At least, that is the way it is supposed to go. We tried a new campsite this past weekend, and I was stunned at what some people consider "camping". If you have to haul your house behind a truck, or pull up in a RV, then why don't you just stay home and stop pretending you have any survival skills whatsoever? Get real. You're lugging around a mobile hotel room. Cut the umbilical cord to modern comforts already and stop being a damn wimp.
Case in point: a crew near our campsite had a giant RV the size of a luxury house, and they instantly plugged in a big-screen TV outside. With nature trails, a lake, and woods all around, where were these folks? Gathered around the TV like their lives depended on it, sucking up the idiot box for sustenance and making sure no one within miles had any peace and quiet.
Watching people these days, I feel as sorry for them as I am irritated by them. People who can't go anywhere without their overpriced phone to make them feel more important than they actually are, people whose lives revolve whatever was broadcast on TV last night, people who have absolutely no idea what to do if they can't plug in or log in to an electronic device and be told what to think.
Gary cooked dinner over the fire, and we sat by the fire as usual, talking and snuggling, but with the din of the moron's big screen TV blaring in the background. It wasn't the same. At all. And I honestly can't understand not wanting to leave behind the walls, the TV, the noise, the interruption of modern life. Are so many people so out of touch with nature that they can't make it one weekend trip without a TV and cell phone and electric lights and Internet access?
I love air conditioning, I love a hot shower, and I wouldn't want to make a full-time job out of living in a tent. But taking that break from the overstimulated world, sitting quietly and listening to leaves rustle across the campsite, watching a fire dance and crackle, and listening to the woods at night is a beautiful break that I cherish. It is disturbing to me that so many people cannot, or will not, disconnect from electronic devices long enough to even know what it feels like to enjoy being one with nature and not being bombarded with advertisements, emails, commercials, dumbass TV shows, celebrity gossip, and the other worthless garbage fed into our heads by modern marvels.
Our next camping trip will be as remote as I can find. No RV sites within miles and miles. Nothing but trees, maybe a tent or two, and some crackling campfires brightening up the night. I want this to be my bedroom when I am camping:
Our campsite this past weekend...can you imagine missing out on this because you are plastered to a damn TV? I hope I never do.
3 comments:
Ugh, I know how you feel! When we took SS camping for the first time, we went to a place we had never been... BIG MISTAKE! It was mainly RV camping, and only had 4-5 tent sites... it was miserable... People were up and carrying on at the "dance pavilion" all through the middle of the night... I can understand wanting to go RVing... but you should keep the RV's separate from the tent campers, as they are two different experiences.
I knew we were in trouble when I saw the boxes for electricity at each camp site. Instantly I thought of radios, TVs, overhead lights, etc. Who needs that while camping, for crying out loud?
A big screen while camping? Really?
I will say this. When we camped in Yellowstone, I was really glad we had campers after I saw what a buffalo had done to one family's tent.
Other than that- I think s'mores over a campfire beat just about anything else life has to offer ;)
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