Happy Trails

Well we picked up our new little camper yesterday and I am just stoked.

I've always had a jaded view of the RV thing. When I was a kid some old retired fart and his lovely wife took pity on me because I wasn't old enough to go fishing with the big kids and there wasn't room in the boat for me anyways. (Stuff like that breaks kids' hearts). I didn't know the old guy from a hole in the ground but he took me out in his little aluminum boat wi th a 2 HP trolling motor. They towed it behind a plain looking VW camper van.

In any event we pulled up within a hundred yards of Pop and the big kids and we sunk some lines and I started pulling out small little rainbows. I learned to take the hooks out, and put them back in the water gently. When we got back the old boy showed all of us how to clean them and cook them. I was squeamish going in but afterward I could clean them as well as the big kids. He took me out twice more and then one day they were gone - off on their retirement path. I never saw them again, and I've never forgotten them. They had that little VW camper with a rainbow trout decal on one side and the white tail deer on the other. Those decals were a badge of office in those days that said "I'm retired and living the good life".

It's like everything else. The world moved on from those days and things got stupid. The tent trailers went the way of the buffalo or with the rednecks and kids. The cool kids drove big pusher motor homes with gas fire places, granite counters, opulent shitters, etc etc. My parents had a 36 foot 5th wheel that they were so proud of. It just turned me off - I think their tent trailer they had back in the 1960's would be a vast improvement. (It must be a guy thing).

But as I got older my bone's stopped fitting the ground right, erratic blood chemistry screwed up my internal thermostat and I couldn't stay warm anymore, blah blah blah. I got old. My days of tents and overnight hikes are pretty much over.

It's a Rockwod hard top/hard side A-Frame

Camper...

Oh boy. This thing has a stereo, lights, stove, BBQ, heated mattress, microwave, air conditioner, etc etc etc. Times have gotten stupid and I have too I guess.