Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:12:31 -0400
Reply-To: george jannini <georgejoann@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: george jannini <georgejoann@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Beyond Vanagon-Keeping older vehicles! Camping in motor homes!
In-Reply-To: <20130325144151.3MDU7.717388.imail@eastrmwml107>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
To whom it may concern:
Your motorizzed minimalist survival kit is my "let's take entrenching
tools, axes, saws and other implements of destruction, cooking crap,
preferably cast iron and enough tasty victuals to share with of our VWing
and RVing friends who share more or less the same interests as we do.
Hell, on a trip two years ago we somehow managed to buy four antique
Singer sewing machines- but yard sale and thrift store crawling is probably
a whole 'nother subject.. Getting back on topic:
I have no interest in getting off into the middle of anyplace all by
myself- in fact I'm all by myself (OK, ourselves) right now, although not
actually getting off, and, instead, here I am one more time commenting on
the same old tedious subject- IOW, what is the definition of camping?
You know what? I wish that the three of us were still in Kentucky
freezing our asses off,, we were having a hell of a time. And maybe it's
also time for another list vacation. Maybe I'll see some of you the week
of April 8 at Everybus, but you can better believe that this mess won't be
part of the discussion.
George, Jo, & Ray (he's the cat)
On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
> ---- Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA> wrote:
> > I'm glad somebody has said this. I don't mean to be negative, but some
> folk really want to stuff the poor Vanagon package to an incredible degree.
> I *try* to think of the van as a tent on wheels.
>
> A tent on wheels, with a bed off the ground, is how I use my camper. We
> do like the convenience of having a kitchen (a minimal one, some camp
> kitchens even for tenting are far more elaborate than what is in the
> Campmobile), and as we age, the bed is a comfort we seem to need. Since we
> live and travel in brutally hot climates, A.C. while on the move is
> welcomed. But, we have never even considered air conditioning the camper
> for camp. Though we do camp in winter and in mountains in summer, we have
> not installed a heater. We also have not installed an auxiliary battery,
> though we have considered that, and decided it would not give us any
> advantage unless we could run the refrigerator off it to save propane for
> cooking. But we can stay out for three weeks before we need propane as is.
> I guess a bigger propane tank would be more important to me than an
> auxiliary battery. Maybe I'll get a solar panel setup to keep the starter
> battery up.
>
> We have only stayed at a campground with electrical hookup one time in the
> four years we've had the camper, and that was when we used it to attend a
> work conference, and the state park only had sites with hookups. Mostly we
> try to camp at what the USFS calls "dispersed camping" locations or similar
> when we can. Though our camper is not a Syncro, most RVs cannot reach our
> preferred places. Otherwise, we use what public lands and parks agencies
> call "primitive" sites, without any hookups.
>
> We don't need to take our house with us when we travel or camp. Our tent
> on wheels is great, though.
>
> I'd just like it to trust it to always get us home. Actually, so far it
> has not failed to do so.
>
> mcneely
>
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