Something about camping must have been appealing to Mark because that's how he ended up wanting to spend his vacations. He thinks it could be that he subconsciously loved those summer excursions (though he doubts it) or maybe that he knew of no other way to spend a vacation (even more doubtful). Most likely it was for the same reason his family did it - it was inexpensive. Paying for a tent and camping equipment once was a whole lot cheaper than paying for a motel room night after night.
Joy wasn't at all enthusiastic about camping - she hadn't camped much as a kid – but she was willing to try. But it was up to Mark to make the experiences convincingly pleasurable enough for her to want to do - a task he failed miserably at.
Their first camping trip together was a weekend in the New Hampshire White Mountains with his parents. It was a disaster from the start and got worse. Their car was too small for a play-pen to fit inside so they carried it and some luggage on top. This arrangement kept them off at least one major highway forcing them to fight their way through some heavy suburban New York City congestion. Then on the Connecticut Turnpike the car broke down. The time consuming fix was easy enough but he left his tool box by the side of the road.
They had hand-me-down sleeping bags and a borrowed tent. But they were completely unprepared for the cold mountain nights. They put Jeff, their one year old, in the car on the back seat to give him some protection from the cold and that worked great. In fact, he was so comfortable that he didn't even wake up when he rolled off the seat onto the floor. But sleeping was torture his parents, not only because of the cold but also because their air mattresses refused to hold air.
The next morning, Joy had the beginnings of an earache and tried bravely to have a good time in spite of it. But by Sunday it was so bad that they had to go into town to hunt up a doctor.
It was a while before they even talked about taking another camping vacation.
Eventually Mark was able to talk her into trying again. There was no mention of where they went that time or what they did but it must have been no worse than OK. Because over the next several years they hauled a tent and an ever growing cache of equipment around New York State in the trunk of their little car. They even took a three week trip out to Arizona to visit Mark’s folks who were living on the Hope Indian reservation at the time. They had become "campers” – but not to get away, as Mark’s folks had done, but to get there and back. (They slept in tents instead of motel rooms.)
After several years of not having any room in a small car, finding a suitable campsite in the dark, setting up tents in the rain, and sleeping in puddles - and many heated discussions - it became apparent that tent camping with two young children was no way to travel. So when Joy saw a Volkswagen camper van in a local used car lot, they went out and bought it. Thus they entered the world of RVs.
Joy wasn't at all enthusiastic about camping - she hadn't camped much as a kid – but she was willing to try. But it was up to Mark to make the experiences convincingly pleasurable enough for her to want to do - a task he failed miserably at.
Their first camping trip together was a weekend in the New Hampshire White Mountains with his parents. It was a disaster from the start and got worse. Their car was too small for a play-pen to fit inside so they carried it and some luggage on top. This arrangement kept them off at least one major highway forcing them to fight their way through some heavy suburban New York City congestion. Then on the Connecticut Turnpike the car broke down. The time consuming fix was easy enough but he left his tool box by the side of the road.
They had hand-me-down sleeping bags and a borrowed tent. But they were completely unprepared for the cold mountain nights. They put Jeff, their one year old, in the car on the back seat to give him some protection from the cold and that worked great. In fact, he was so comfortable that he didn't even wake up when he rolled off the seat onto the floor. But sleeping was torture his parents, not only because of the cold but also because their air mattresses refused to hold air.
The next morning, Joy had the beginnings of an earache and tried bravely to have a good time in spite of it. But by Sunday it was so bad that they had to go into town to hunt up a doctor.
It was a while before they even talked about taking another camping vacation.
Eventually Mark was able to talk her into trying again. There was no mention of where they went that time or what they did but it must have been no worse than OK. Because over the next several years they hauled a tent and an ever growing cache of equipment around New York State in the trunk of their little car. They even took a three week trip out to Arizona to visit Mark’s folks who were living on the Hope Indian reservation at the time. They had become "campers” – but not to get away, as Mark’s folks had done, but to get there and back. (They slept in tents instead of motel rooms.)
After several years of not having any room in a small car, finding a suitable campsite in the dark, setting up tents in the rain, and sleeping in puddles - and many heated discussions - it became apparent that tent camping with two young children was no way to travel. So when Joy saw a Volkswagen camper van in a local used car lot, they went out and bought it. Thus they entered the world of RVs.
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