Before I Airstreamed...

[zamboni]

I hear everyone say that they used to own a "XXX" or SOB before they got their AS. I think many of us have worked our way up the "ranks" of camping in one way or another.

How did you get to where you are with your AS?
We started tent camping in high school and college.
Moved "up" to a Sears pop-up (tent on plywood sheets that folded out of a small 4'X6' trailer)
Moved "up" to a Rockwood 12' pop-up.
Moved UP to our 79 AS Excella MH...
Someday, maybe if AS ever builds it...a new classic MH.

[Roscinante]

We went from not camping - tent or otherwise (except on our honeymoon) - to a T@B teardrop, clamshell with the galley in the rear to our 19' Bambi Safari.

LOVE the 25 foot Safari bedroom. But, my rich uncle has to get out of the Poor House before I can swing that deal!

[2airishuman]

hi zam!

good idea 4 a thread...

i started with the engine in the rear....vdub microbus 6-7 years
moved the engine 2 the front............airstream classic moho 25 years
now i got no engine at all.................classic trailer who knows how long

tents, i've had a few, but then again too few to mention....

cheers
2air'

[azflycaster]

We started with sleeping bags on the ground at Sandy Beach at Rocky Point, Mexico.
Did the tent thing for several years and several tents.
Rented a camping trailer from U-Haul to do a Rushmore - Yellowstone trip
Bought a new popup and used it (alot) for 17 years!
Bought the Trade Wind

These were all great at the time.

[Johnco]

We tent camped until our son was born.
We pop-up camped until our son went to college.
Now we "camp" in our 19' Bambi...sure don't miss those treks to the outhouse in the middle of the night!

[str8strm]

I started with a VW bus in 1972..
'57 Chevy pickup with an Alaskan Camper in 1973...
Nothing for too many years...
We got an SOB motorhome in 2004......blew the motor
1985 345 A/S in 2005....until neither of us can drive it....then we might just park it and look at it....like fine art.

[Fyrzowt]

As a kid, I grew up camping. First a tent, then a cab-over camper that my dad built at home in 1964. 7 kids in the family, bad weather got things a bit crowded inside for 9 people.
The camper was very professionally done by the way, in spite of what my aunt thought it would be.
After I got married, we would camp in a tent, then bought a SixPack camper that went on a 1973 Datsun Pickup. MAJOR upgrade!
After that we had a couple of SOB trailers before moving up to Airstream. I first owned a 1998 Safari 25', now I own a 1972 GT 21'. I'll never go back.
Dave

[LI Pets]

This is my first RV, no camping etc.

I have been sailing for 30 years, staying on a boat is very much like camping.

We wanted something to do in the off season, driving back from Calif to NY in a car this summer, seeing just a bit of the beauty out there had us getting this A/S 2 weeks later.

Almost finished with restoring it the way I want and taking our first trip to the Can Opener in Jan.

[rickandsandi]

Sandi and I went from a tent right into our Airstream. Totally cut out the middle guy!

[Dawgfan]

We went from not camping to the 19' Bambi CCD. We love it!

[thecatsandi]

First trailer.
My family had a pop-up when I was younger. Hated it.

[BDandTTs]

Our camping began in the mid 70's in a 3-person tent -- made it ourselves from a Frostline kit. The ground did not seem so hard then. No camping to speak of from 1985 to 2002. Then we bought a 16' Scamp and really liked it. And now, our new 22' CCD is the top of the evolutionary ladder.

[maxandgeorgia]

Interesting thread! In the beginning, a Sears Canvas Family Tent, very second hand, very big scalloped awning for Minnesota North Shore vacations. Next, a popup trailer, getting us off the ground. After that, a Caravan, hybrid trailer with popout beds. Then, our Airstream, 30'-NO popouts or sleeping on the ground. She's classic and we love it!

[Sugarfoot]

I've known nothing but tents for camping from the time I was child. Oh yes, I saw the shiny bright silver Airstreams in the tourist camps and trailer parks in Florida while growing up. "Daddy, can't we have one of those, PLEEEEEZE!"

The older I got, the smaller and lighter the tents got, and the ultralight backpack, and high loft down sleeping bag, and the stove, and titanium cooking gear, and toothbrush with the handle cut off. The backpackers know what I'm talking about.

I haven't done much serious backpacking since 2000. This past summer the smoldering disease acquired from the Airstream bug that bit me when I was a child surfaced as a full blown infection. So I went vintage. It's kind of nice not to fumble through my pack in the morning looking for instant coffee.

[Chaplain Kent]

We started with a tent in and a 1972 Toyota, then graduated to a VW Bus. Then we moved across the river from a state park and campground in Iowa and stayed home for several years. We thought, why camp when you have a campground in your backyard? Moving to Wisconsin took away that excuse and opened up the many great places in Wisconsin to visit. We bought our first Airstream a 25' 1975 Tradewind. Fortunately this wonderful trailer went to a very good home when we bought Chummy. We say now that we will never sell Chummy and that is probably true.

[AZstreamin]

Good thread......
We did several years and many miles of tent camping and jumped head first into Airstreamin'. Traded my Jeep Grand Cherokee for a big diesel F250 and earlier this year bought our 30ft Tin Cabin. 4000 miles year to date and 20 nights. We'll do even more next year....It's just so much fun.

[Janet H]

When I started camping the ground was softer and the earth was flat. My REI member number was/is 127, the catalog was a mimeographed list on four pieces of paper and there was NO logo wear!

I also had a Frostline sew it-yourself tent. The seam sealer smelled like cat pi$$ right up until the tent was unceremoniously burned in stinky glee. I worked for Outward Bound for several years and learned to hate powdered food, middle aged executives with big egos and injury induced, stiff joints on cold mornings.

When I could afford to, I became a Hilton camper and.... I became the middle age jerk that I had once reviled! So...... we made some changes, opened a business doing what we love, dumped the pumps and ties off at the Salavation army and put the Honors card in the junk drawer.

Like it says on back of the big, glossy REI catalog (and a lot of their clothes); Life is Good!

[Tin Can]

We tent camped for years with the kids and then nothing for the last 7 or 8 years. Then we found our classic and with retirement nearing we are now ready to resume where we left off.

[Steve & Susan]

There were seven of us kids and dad didn't make a lot of money so we camped - biggest Ted Williams tent made, bunked cots, Coleman three-burner white gas stove - had a BLAST.

One trip was to the Skyline Drive in Virginia and we camped across the road from Mr. and Mrs. Little - they had a 57 chevy and pulled a small AS - I was smitten, even as a youth.

Tent camped when our kids were young, not momma's cup-of-tea.

Bought a Coleman pop-up and used it for several years - STILL not momma's cup-of-tea.

Kids grew up and moved out, we went to the AS dealer and later the factory for a tour and were HOOKED (momma for the first time and a renewal for me). I liked the 22' CCD, but like a wise man once said - when momma wants to upgrade - SHUT UP!!! So , we have the 28'. She LOVES it! We plan to keep it until we start drooling on ourselves and maybe longer than that!

I still tent-camp with my Scout Troop and backpack with my brothers, but there is something about a mattress and an on-board toilet that are hard to beat!

[BillTex]

Started with Boy Scouts a couple of years ago. We were fortunate to have a very active troop; camped every season (yes, many times in the snow) and did 50 mile backpacking trips on the AT every summer. Our Scoutmaster was very much old-school. We did all our own cooking, cleaning, etc and never used the cafeteria style scout camps. I learned a lot from those days; I can cook everything from a pot roast dinner to an apple pie using a campfire. I have never strayed to far from camping. I still go backpacking on the AT at least once per year.
We live on the coast, and when I met my wife, we had a fishing boat for several years. Spent many a weekend out at the canyons catching tuna, we “camped” on the boat a lot. Still went North to the mountains a couple of times a year, or to the beach, with a tent, but my wife always wanted a popup. Next thing we knew our Son was born! So…we eventually sold the boat and bought a popup. Loved camping, hated the popup. But it did re-invigorate our interest in camping again. Used the PU for 1 ½ season and my wife saw an SOB that she really liked, bought that and used that for a couple of seasons. We all liked the SOB much better than the PU. By now we had been bitten by the camping bug and were going quite frequently.
My FIL, who is a real character, loves to wheel and deal, go to yard sales, etc. calls me up one Saturday; “hey Bill, grab your son and come out here, you’ve got to see what I found”. So we drive the one hour over to his town, and there he is sitting in some one’s drive way drinking a beer with a nice gentleman who happens to have a rather beautiful AS sitting there with a for sale sign on it. My FIL says “ I have been watching this for years, today as I am driving by, Mr. F… is putting the for sale sign up. So Iput a deposit on it”.
Well, the price was more than right, the next thing I know I am towing home an AS. Keep in mind we were very happy with the SOB. Boy was my wife pissed. But we agreed we would try it and see how we liked it. It was April and camping season was just starting. So I cleaned it up and went through all the systems (everything worked, water heater needed a little TLC) and we took it out one weekend. Needless to say, we put the SOB up for sale soon after.
We still find ourselves camping more and more each season. Sure do love the AS. So much more unique compared to all the SOBs out there.