Camping

At the end of this three week road trip a word about camping. I do not really consider travelling in the Volkswagen Westfalia ‘camping’. For an activity to be worthy of the word ‘camping’ one must at least sleep on the ground. A comfy mattress is allowed but it must be in contact with the ground.

Over the past twenty years or so, I’ve noticed quite a change. Most campgrounds these days (especially the private, commercial ones) cater almost exclusively to the RV (recreational vehicle) crowd. There are water, sewer and electric hook-ups for these monstrous rigs. I stopped at one county campground near Sacramento, CA where they had NO bathroom or shower facilities. The only vehicles welcome or, for that matter, able to be accommodated were totally self-contained vehicles that would simply plug into or hook up to the sewer, water and electricity.

Pity the poor person arriving looking for a place to set up a tent. Most private campgrounds will not even consider giving you a space. Sometimes I feel that they look at my Westy and wonder whether they should allow me in. But I just brazen right through it. And, besides, at this time of year they want the business. I’ve even beaten them down in price a few times over the past three weeks by saying “is that the best price you can give me?”

And some of the campers can really make you wonder. There are the noisy drunken ones … a real rarity on this trip. And there are the ones with noisy kids. Well, what can you do. It was spring break this week, I believe. At least the kids get put to bed by nine o’clock or so.

This trip’s award for most memorable camper goes to the fellow just a few sites away who last night had an innovative way to start a campfire. I was reading my book when I heard this loud whoosh and roar. I jumped up wondering what was happening. The fellow had a propane tank hooked to one of those flame thrower nozzles that you sometimes see roofers using to seal roofing materials. This guy was using this to light his campfire. The best part (and the irony was surely lost on him) was that it wasn’t really doing a very good job. He seemed to need to restart his flame thrower and give it several goes and even so the results were unimpressive.

I was, of course, embarrassed for him. In my youth, as a budding pyromaniac I became quite skilled at setting fires. I wanted to go over to this campsite and show this guy what could be done with a bit of skrunched up newspaper and a little kindling. Sheesh!

I have no photos from this sad event so here’s another seascape.