[reh321]

We're on the back side of a 6-7 week motor trip which has included our home state of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and a train trip from St Louis to Chicago. Right now we are in Arkansas at the Prairie Creek C of E Park on Beaver Lake. Next we will head to Lake Fort Smith.

It's not a tent, but hey, it is camping for a septuagenarian!

My wife and I got a pup tent as a wedding present, and we went tenting for many years. When daughters joined our family, people said we would have to stop tenting, but the girls didn't know any better, so we just kept doing it, just in bigger tents. However, I have back troubles now, and I hate the thought of driving one of those monsters, so our camping days finally seem to have ended several years ago.

[SSGGeezer]

Tess is enough younger than me, by the time she's old enough to go for an RV trip, I'll be ready for a cruise.

LOL! Norm,
We can tell by the pictures you take of her that you robbed the cradle!. You have never set me up to point it out before!

[Just1MoreDave]

Not really quite on topic, but I bent a 1" thick ash blank tonight. It'll replace the curved piece at the end of the canoe, a more dramatic curve than in the canoe photos above. Ash is traditionally used for hockey sticks, baseball bats, canoe paddles, even car frames, so it seems unlikely to bend like this. I could support this piece between sawhorses and sit in the center with no hint of cracking. But a couple of hours of steam and it bends nicely.

[ChristianRock]

I did a little bit of camping as a teenager but mainly just joining my brother and his friends a few times.

Now that I am all grown up and have a family of my own, and my kids are finally at an age that they enjoy camping (5,7,9) and most importantly, my wife getting used to the idea of sleeping in a place where frogs and snakes might be just a thin tent fabric away from you, we have slowly started camping...

So last year we started by doing a special program for first time campers that state parks in GA have, where they lend you a tent and some equipment and help you in case you need. That went pretty well and we had fun. My wife liked it and went out and bought a tent and some stuff for us including a little gas stove. All Coleman stuff. Then we planned a few more outings last year which never happened - strong rains, or kids got sick, or sports season, whatever. We never went again until a couple weeks ago when we finally went out with a few more families.

So as we try to put up our tent, one of those Coleman instant tents, one of the joiners instantly broke. My wife had tried to put it together one day and she thinks she might have folded it wrong. Either way, thankfully another family brought an extra tent that their daughter was going to use, and we were able to use it instead.

So when we got back we called Coleman and explained that the tent was out of warranty as it had been over a year since we bought it, so we just wanted to buy that plastic joiner and fix our tent. Apparently that particular instant tent was only produced very briefly and they didn't have any spare parts, so despite us being out of warrantly and just wanting to buy a part to fix our tent, they decided to just send us a new similar tent...

So now it's Coleman for life... great customer service!

Just before this, I got a gift from my 10-year anniversary at the company I work for, and I could choose from a list of products... and picked the Blackstone Tailgater, a gas stove that also has a detachable grill plus a griddle that's portable, and we intend to use it at home as an alternative to the charcoal grill for quick meals, and also take with us if we camp for a longer time and we need to grill some steaks, burgers, hot dogs, chicken and of course bacon... so no campfires for me unless it's for marshmallows, I'd rather cook my steaks on a cast iron grill, thank you very much

With 3 kids and a wife demanding constant attention, I predict that not a lot of photography will happen in the next few years, but I might get some shots in here and there....

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Last edited by ChristianRock; 06-27-2018 at 03:02 PM.

[dbs]

My wife and I got a pup tent as a wedding present, and we went tenting for many years. When daughters joined our family, people said we would have to stop tenting, but the girls didn't know any better, so we just kept doing it, just in bigger tents. However, I have back troubles now, and I hate the thought of driving one of those monsters, so our camping days finally seem to have ended several years ago.

Hi reh

Don't you have camper trailers in the USA ?
A lot smaller than those buses you see everywhere ( I know home away from home ) and can be towed by mostly any car with towbar ( sorry towing hitch ),but your going camping.

Dave

[dbs]

I did a little bit of camping as a teenager but mainly just joining my brother and his friends a few times.

Now that I am all grown up and have a family of my own, and my kids are finally at an age that they enjoy camping (5,7,9) and most importantly, my wife getting used to the idea of sleeping in a place where frogs and snakes might be just a thin tent fabric away from you, we have slowly started camping...

So last year we started by doing a special program for first time campers that state parks in GA have, where they lend you a tent and some equipment and help you in case you need. That went pretty well and we had fun. My wife liked it and went out and bought a tent and some stuff for us including a little gas stove. All Coleman stuff. Then we planned a few more outings last year which never happened - strong rains, or kids got sick, or sports season, whatever. We never went again until a couple weeks ago when we finally went out with a few more families.

So as we try to put up our tent, one of those Coleman instant tents, one of the joiners instantly broke. My wife had tried to put it together one day and she thinks she might have folded it wrong. Either way, thankfully another family brought an extra tent that their daughter was going to use, and we were able to use it instead.

So when we got back we called Coleman and explained that the tent was out of warranty as it had been over a year since we bought it, so we just wanted to buy that plastic joiner and fix our tent. Apparently that particular instant tent was only produced very briefly and they didn't have any spare parts, so despite us being out of warrantly and just wanting to buy a part to fix our tent, they decided to just send us a new similar tent...

So now it's Coleman for life... great customer service!

Just before this, I got a gift from my 10-year anniversary at the company I work for, and I could choose from a list of products... and picked the Blackstone Tailgater, a gas stove that also has a detachable grill plus a griddle that's portable, and we intend to use it at home as an alternative to the charcoal grill for quick meals, and also take with us if we camp for a longer time and we need to grill some steaks, burgers, hot dogs, chicken and of course bacon... so no campfires for me unless it's for marshmallows, I'd rather cook my steaks on a cast iron grill, thank you very much

With 3 kids and a wife demanding constant attention, I predict that not a lot of photography will happen in the next few years, but I might get some shots in here and there....

Hi Christian

As you rightly point out the kids are camping age just do it.
Doesn't matter weekend break or school holidays just get out there and enjoy ,your kids definately will.No phones ,computer games ah bliss.

Dave