Camping Styles

Our camping style has not changed much over the years.  We have used up several tents, both expensive and cheap.

This picture was taken in 1981 somewhere in British Columbia on our first camping trip on our new GoldWing and trailer.  The bike is a 1980 GL1100I with a CycleMate trailer painted to match the bike.  The tent is a medium quality 4-person tent almost big enough for me to stand up in.

This is at the Can-Am rally in Osooyoos, British Columbia in 1996.  We have our new 1995 GL1500SE (the white one) and our 1995 TimeOut tent trailer with the screened room set up.  This setup is the luxury way to go.  It cost $4,000.00.

Here we are on the banks of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers in Koln, Germany in 2006.  We still have the white GL1500SE but with a tent rather than the TimeOut.  We have aluminum boxes mounted to the hitch and we tie the tent and sleeping bags onto the trunk and sides when traveling.  Later a very nice Dutch couple (Dirk and Hetty) lent us a cargo trailer.  We will forever be indebted to them for making our life much easier and safer.  The bike was grossly overloaded the way we were traveling before we met them.  This was a high quality, lightweight tent costing nearly $400.00.  We used it for over 400 nights so it cost us less than a dollar a night.  Our best deal.  We took it to Alaska in 2009 with Dirk and Hetty.

Our 2011 style is this 2003 GL1800A with matching CycleMate trailer and a REI tent big enough to stand up in.  The tent has an attached room, called the "garage" that we can use as sun or rain protection.  The red chairs are inside it.  This is a high quality tent that with garage and footprint cost nearly $600.00.  We have a ways to go to get it down to the cost per night of the tent we used in Europe!

We have always preferred camping to hotels.  We enjoy the outdoors and the fresh air, even if it is raining.  (This was taken in Scotland.  The ducks are feeding in the puddle at the tent door.)  We also enjoy the camaraderie that comes with meeting and talking to other campers.  We have met some very nice people, found out about good roads, good food and good festivals by talking to others that have BTDT, (been there and done that).

In a hotel people just sit in their room and watch The Weather Channel.

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