my parents slept on the ground under the tail gate with a tarp stretched from the top of the camper to the ground to keep the damp off them. Believe me I could tell tons of these kind of stories. Now I 'camp' in a 40 foot motor home with all the conviences. But I still have lots of fond memories of my times camping as a child. I still cook out side on the camp fire because there isnt any way that breakfast can taste better. Dava

A foot of snow is really something to wake up to on a winter campout. I never did that but lighlty falling snow on a tent is about the softest sound in the world. You can only hear it on super quiet nights with the moon running in and out of the clouds.

I don't like liver but that sounds grand. It's easy to believe that's better than the best restaurants could ever serve, even  in a trailer so small you have to step outside to change  your mind.

Fresh trout cooked in bacon grease, you can't get it any better than that...YUMMY!!

The winter camping experience that stands out in my mind the most was a hunting trip into the Carson National Forrest. We had a 1955 Ford station wagon that Dad would put a mattress in the back of. We thought we were in tall cotton then. Stayed warm and dry throughout the night during a snow storm that completely covered that old car with over a foot of snow.

That particular trip, we had a neighbor who's luck was a little better than ours. He bagged a deer and shared fresh liver with onions in his little tear drop trailer. That was one of the best meals I think I have ever had and I have eaten in quite a few hoity-toity restaurants but none of them could hold a candle to it.