Last night I was at a meeting and afterwards, like usual, we stood around and chatted about anything and everything. Eventually the conversation between myself and another person got around to the topic of camping.

I found out he owns a truck camper (just bought his third one a year ago). I’ve always been a little leery of buying a truck camper because it seems their top heaviness would cause a lot of swaying and control problems in windy conditions. He said it used to be an issue for him some of the time but since he bought a dual wheel truck (right before he bought his third truck camper) he hasn’t had any problems. He said “I hardly know the there’s a truck camper on the back of the truck.” And he camps a little differently than I do. I go to state parks to hang out and enjoy the amenities; he takes his truck camper to engine shows and stays on the show grounds to hang out with other engine show enthusiasts.

As this conversation was progressing more people started listening in. I then asked someone else if they camp. That’s when I found out he’s an avid “non-camper.” In his words, “I live in the country. Why would I want to camp? If I want to sleep outside I’ll sleep in my yard.”

He truly thought I was nuts to like camping and said he couldn’t believe I enjoyed having to pack, unpack, cook, do dishes, put up with bugs, camp in a hot field 10 feet away from other campers and sleep in an uncomfortable bed. I admit, when he put it that way it did make camping sound like a chore rather than fun.

It’s true that I don’t love the packing or unpacking and I have never thought of doing dishes as a fun activity. But I love being outside; packing is something that people have to do for any type of vacation although I will concede that it’s more work for campers; I like cooking and think food cooked over a fire or from a cast iron dutch oven is about the best food there is; my bed in my camper isn’t uncomfortable; sleeping in my backyard isn’t the same thing as being at a campground because then I would just be thinking about all the work waiting for me inside the house 20 feet away; and I don’t camp at campgrounds that are hot fields with RV’s and campers piled on top of each other.

I couldn’t convince him though and he couldn’t convince me that cruises (his favorite type of vacation) are the best vacation either. I can think of a few things about a cruise I wouldn’t like such as: seasickness; having to eat what someone else cooks (resort and cruise food isn’t always that good); sleeping on a mattress that hundreds of other people have slept on; and almost always having to be aware of the time so as not to miss the ship when at shore or to miss meal times if they are scheduled. (Of couse I didn’t think of any of these reasons while we were talking. At that point my mind was kind of a blank.) The bugs, though - yeah I could do without them.

In the end we agreed to disagree and laughed over our differences. I told him I’m going to send him pictures of me camping with a note that says, “Having Fun, Wish You Were Here,” and he’s going to recriprocate when he’s on his next cruise.

The bottom line is that camping isn’t for everyone and neither are cruises. There are pros and cons to every type of vacation.

It’s good that some people don’t like camping. If everyone did there wouldn’t be enough room at the campgrounds. It’s already hard to get into some parks during the peak camping season.