Nostalgia

We arrived at Mountaintop Campground near Pittsburgh, PA on June 1st and quickly settled into life back at home.  Our goal is to spend two months here visiting family and friends as well as getting in our annual doctor and dentist appointments.  With Allegheny County just reopening to the green phase after we got here, we are only visiting a couple people at a time.  We are trying to have those visits outside to the extent that we can.  If you are familiar with Southwestern Pennsylvania, you know that we have frequent rain and storms, especially in June so outside visits are challenging.

Our site at Mountaintop RV Campground set up for social distance visits

Over the past 3 weeks, we have had visits with our kids, Tim’s Mom, Tim’s Aunt and Uncle, Tim’s brother and sister in law and my sister and brother in law.  It is great seeing everyone and we have highly enjoyed our visits.  We talk to our friends but haven’t braved meeting anyone out at a restaurant yet.  Perhaps we will find one with outdoor dining and try it one of these days.  We have picked up pizza and some fast food but that is it for now.  We are moving very slowly back into life as it used to be which is probably good since the case numbers seem to be rising again many places.

Our first visitor, our daughter Katie and grand-puppy Teddy. Can you believe that this big boy is only 6 months old?

Family gathering in Katie and Jon’s backyard

Since we still aren’t going out too much, we have spent some time here at the campground.  It is a great place for campfires, watching the sunset and stargazing at night.  The evenings are very quiet and peaceful.  Once a month, they have bluegrass music for entertainment.  The owner, Gary, played first and then a local band entertained us for a couple of hours.  We didn’t have to leave our campsite to watch the band so we could relax by our campfire and listen to music all evening.  Definitely a wonderful evening.  

Gary starting off the evening of Bluegrass music

Sunset at Mountaintop

During the day, we are enjoying our new car.  We took a few rides on the many back country roads around us with the top down.  I really like having a convertible!  While we are driving around, I find myself reminiscing.  We spent a lot of time on these back roads and in these small towns when our kids were young.  

We always enjoyed getting out of the city on weekends and being outdoors and camping.  Our girls grew up camping, starting initially with my parents in their trailer and then in the various campers we had over the years.  I wrote a blog entry last year about how we got started in this lifestyle (check out The Beginning, https://www.exploringtomorrows.com/blog/2019/2/17/the-beginning ) but at the time, I didn’t have pictures of our older campers to include.  

Since I was feeling nostalgic, I spent an afternoon at my daughter Katie’s going through my old photo albums to see if I could find some of them.  I enjoyed looking through the photo albums and have to say it made me realize what a fantastic and blessed life we have.  I always enjoyed our camping adventures and started thinking about how we got into this lifestyle.  My parent’s gave me an appreciation for the great outdoors and even though they didn’t buy their first camper until I was 17 years old, I joined them on camping trips when I could.  We spent many vacations together during my college years and early working years in their campers.  What great memories!

Their first camper was a 13 ft. Scotty that we used for some really fantastic vacations - Disney World, Virginia Beach, Wildwood, NJ to name a few.  It is hard to believe that 5 of us stayed in that little camper.  So I had to see if I could find pictures of some of their campers.  I didn’t have any in my albums but I knew my parent’s albums were at my sister’s house.  When I visited her, we spent some time going through their albums and found a few pics of those classic trailers.  Unfortunately the quality isn’t great, but I thought I would share them with you anyway.  Hope you enjoy these photos as I go down memory lane.

My sister Brenda sunbathing at Daytona Beach in front of the Scotty.

My brother Randy on one of our trips with the Scotty

After a few years in the Scotty, my parent’s upgraded to this beauty.

Over the years, their campers got bigger and we still joined them for trips. My cousin Janet is along for this one with Brenda and me.

Dad enjoying the campsite in yet another camper. I didn’t realize that they had so many!

Our first trip to Florida to visit Mom and Dad. The girls started camping at a young age.

Mom and Dad in their winter home

Brenda and I joined Mom and Dad at Kalyumet for a summer camping trip with our kids.

Dad got tired of towing the Fifth wheel back and forth to Florida so eventually they left it there and he built his own truck camper. We picked up a little tent at a yard sale and the girls and I joined them for a few camping trips.

A family camping weekend. Brenda and Carl brought their motorhome, it rained quite a bit and I ended up in the tent alone as the girls slept with them in the RV.

Since Tim wasn’t into tent camping, we bought this Class C from my Aunt Babe. We loved this RV and had many wonderful camping weekends and vacations with it.

Kim, Mom, Dad and I

Our next trailer was an Outback travel trailer. After 2 years with this trailer, we stopped traveling on weekends mostly due to the increased cost of gas. It hit $4.00 a gallon that year so we put it on a seasonal site in a campground near Cook Forest State Park and traded the truck for a hybrid car.

We were using the camper more often at the seasonal site and realized we needed something bigger so upgraded to a Denali fifth wheel with a bunk house. The dealer delivered and set it up for us on the seasonal site so we never towed it.

The girls hit the busy teenage years and stopped camping with us so we weren’t using the bunkroom and it was wasted space. Within 2 years, we traded again to a Cedar Creek fifth wheel thinking it would eventually be our retirement home.

A move to Ohio and college costs led us to sell the Cedar Creek and downsize to a smaller travel trailer again.

As we approached retirement, we decided to try a Class A to see if we would want to go that route. We had this 2000 Dutch Star for 2 years. It was good to try it out and it helped us to decide that we wanted a fifth wheel as our retirement home.

We settled on a Cedar Creek Fifth wheel for our retirement home on wheels. I guess we have had more trailers over the years than my parents!