Why we Camp

I can understand the desire for simplicity. When I was young and went camping with my parents, we started with tents and went to trailer, truck camper, then I left home and my parents moved on up to various motor homes until they could no longer do so.

Up in Michigan, you have the option of no AC. Here in NC or other southern states, no AC would be miserable in any but late fall through early spring. When the temperatures push toward or over 100F, the inside of the pod could be pushing 125 to 150F.

Campgrounds do not like us to carry our own wood so that pests are not spread. Purchasing small amounts of wood at exorbitant prices so that we can have a campfire is not something I find desirable. I do like to cook outdoors, but for that, I use a propane grill/stove (Coleman Camp Grill/Stove+ for which I also purchased the griddle). I was able to gather some fallen wood and even cut up some larger logs so I could build a fire and cook some potato and vegetable packets to have with the steak I grilled on the grill/stove. Given the look of the grate on the fire pit, I would not have gotten my steak anywhere near it.

Last week we were at the Holly Point campground at Falls Lake. We had a great time enjoying the outdoors. My wife does not go out as much as I do, so she does appreciate the amenities of our R-Pod 179. I had considered a motor home like my parents had, but when it came down to it, I did not want a house on wheels. Our R-Pod is great for the two of us.

In spite if the differences in our camping styles, there is one thing that we both enjoy. That is, to be out and see the beauty of God's creation. Given how beautiful this wreckage of a world is post Noah, we can only speculate on the beauty of it when it was new and everything was "very good."

Hope to see you around someday.

We are winding down from a 3 month ,10,000 mile trip. We started Aug. 10 from North Carolina and traveled to Glacier National Park. Since then, we have traveled south through Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Texas . We have hiked, biked, canoed, rafted, bird watched, climbed mountains, watched sunrises and sunsets. We have been from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico , from 12,000 feet to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to sea level. We are now headed back to NC.

Stephen, A/C is something we may add in the future to our 177.  Last year as we were on our way to RMNP (Colorado) we did an overnight at Walmart (Labor Day, 2015) as there were no campsites available in that part of Iowa.  Long story short, only cooled down to 88 degrees on our thermometer, didn't sleep that night, way too hot.  Then again, since electricity was not to be gotten in the parking lot, we would have been hot anyway although I could have purchased a generator, and then purchased a . . . . .

The main driver for our 179 purchase was the hassle of motels when attending RC helicopter events. At the end of the day, I had to load up the stuff in my vehicle, drive to the motel, and lug the expensive stuff up to the room to keep it from getting stolen. Then I had to do the reverse in the morning.

In addition, my wife sometimes goes with me and she often suffers from insomnia at night, so she'd need to get a nap sometime during the day. That usually meant her driving to the motel and leaving me stranded at the field.

Other than the RC equipment, we don't take a lot of luxury items with us. We do use the A/C quite a bit, driven by a couple of 2000W generators in parallel. We're mostly just happy with having a cool place to relax, rehydrate, and recharge after hours in the hot Texas sun.

One way around the rain in the window issue is to use the escape window. I made a rod about 16inches long that props the whole window unit open like an awning window. Pop up both red handles and insert the rod between the window and frame to hold it open. Laura made a custom screen that is velcroed to the interior. It works great for increased ventilation and rain protection.