BETTER THAN SITTING ON THE COUCH!

By the time this week ends I will have traveled with David in a Popup camper almost 10,000 miles!  I have made many observations along the way, some of which surprised me.  First, I am surprised at how many people permanently camp for the season in one campground!  In most every campsite we have stayed (except for the state parks) we found more than one half the sites filled with permanent campers.  And it didn’t seem to matter if it was near some great tourist spot, out in the desert, or in the middle of the woods, every private campground we stayed at had permanent seasonal campers.  

We seem to see more campers out West than anywhere else we traveled.  In fact, we saw more RV retail shops out West than anywhere else also!  

We have seen all kinds of campgrounds during this past couple of months too.  But the most fun campground we stayed at was Pure Country Campground in New York.  It was a campground for horse owners.  Of course, if there was room, it could accommodate people like us too!  They have different events all season long drawing in horse owners from all over.  The atmosphere was country rustic with a horse theme, and it created a fun atmosphere for everyone in attendance.  While we were there they had a midnight ride through their 130 miles of trails (it was a full moon).   

The Rolls Royce of campgrounds was in Geneva By the Lake in Ohio.  (It was also the most expensive), but the accommodations for campers were top notch!  It definitely held court when it came to the bathroom/shower setups.  They get the award for the cleanest and best appearance!  If only all campgrounds would put more effort into the shower/bathroom area!   

Campers too are a special lot.  It does not matter what our backgrounds are.  It is the love of outdoors and exploring that seems to be the common core.  We often felt like the “country cousin” compared to the huge RV’s that would surround us, but it didn’t seem to matter to anyone as conversations were easy to have with everyone.  

Mostly “old” people owned RV’s while we found more young families camping in tents or popups like us.  We even noticed some young people zipping up in a sleeping-bag-hammock.  Now that is roughing it!

What I found interesting was meeting people like David and me out on the road.  We met at least three couples just like us…having lost spouses and finding someone new later in life.  Due to the fun, we shared a common attitude about how lucky we felt!

The most amazing thing to me was to see how beautiful this country is!  No matter where we were, we discovered a uniqueness to what we experienced yet at the same time, a small town feel which meant kindnesses given.  If we asked anything we were showered with information, kindness, and help.  

And that brings me to this.  The best thing about our road trip was cutting off the political crap!  Oh, I would check in now and then to see if we were at war with anyone, but for the most part, we watched no TV, listened to no news, or gave one thought to the political divide.  In fact what we saw was that every local paper we picked up had little or no political news in it.  It mostly contained local happenings or state information.  Newspapers around big cities would contain more of the political issues of the day.

Now I know I cannot totally ignore politics (I do take my citizenship seriously) but I also realize that now and then a break from the “crazy” is also important for one’s mental health.  

This summer has fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine to wander the roads of this country to see what I could see and meet people from many walks of life.  We have only passed through 21 different states so I know there is much more to explore.  At my age, I never thought I would see this day, but meeting Dave, who processes the same kind of wanderlust as me, has been pure joy!  We have learned together that age does not mean anything, especially when we are lucky to have our health and keep our attitude positive.  As Dave has said to me almost every day of this trip, “It’s better than sitting on a couch!”