ernestfortier
Palmdale, Calif.
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Many of us have various ideas of what roughing it is. What is your interpertation of "Roughing It"?
My idea of roughing it is pushing the button to start the generator or not being able to put the slide out out.
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bikendan
Napa, Cal.
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i don't consider "roughing it" to be a part of the RV world. i consider it more in the backpacking world.
where you carry in all that you need on your back and rely on nature for a lot of your needs, like water, firewood and toileting needs.
i don't even consider tent camping in a campground as "roughing it". not with water spigots, showers and public bathrooms.
i used to backpack in the Sierras twice a year and knew i was "roughing it" was when i had to take a trowel with my toilet paper and took my baths in an Alpine lake.
Dan- Firefighter , Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur , Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever , 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche LS, 2007 Rockwood Roo 23SS w/Equalizer and Prodigy, and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes
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Old-Biscuit
Across the USA
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Joined: 06/20/2009
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Roughing it...
Only getting 4 channels on TV and 3 of them are some sort of shopping network
On an overnighter....having to unhook truck cause site is too short.
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stickdog
29.820224, 81.94542
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DW says it 30amp.
9-11 WE WILL NEVER FORGET!
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“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” Lao Tzu
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kalynzoo
Los Angeles , California
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stickdog wrote:DW says it 30amp.
30 amps is camping...15 amps is roughing it!
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WTTCS
freedom , U.S.A.
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Roughing it...............Only 2 tv channels , only one a/c in the summer, only one small propane tank in the winter, driving in weather over 75 and under 60 degrees, not having fresh fish in the frig, not enough room in the frig for a case of cold brew, WIFI that works only when IT wants to work, cell phones that cut out, rain on a day the barameter says the fish are biting, the day you cant catch mullets,
Need I say more ?
1997 chev crew cab 454, 5 sp. 4.10
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JJBIRISH
Butler, PA, USA
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Joined: 10/06/2002
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When you reach a certain age, crawling out of bed might be roughing it, and your so glad to be able to rough it…
Love my mass produced, entry level, built by Lazy American Workers, Hornet
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BobsYourUncle
Surrey, BC Canada
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Roughing it?
Well, I think that is age dependent!!
I mean seriously, think about it......
When I was in my 20's, I would find an out of the way place to park in amongst some trees or something, usually after a few beer or more, and I would toss whatever I had on the ground and go to sleep under the stars! Sometimes it was a chunk of cardboard, sometimes a piece of poly, or a couple garbage bags opened up, or just on the grass if I was really snockered!! It worked, it was fun!
In my later 20's I would sleep in the back of my pickup on the steel bed. I remember one time - a work excursion - My friends and I who worked together headed from BC's Okanogan Valley to Spokane to pick up a load of US Steel Siding to renovate some houses. We got halfway back to the border and after a couple dozen beer we decided it best to stop for the night before trying to converse with the border guards. I staggered into the back of my truck and passed out. My buddies tossed their sleeping bags on the ground and did the same. Well, the next morning, we found out they were sleeping on and ant colony!!!! Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!! That was one of the funniest things I ever witnessed - they wake up, leap from the sleeping bags and strip naked, jumping up and down brushing ants off themselves. I am standing in the back of my truck, howling with laughter trying not to pee myself! Still I laugh today!  I was in the back of my truck so I only had a few spiders on me.
Roughing it? Yeah I guess so. When we started to stink, we found a nearby lake of stream or river or the like and wandered in with a bar of soap......
This is a true story!
OK, later 20's and into the 30's, we are moving ahead..... Tents!! We have tents!!! Go find a quiet out of the way place and pitch the tent. No potty, no water, no fridge, no nothing - use your imagination.... We did!!!! There were trees, there were bushes. We usually had TP, but if not, there were broadleaves and the like! Tried birchbark once - OUCH!!
I was still in my late 20's when I found my TT - a 16' 63 Shasta. I paid 600 bucks for that baby! It had a couple beds, a propane light and a propane fridge that didn't work too well. No bathroom, not much else.... We were back and forth from he tents to the TT to the sleep in the back of the truck or on the ground.
We worked all over southern BC, a lot of Doukhobor country where every place we went to the customer tried to marry us off to their daughters!! Remember now, 3 young unattached single guys working all over BC putting aluminum siding on houses!! We worked wearing cutoffs only. We were buff - I mean really in good shape!! Mrs Customer would invite us in for dinner, we ate while she would try to link us up to the girls in the family! This is true - I am not making this up. We would chow down the free meal and bow out, back to work and then to our 'Roughing it" camping, on the ground, back of truck and very occasionally, my new found 63 Shasta!!
Well, we were into our 30's now - still roughing it, but now we have more money. Well, a little anyhow. Forget sleeping on the anthills and under the stars. Stretch the tarp from tree to tree and build a little area to sleep - yeah! That works. I had another old TT at the time - I called it "The Ark' It was an old ancient home made TT that was totally gutted inside - nothing there but the framework. It looked like the back end of a garbage scow! We worked in Rossland BC in the middle of winter in that one! Sub freezing temperatures and this thing was bare studs only - no insulation- nothing. We had our sleeping bags on the floor and we would wake up, carefully looking at the ceiling. There were icicles hanging from the ceiling! Gotta be careful. As morning progressed, it warmed a bit and they fell off the ceiling, point first! We had one little electric baseboard heater and about a hundred feet of cheap 16 ga extension cord. It almost got warm sometimes. We took turns sticking it in our sleeping bags to warm them up before bed.
Bathroom? Showers? nahhhh! None of that - we are male - go find a tree or a bush!!!! Get creative!
Roughing it? Yeah, still kinda.....
We disbanded sometime in our 30's and went our own ways.........
But I still kept on the RV lifestyle, now using my old Shasta most all the time.
Christina Lake BC, my big bathtub! I worked the area and camped at the lake, always free. Bar of soap, jump in the lake - ahhhhh, I'm fresh again!
See the pattern? It is age dependent. Now I'm in my mid 30's and starting to get really with it. Got rid of the old Shasta and the Ark.
Well, the Ark.... I got tired of it and was heading down the highway one day and decided it was no longer useful. I pulled over to the side of the road, unhitched it, took my license plate off and drove away, leaving it there!! True story!!! I have a couple pictures of that old thing. I could post them if anyone wants a good laugh...
Late 30's - went through a phase of going to motels and roughing it. but now the age is such that I don't want to sleep in the back of my truck. Now I sleep in the front of my truck!! Eeeehaaaa! Still no potty though.... Sometimes there were motels, sometimes not. Gave up on the tents. Gets a tad chilly in January!
Then I got into a number of various old TT's. As I moved into my 40's they had more and more "luxuries' They had bathrooms!!! Wow! imagine that - sit down for duty in your own space, and have a roll of TP nearby!!! Life just doesn't get any better than that!!! HEY! They even have a stove that works! Wow, no more jam sandwiches! You know, jam sandwich - you jam 2 pieces of bread together and you have a jam sandwich..... We could cook! wow! what a novel idea!
Mid 40's:
Screw all this nonsense about sleeping in the wild, under the stars, in the truck, on the ground........ Who in their right mind would do that? (uhhhh, somebody younger?)
Now it is luxury all the way! A TT with a real bathroom, a shower, a furnace, a bed, a fridge, a stove, and much more. And many times this stuff actually works!!!
So here I am in my late 50's and doing my "roughing it" in a TT that has everything my stick house has. And I want to toss it and get something newer cuz my TT is very rotten.
I couldn't imagine living like I did when I was in my 20's!!!
Yeah, it really is age specific, roughing it.
Now to me, roughing it is finding a lake somewhere like I did 2 weekends ago, no hookups. 2 of us are not RV'ers so the fresh water went away quickly. We got a big bucket and dragged water out of the lake and poured it into the fresh water tank so we could wash dishes and such. Sigh!, maybe my 2 friends will learn how to conserve.... But it doesn't matter - we are having so much fun!
Oh dear, the batteries are down! Fire up Mr. Red and let him take over. Meanwhile, launch the nuker to do some potatoes for dinner.
Wow guys, we are in our late 50's and here we are at Sugar Lake at a campsite without hookups.
We are really roughing it!!!!
Gads man, what will happen when I turn 60? Will it be a mondo big diesel pusher with everything from satellite to A/C to all luxuries? Will that be "roughing it?"
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WTTCS
freedom , U.S.A.
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If you are smart it will be.
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wittmeba
Virginia
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We considered it to be using our 5th wheel because we only had 1 bathroom 
My wife used to give me $1.00 each workday for lunch. After a long argument, I won. Now she gives me $5.00 every Monday.
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