Camping Through the Years

Sweet hubby and I squeezed in another camping trip before Old Man Winter forces us to park our camper for a few months.

We love fall camping trips. As a matter of fact, we just love camping trips whenever we can take them.

This trip was to Guntersville, AL State Park.

While there, we saw this cute little camper and it got me thinking of the campers we've owned over the 23 years since we first started camping.

Our first camper was a 10 foot Scotty similar to the one below.

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Picture courtesy of Roaming Times

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It was a 1960 something model that we bought for $300 in 1988. 

It didn't have a bathroom and we could barely stand up in it because it was so small.

We had two small children at the time.

Sweet hubby and I put a lot of labor into the little camper along with about $200 worth of materials.

We were so happy when we went out camping in it for the first time and we fell in love with camping on our first trip.

After only one trip in our little camper we were offered a bigger camper ~ 15 feet long!~ at a very good price.  And it even had a bathroom!  Okay, the bathroom was a little space about two feet square with a toilet that you had to close the lid on to be able to take a shower.  But still, it was a bathroom!

We snapped that one up and sold our little Scotty at a $350 profit. 

We kept that one for a few years and then bought one a little newer, but still only a 15 footer.

Then along came baby #3 and one trip out in our 15-footer made us hit the road looking for something a little bigger.

That's when this new friend came into our life.

Our 1971 Airstream (Avion peeking around the end)

Our family of five had 14 years of camping fun in our 27 foot Airstream.

We have so many fun memories of our camping adventures over the years.

We found having a camper made Alabama History come alive for our little homeschool.

We were able to visit the places we were studying. 

My favorite was Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, AL. 

My clever hubby built the blue fabric cot you can see over the bed below.

Our three children giggled (and sometimes argued) themselves to sleep many nights in their cozy beds.

The table (below) let down and the couch pulled out making a full size bed for hubby and me.

It was a pain to have to set it back up every morning for breakfast, but so worth the trouble.

Here's a few more interior shots of our Airstream.

A few years ago we found our current camper, a 1988 Avion.

It was larger and nicer than our old Airstream, so we decided to make a change again.

We have always seen camping as a blessing to our family.

I think we are closer-knit because of it.

We were able to take family vacations that we couldn't have afforded if we'd had to stay in hotels and eat out.

Oh, and here's a hint in case you decide to go camping and want a private spot:

When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant. ~Author Unknown

Thank you for taking this camping trip with me down Memory Lane today.

Come back soon!