Camping with Kids

Part I:  Our Family Camping History

My family didn’t camp when I was a kid.  No tent camping, no camper.  Just weekends at the lake in the trailer.  The same lake.  The same trailer.

I’ve wanted a camper or RV for as long as I can remember.  But it was when I was racing that the RV/camper bug bit really hard.  My first racing job was an internship with Racing for Kids magazine.  My boss and I spent the night at Daytona in her parents Fleetwood Bounder.  It was great.  Grilling out and hanging with the other race fans.

The DH and I met racing which means we both got a little gypsy in us.  We’ve both had the same goal of a motor home, retiring and riding all over this country. When the girls (HC1 &HC2) were little, we went to numerous RV shows and dealerships.  One of my fondest memories is watching “me can do it” HC2 crawling her cute little diapered behind up the steps of a Fleetwood Bounder at a Marietta, GA show room. 

Shortly after, we purchased our first motor home, a 30 foot Allegro.  We had previously borrowed it from a favorite neighbor Mr. Carl aka Santa (ask Scott about Santa and Mimi’s fruitcake!)  Carl had purchased the RV to drag his Harley around with and wound up not using it much.  So of course next thing I know, the Allegro had moved driveways.

Scott went back to racing part time following the ARCA series. We helped Mark Gibson during the 2003 season and the home motor (per HC1) was great.  Scott would get off of work at the body shop and I’d have the old girl loaded up and ready to roll.

We would leave out for Kentucky, Nashville or Salem Indiana and a few spots in between.  We’d drop the dinette, put a bed rail up and dose the girls up with a little Benadryl and down the road we went.  Bungee cords might have been involved as a safety precaution.

Often times, we would follow AP and Mark in the big truck.  On one such occasion, Scott decided I needed to learn to drive.  So over Mount Eagle I went and we all lived to tell about it.  Of course, my favorite “teach Rebecca to drive” moment occurred on our way to Kentucky.  We had us a convoy headed through Louisville KY.  Three little girls were bouncing on the rear bed and the motor home was just a swaying.  It was rush hour traffic.  I had a semi on my right and a concrete wall on my left.

Poor Scott was drawn up in the nagivator seat like a sour prune.  AP was on the CB harassing me and at least two more vehicles of teammates were attempting to follow and not wreck from the CB chatter.  I had a grip on that steering wheel so tight, I thought I'd bent it.

By far, our best ARCA racing home motor story involves the departed Bobby Hamilton, former truck series champion.  I drove the home motor and Scott drove the race car transporter.  We had loaded an assortment of bicycles in the car hauler plus had tons of gear in the motor home.

We pulled into Kentucky Speedway’s Competitor RV lot.  Scott had HC1 & 2 in the truck and I had HC3 who was an infant and Gracie the dog.  I picked our usual spot and backed her on in.  We had a couple of crew guys with campers and normally all camped in a row.  As I waited for Scott to get parked, a beautiful maroon Prevost pulled in an parked a few spots down from my left.  Bobby Hamilton soon got out and was talking with some more folks setting up camp sites.

Scott and the girls drove up and we started unloading: dog, wagon, stroller, three kids.  It looked like the little allegro had threw up the Clampetts.  Next thing we know, Bobby fired up the prevost, pulled in the middle of the lot and backed into a spot on the other side.

Scott and I both died laughing.  We told that story all weekend and somebody finally said something to Bobby.  He finally walked over and said it didn’t have anything to do with the kids.  He just wanted to be on the other side.  Yeah, Right Bob.  I believed you.

I guess you had to have been there.  We had a blast in that ugly little motor home.  I always had four or five kids in my RV even though it was the smallest one in the lot.

We also learned a lot in the little allegro.  What to bring, how to pack one tight and what to leave at home. I can’t wait until we finally have us a big rig, diesel pusher with an outside entertainment center, extra fridge and basement storage.  That's right...the Clampetts are gonna move on up!