# What Did You Camp In As A Kid?



## kyoutback (Jul 12, 2004)

If you were camping as a youngster with your parents, what were you camping in? This is what we had. A 1963 Buick station wagon that my dad paid $90 for. I can't remember the brand of the camper but I think they paid $1000 for it. We put a lot of miles on that setup and I have a lot of memories. It's the reason I'm camping today. Trying to make some memories for my kids. Plus I really like it.


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

The trunk of a car --


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

We had about a 1956 Chevy pickup
And my dad made a camper for the back out of plywood covered with fiberglass
That thing was a beast but fun

Don


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## nonny (Aug 14, 2005)

Only went once. We rented a pop-up and went to Niagara Falls. Great memories!


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

We didn't camp. My first camping was with a friend. Harrisburg, Pa to Florida, Central, Gulf coast, Everglades, and Atlantic coast. We had 10 days, used a 2 man/woman boy scout tent. We wanted to travel and didn/t have much money. It was a good trip. Used that tent for years.


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## drobe5150 (Jan 21, 2005)

a 23ft 1971 aristocrat landliner2, towed by a 1973 full size jeep 4x4 pickup. also did some tent camping here and there.

darrel


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## RLW7302 (Feb 27, 2005)

kyoutback said:


> If you were camping as a youngster with your parents, what were you camping in?
> [snapback]113320[/snapback]​


A Holiday Inn!


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## johnp (Mar 15, 2004)

1970 18' Bravo pulled by a 66 Plymouth with a slant 6 then a 74 Charger. Lots f great memories as a kid camping and now my girls count the days until the next time we head out.


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## schrade (May 5, 2005)

It was a pickup truck camper on the back of a 1976 F100. My brother and I rode in the camper for 4 hours at a time. Ohh the memories.

There was no water, no electric, no hookups, and lots of pit toilets.


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## mscott (Jul 8, 2005)

I started out in a pop up trailer. I believe it was a Mallard if I recall correctly. It was very unique, as it kinda looked like a conostoga wagon when it was set up. There were hoops that held out the canvas fabric.

After selling that my parents and I tent camped (and backpacked) out of a four person Eurka Timberline tent.

I sure don't miss the hard ground and sticks, rocks, stumps in your back.







I do however appreciate those times and have found memories of tent camping.

I have saved the tent my wife and I got shortly after being married. (Used it only a couple of times.) Now with the kids being old enough thought the three of us might give it a try a few times this summer.









I think I'll regain appreciation for the queen size mattress w/ 2" memory foam.









Matt


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## campndox (Mar 8, 2005)

We borrowed my grandparents 12 ft Pathfinder and pulled it with whatever we had. My mom and dad bought it from my grandma when my grandpa died. My mom is now 73 years old and pulls it with her van. She loves to camp and fish. I can't believe it is the same camper that my little brother and I slept on the dinette bed together with one head on each end.

Oh the many Twinkies consumed.


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## imabeachbum (Mar 24, 2006)

A 1972 GMC pickup with a topper, and on occasion a 22 foot Fabaglass (I think thats the name) boat, mom and dad always had a cooler full of beer with a gratuitous soda thrown in for me, a porta-potti and a picnic basket loaded with utensils. It was great, we covered the entire state of Florida and then some. Dad would drive til he felt like stopping (or couldnt see the road anymore







) and there we would camp. Good times!!!


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

a late '60s vintage Shasta 1400. We didn't tow it, my parents bought it from an older woman who had a seasonal after her husband died. They just had it moved to another seasonal in the same campground. During the summers, my Mom and us kids would go up to the campground. My sisters and I had cabin style tents on the site, and my parents would sleep in the camper, with me baby sister. Dad was a cop, so he would come up during his off weekends, with two weeks straight vacation mid summer.

Lots of memories. I have to say though, I like towing mine alot more than having the seasonal.

Tim


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## our2girls (Jan 26, 2005)

I only camped as a kid in the neighbors back yard!!!

I started camping about 1984, when I was 18, with a tent and a few buddies at state parks. Beer, cigarettes, no parents!

Mike


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## dthorfnp (Dec 15, 2004)

In 1961 my dad converted a "retired" school bus to one of the very first motorhomes. He was an autobody man and did all his own mods inside and out. It was great. I was really little but still remember going to florida with my folks and three brothers. It even had 2 sets of bunks in the back for all of us kids. I still have an article that the chicago tribune wrote about that trailer. It was quite a site at the time going down the road.








Dawn


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

As kids my Dad rented a 1966 Gypsy Travel Trailer, the next year he wanted to buy one but Universal was going to stop making the trailer - they had enough parts to build one more... Dad bought it for $695. You can see the page with the specs and the price by clicking here.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

We camped in a tent up until I was 12. Then we built (yes, I said built) a truck camper from components purchased in a catalog. We build the frame in our dining room, and set it up in the yard. One day a big truck arrived with the aluminum siding, roof material, windows, appliances, etc. By the time we were done, it looked "store bought".

That summer (1970) we drove it from Boston to Alaska and back in 4 weeks. Many more trips followed.

Ed


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## mom30075 (Jun 6, 2005)

Tent camped until age 7, then an Apache popup, then at age 11 moved up to a Terry TT, maybe 22 ft. All pulled by a station wagon. My best memories are camping as a kid.


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## Golden Mom (Apr 25, 2004)

We had a Pinto Car (early 70's) and pulled a Starcraft Pop-up Camper. It was green and yellow. and a sleeping unit only. I remember Mom and Sis sleeping on one side, and Dad and brother sleeping on the other. I had a pallet on the floor in the middle. So if anyone had to get up in the middle of the night, I got stepped on. The camper was good until it rained, it leaked, but only on me







I remember two trips the most 1) Myrtle Beach 2) Hot Springs, AR. We went across the Mississippi River on a ferry boat. It was so cool!! When I became teenager and sis and brother had left home, we went to a tent with 3 cots set up inside. It was a lot better. Funny, I even remember the meals mom used to fix...they were special only when camping. Those were the days......


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## happycamper (Jul 26, 2005)

Not sure of the Brand of our first camper I believe it was a Scotty. That was pulled by a 1960 something VW bus or Scout. Later on we bought a 1976 Sunline 19F. This was pulled by a couple of differnent 1970's pickup's and eventually a Ford Econoline Van. Of course shortly after purcahased the tiny sunline my mom found out she was pregnant leaving not enough sleeping room. This ment the older kids camped outside in a 1950 something boy scout tent. The real canvas kind.

Two years ago that sunline was offered to us for free. We passed for two reasons

#1 Everyone who takes it gets pregnant. It has been passed through several family members over the years.

#2 We already had bigger dreams. I knew 19f would never do.

My cousin took it renovated the whole thing and it is back on the road again. Guess what they had a third child about 10 months after taking the sunline.









Steph


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

We rented a TT just like the pic kyoutback shows and made a trip to Niagra Falls. It was pulled with a 63 Chevy full size station wagon. We had several pop up, one of them a Wheel Camper which we outgrew and when friends camped in our yard one weekend with there pop up which they said was to big for them. A even swap was made and we had a larger pop up. We bought a new one years later but by then I was 'too old' to go with, at least I thought so, no girls at the campground









John


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## hurricaneplumber (Apr 12, 2004)

Man my parents must of been poor, we only had one of those humungous, smelly 300lb canvas tents, and I was lucky, I had a cot to sleep on.

the cot was handy when the rain formed a river running right through the tent, kinda neat being a kid seeing a 2 inch deep river in your tent.

I can still smell that tent smell









never had any sort of camper, trailer or anything.

kevin


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## nascarcamper (Jan 27, 2005)

Started out with tents and a old 60's model Chevrolet van. Then we went to a Scotty for a couple of years and then bought a used pop-up. By then my brother and I had gotten old enough we had summer jobs and girls.







My favorite times as an adult and kid though was tent camping.


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## biga (Apr 17, 2006)

We went through several different camping apparatus. I think we started with a truck camper. 70’s Chevrolet. I think it was a long bed with a higher than the cab camper. Â¾” plywood across the front to make a bed and a small gas heater with a 5lb propane bottle setting outside. We had an ancient Scotty for a while. Pulled by either the urine colored chevy mentioned above or the ’82 Datsun pickup. Sold it for a pop up. After a few rain filled trips in it, I swore I would never own a pop up. (When we started looking for a camper, a pop up was never a consideration.) Eventually got a late 70’s or early 80’s Dodge based class C motorhome. Scattered in all this, we also had several tents, and we only used tents when I was in the cub/boy scouts. Most of out camping trips were really dad’s hunting trips, but I didn’t care.


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

We camped in a tent until we bought our Outback. Most of our camping trips were in remote areas. We thought camping in parks was like staying in a Hilton.

Old age sure has taken me in a different direction - what no cable or internet connection









Thor


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

You guys were lucky!

My parents never took us camping. Well, once we did rent a class A and took it to the Wisconsin Dells for a couple of days when I was about 10 or 11, I guess. Is that camping?

The only other camping I did was outside my girlfriend's window a few summer nights long long ago.
















Mark


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

A 1975 Coachmen travel trailer, pulled by an early 70's Ford LTD station wagon. Back in the good-ole days before seat belt laws, me and my 2 brothers would fold down the back seat and spread out blankets in the rear, using it like a play area.


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## Grunt0311 (Aug 23, 2005)

Tent camping, and before that it was sleeping on the back deck in a lawn chair with a tarp tied up to look like a tent


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

Never went camping until 2003. Now my family and I can't get enough of it. Kids are so excited before every trip.

Randy


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## jlbabb28 (Feb 27, 2006)

hurricaneplumber said:


> Man my parents must of been poor, we only had one of those humungous, smelly 300lb canvas tents, and I was lucky, I had a cot to sleep on.
> 
> the cot was handy when the rain formed a river running right through the tent, kinda neat being a kid seeing a 2 inch deep river in your tent.
> 
> ...


I to know that smell, as we spent many a hunting trips and fishing trip in that old tent. I can remember my dad pulling some kind of home made TT behind his dirt brown 77 Chevy but I still made him set up the tent when we got to where we were going for the outdoors feel.

I still have that tent in my garage I may take it out tonight and give it a smell and bring back some great memories.

Jeff


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## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

Something like this:









1970 GMC truck with 11 foot camper. Dad, Mom and 5 kids all in that rig.







Don't know how they did it, but I sure had fun!


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## OVTT (Mar 31, 2006)

A 1976 Ford pickup and a 1978 26ft Prowler. We traveled the western half of the united states every spring summer and fall for racing. What great memories we had Grandma and Grandpa towing the TT and my Mother, Father and I towing the race car trailer. The entire family together for weeks at a time was priceless. I new back then that I was fortunate but did not truly realize how lucky I was until my later years. I hope that my children will benefit from these memories for years to come.


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## TrainRiders (Jan 10, 2006)

My parents had a 1970 16' Aristocrat Landliner pulled for most of its life with a '72 Chrysler Newport sedan. The 4 of us traveled over most of the Western US and were glad to have at least a toilet in the trailer although a shower would sure have been nice at times. We had lots of fun times in many different campgrounds though I still remember driving on hot days with long hills and head winds when we had to turn off the A/C in the car to keep the tranny temps down even with an added tran cooler.









The Aristocrat finally was finally put to rest







2 years ago when it was rear-ended in Depot Bay and they replaced it with a 16' SCamp trailer which works for just the 2 of them now.

Our 21RS seems very roomy and feature rich in comparison and we are looking forward to many fun camping days with our kids.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

We really did not camp when I was younger. I think my Dad had had more than his share of 'roughing it' during WWII. My first exposure (outside of an Army surplus pup tent in the back yard) was in Boy Scouts.

When I got older, and had a little independence, I started hard core back-packing. You know, the 70# backpacks and all!







Over the next 30 odd years, I have graduated to tent camping in one spot, then a pop-up and finally the Outback. There seems to be a trend here... Advancing age being directly proportional to an increased desire for comfort!

Kind of scary to think where I go from here. I have a hard time seeing myself as a sunbird in Arizona or Florida!









Happy Trails,
Doug


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## dougdogs (Jul 31, 2004)

My dad had a early 60's Plymouth station wagon that used to connect to a tent


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## muliedon (Jul 6, 2005)

My folks bought a 8' pick up camper in about 1973, and put on a 1963(?) unibody ford pickup. We went to the 1974 Cotton bowl in it, afterward my dad ordered a new 1974 3/4 ton chevy "camper special". They also upgraded to an 10 foot Red Dale that summer. They upgraded to a 23 class c Apeco Roadcruiser in 1976, and that was the camper until 1987.

I would hate to think how many miles that I rode in the overhead bunk of the pickup camper and motor home. That was hands down the best place to ride for hours. You could see everything, and were almost totaly immune from adult supervision.

Don


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## nonny (Aug 14, 2005)

tdvffjohn said:


> We rented a TT just like the pic kyoutback shows and made a trip to Niagra Falls. It was pulled with a 63 Chevy fullÂ size station wagon. We had several pop up, one of them a Wheel Camper which we outgrew and when friends camped in our yard one weekend with there pop up which they said was to big for them. A even swap was made and we had a larger pop up. We bought a new one years later but by then I was 'too old' to go with, at least I thought so, no girls at the campground
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Was it a brand new '63 Chevy, John? I think 63 or 64 was when we camped there!



> Tent camping, and before that it was sleeping on the back deck in a lawn chair with a tarp tied up to look like a tent .










Those were the good old days, weren't they, son?


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

My parents started out with a slide-on pickup camper and a late 1960s Dodge pickup. My sister and I loved riding in the over cab bed and waving at all the cars going the other way down the road. If we could get a semi to honk his horn we were quite pleased with ourselves.







Later we had an Apache trailer - no more over cab bed.







Lots of good memories with both though.


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

have no idea what the pickup was, but I was born in 1959 and grandparents took us kids in the 60's in NOrthern Idaho.The girl cousins, then the boy cousins.Grandpa made a canopy and built beds in it.Us kids rode in that thing and had a blast.At camp we(the kids) slept in tent on air mattresses that I can still feel, smell, and hear them hissing when leaking. Grandma cooked with white gas on a stove that she had to keep pumping the handle for the gas, and the lanterns hissed with the noise lanterns make. Had the best homemade buttermilk pancakes in the mornings. Middle of the night we had to pee in a coffee can or bucket. Ahhhh...the memories. Sure hope my grandaughter will grow up and remember me as fondly. I try hard to be to her what a kid deserves....know what I mean?









(ps) remember laying in bed with flashlights and telling scary stories??








and then laughing yourself weak?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Some sort of popup...don't remember the make/model. Just remember the GREAT times!!!


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## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

muliedon said:


> I would hate to think how many miles that I rode in the overhead bunk of the pickup camper and motor home. That was hands down the best place to ride for hours. You could see everything, and were almost totaly immune from adult supervision.
> 
> Don
> [snapback]113712[/snapback]​


We loved riding there, too!!! I can't believe what we used to do...


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## Doxie-Doglover (Apr 19, 2006)

7heaven said:


> muliedon said:
> 
> 
> > I would hate to think how many miles that I rode in the overhead bunk of the pickup camper and motor home.Â That was hands down the best place to ride for hours.Â You could see everything, and were almost totaly immune from adult supervision.
> ...


what DID you used to do???


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

We had a 19' Nomad trailer when I was really small, my dad bought it off of his dad and he pulled it with a giant chrysler sedan, he then traded the chrysler for a mercury marquis (I think) also ginourmas. In 1972 they bought a white volkswagen camper van with the pop top, had that for 6 years and then bought a 78 green volkswagen camper. We travelled coast to coast and border to border in those two campers. Wow, now that I think about it, those were good times.

Mike


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## jewel (May 16, 2005)

We camped in a tent my whole life. I'm the oldest of 5, so it was a fairly large tent. Well, it was wall to wall sleeping bags and kids! We camped my entire life. It wasnt until I had my second child, did we decide that it was time to get a trailer. We camped with our own kids as newborns...and doing those bottles in the middle of the night wasnt fun! LOL My second one was 3mnths old the last time we tented it. (and I'll never ever go back! ha ha)

Jewels


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

I remember when I was about 10 or so, mom wanted to go camping so she talked dad into buying a camping outfit that consisted of 4 sleeping bags and a tent that could be set up and attached to the back of the 1963 Ford Station Wagon that dad had. We went to Lake of the Ozarks and mom wanted to park in this one particular spot that so happened to slope two ways. I remember not getting much sleep as dad chose to sleep on the up hill side and kept rolling over on top on mom and she would let out a screech to get off and wake us all up. Last time we all went camping together.


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