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| Campsite C12 at Salt Fork State Park |
Full disclosure: I am not a camper.
That's not to say that I've never been camping, nor that I don't enjoy roughing it. I do. I've done plenty of tent camping over the years. It's a great way to become very intimate with wild places in a hurry, and that is very attractive. But after a few days worth of grime build-up, sloping and rocky sleeping surfaces, ubiquitous camp smoke smell, and the absence of running water (hot and cold), I'm done. My tolerance decreases further in the event of rain.
So how do I now find myself spending a weekend at a campsite in central Ohio, on a couple of the hottest and muggiest days in this hottest and muggiest of summers? Because I can do it without having to give up most creature comforts.
It's called 'Glamping': Glamour Camping. And it's true. We had all the comforts of home, in 23 feet of space. Queen bed, full kitchen, full bathroom with shower, hot and cold running water, A/C (needed it), heat (didn't need it this time, but we will). Fridge/freezer. Microwave. And to further enforce that this isn't run-of-the-mill camping, I have a designer set of melamine dishes and I brought my Italian espresso maker.
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| Hot and cold running water, gas stove |
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| Fridge, freezer, microwave, queen bed, dining table |
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| Dining table folds into an extra sleeping space, if necessary |
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| My cool camping dish set that I insisted the dealer throw in when we bought the Airstream |
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| How cool are these??!!! |
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| Italian espresso maker. Camping should not mean having to give up the finer things. |
The 'trial weekend' was all about figuring out what we were doing, and to get a sense of the possibilities of this Airstream lifestyle.
We chose Salt Fork State Park because there is an annual trail race here that we wanted to preview. (It was the most unpleasant 10 miles of trail, ever. Fully 8.5 of those miles were calf-deep, off-camber Zika breeding ground. 'Running' was rarely an option. The heat, humidity, and never-ending spiderweb network added to the fun. Not.) Salt Fork is also far enough away, yet close enough to home, in case we needed to ditch in a hurry or if we ran into any newbie camper issues.
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| Worst. 10 miles. Ever. |
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| Didn't see him. |
The park has plenty of nice sites for RV campers the size of our Airstream. We got a shady site with full hook-ups (electric, water, and sewer), but we didn't use the sewer or water because there was a shower house nearby, and we filled our water tanks ahead of time (39 gallons of fresh water). We also had a portable propane tank to power our Weber Q, a miniature version of a standard gas grill. It was simply too hot and humid to consider a charcoal or wood fire.
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| The mini Weber! |
Stuff I learned about pulling a camper:
It's big. It takes a lot more space to maneuver around things. You can't be as responsive to traffic situations as you can in a zippy little car. Got a hankering for a Starbucks? Forget about the Drive-Thru window. Even stopping for gas requires a bit more forethought and planning. But it's not a big deal.
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| Taking up a lot of parking space. |
Stuff I learned about camping:
It's good to have a destination and objective in mind. The trail run, as awful as it was, was the thing that I was looking most forward to. That, and the filet mignon dinner and cold beer under a star-filled sky.
The surprising thing was the blissful hours of nothing to do. Some might call this 'relaxation'. I'm not very good at it, but I can see how it might become enjoyable. I brought some stuff to read, and I played around with a photo app that converts pictures into art. After about 20 minutes of this, Dave and I decided it was probably a good idea to go for a hike. We set off on a trail that quickly became an unmaintained, overgrown weed bed. After this 10-minute hike, I spent the next hour before dinner picking little green, sticky plant thingies off my clothes, while Dave fired up the grill. I started feeling like a camper!
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| Airstream art! |
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| Creepy cool! |
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| Stuff to keep my brain occupied. I'm a huge fan of ancient Roman history in Great Britain. Who knew? :) |
Space Constraints:
Before we got the Airstream, we had a little pop-up A-frame pull-behind camper/trailer. It was fine, but it had it's limitations. Space was at a premium. One of us would have to go outside if the other wanted to walk from one side of the camper to the other. We don't have the same issue in the Airstream. The interior design of this thing is a marvel of engineering. Every inch of space has been well thought out, and right now there is more space than we know what to do with. Once this Airstream thing becomes more of a lifestyle than a weekend getaway, I may have a different take on this. But for now, the space feels luxurious.
Roughing it in style:
I need to figure out how to bring a gourmet element to camp cooking. Although we did enjoy our steaks and s'mores (thanks to John and Cindy Debo for the extensible marshmallow-roasting forks!), there's got to be a way to fit a martini shaker and some top chef cuisine into this new paradigm. I'll find out and let you know.
Our brief foray into the world of RV camping was over too soon. It took us about maybe an hour or so to pack up, disconnect, and clean up before heading back to civilization. Which really isn't all that different from living in the Airstream.
Next up: another weekend getaway in early fall, possibly Findley State Park (great trails). Then we're off to Kentucky's Bourbon Trail over Christmas. Let the adventures begin!
