A good weekend!

We’re back from our camping and golfing weekend. I knew you’d be excited to know that.

It was a good little getaway. Good weather, great golf courses, and a camper that’s like a “home away from home” to come back to each evening.

You know, I feel guilty even calling it a “camper.” The word “camper,” to me, carries connotations of a tent, a campfire, the great outdoors; all those sorts of things. What we have is more like a “travel trailer.”

Yeah, we stay in a “campground.” And around our “campsite” are some in tents who are really doing all those things you associate with camping out.

But what do WE do?

We back the trailer into the paved slot between the trees, pop it up, hook up the 30 amp electric service and the water hose, turn on the air conditioner and the water heater, and finish “setting up camp” in air conditioned comfort.

What’s left to set up? Well, besides getting our clothes and food out of the car and into the camper, we have to set up the little color TV and the DVD player so we can watch a movie that first night.

Although our trailer has a little bathroom with a toilet and a shower, we prefer to shower in the campground showers if they are provided (and not gross). The shower in the trailer is pretty tiny, and it’s easy to splatter water around in there it you’re not careful.

Our biggest concession to real camping is that we sometimes sleep with the windows open. But not often. The typical nighttime lows in this part of the country during the summer are in the high 70s to low 80s with high humidity. It’s just much more pleasant to sleep under a light blanket with the air conditioner running.

You’re probably wondering why we don’t just stay in a motel when we go out of town, right?

Well, as I said near the beginning, our travel trailer/camper is like a little home away from home. We have a bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room, so it’s more like a suite than a motel room. And it just feels like us. We’re comfortable in it.

Of course, for the amount we paid for it we could stay in LOTS of motels for LOTS AND LOTS of weekends before breaking even financially. It’s definitely not all about saving money.

(And don’t tell Carol, but there’s another level of comfort for me in having that camper. If I ever get so wrapped up in blogging or other activities, as Karyn implied concerning wireless laptop use around the campfire, and Carol locks me out of the house... Guess where I’m staying! No dog house for me!)

Nah—that’ll never happen. After 37 years of happy marriage I’d have to do something REALLY stupid to make her that angry.

Next time I’m tempted to act like a smart ass around her, I’d better remember that.