Glamping

Glamorous camping has a portmanteau--glamping.  As many readers of this blog know my spouse and I purchased a small tear drop camper of which we took delivery in early June.  This past week we took our fourth camping trip--a three night trip to northwest Wisconsin at the Eau Galle Recreation area, which is on a man-made lake, owned and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.  Until this year, always having tent camped, we have our ways of doing things, and to get full use of the camper could require us to change some of our common routines, although I don't see that occurring for all things.

Our First Camping Electrical Connection, Notice Surge Protector at Power Pole

The Eau Galle campground has electricity at most all sites, and the cost of an electric site is only $4.00 more than non-electric.  Given the few non electric sites, we chose a site that provided electric hookup.  This was our first trip using an electric hookup.  In preparation for this, I purchased a used surge protector (used by the prior owner on eight camping trips last year) to guard against electric issues that could hamper camper operation, or damage the electrical system.  Funny thing is, I have talked to five persons that own campers, some of whom I do not know, and only one used a surge protector.  Yet, this piece of equipment is perhaps the most commonly mentioned item to purchase after getting your camper.  

Heating our First Pot of Water in the T@B

After buying the surge protector we hooked up to shore power, off of our house to see how well the small fridge cools down when connected to shore power.  It takes a few hours, but it gets cool,  The fridge can run off the battery, but it could quickly drain the battery, so the other main option is propane.  Both propane and battery, so I hear, lack control of the temperature.  On the way up we put two half gallon jugs of frozen water with some cold beverages in the fridge.  The ice stayed frozen and on Tuesday night moved that ice to the cooler and the cooler ice to the fridge.  

View of Beach from Overlook near Campground

Yet, our experience with glamping did not end at the fridge.  Twice, to make sure the stove worked, we heated water on the propane stove in the camper.  It worked well.  Wednesday night we used heated water from the camper water heating system to wash dishes.  We filled up our dish pans from the outdoor shower unit.

Part of Crystal Cave

Yet, our glamping experience got real when we ran the air conditioner for a few minutes on Monday night.  It was a hot and humid day, and the temperature in the camper when a thunderstorm started was approaching 90 degrees, so while the thunderstorm was raging outside, we were playing Yahtzee inside when the camper which cooled down to the set temperature of 76 degrees in a short period of time by running the air..  As the thunderstorm moved along temperatures dropped so we did not need the air conditioning later in the evening or at night.  In fact, that was the only time it was used. One of the reasons we purchased the small camper was to get better shelter during rain events, and we have had rain during all of our camping trips so far this year.  Two have involved thunderstorms.  

The Ghost of Crystal Cave

But, camping is not the experience of using a tent or a camper, it is what you do with your time on the trip.  Besides being visited by and visiting relatives on my wife's side and swimming at the beach we hiked, read and visited Crystal Cave in Spring Valley, the small town whose football stadium is on the other side of the dam that provides the lake.  Three main experiences stuck with us on this trip, however.  First, was a Tuesday morning hike down (and back up) the ridge my wife and I ended up near a finger of the lake and watched as two bald eagles flew around the area one so close we could easily hear its wings flapping in air, perhaps 60' above us.  Second, was the amount of fireflies present in the evening, it was alike a million points of light.  My wife referred to them as fairies.  She misses them as the number is not as great at home as at Eau Galle.  We had a few fireflies when we camped at Frontenac State Park and  we noticed how the Minnesota fireflies light differently than those in Wisconsin.  Finally, our excursion to Crystal Cave was well worth the admission.  My wife is on the shorter side, and I think there was only one occasion where she had to duck, making me think she should have gone into spelunking instead of nursing.  Although her nursing skills have come in handy.

Stalactites, which remind me of Jaws 

While caves can be tight, the Command Module used in the Apollo missions was also small.  This week is also the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.  While our camper has a TV, we forgot the remote, and directions, so we did not have a chance to do the required high definition television search for channels, although the only time we probably would have watched TV was during the storm Monday.  When my wife was a child her family and some relatives would camp for two weeks straight during the summer.  In 1969 their annual excursion coincided with the moon landing.  To not miss such an historic event  they took a television along to watch the moon landing.  My wife recalls the family setting the tv up at a park shelter.  Televisions back then were not the light weight devices of today.  As for me, I watched it at home and recall taking a photo of the tv screen as Neil Armstrong was on the moon, but that photo did not turn out.   

My Wife's Art Work Commemorating the Moon Landing

On our camping trip this past week we found some sidewalk chalk wet on the side of the camp road on Tuesday morning, following the one inch rain Monday evening.  On Wednesday evening my wife did some art work near the shower building which commemorated the moon landing.  I later added a couple memorable phrases from that historic event.  As Michael Collins has said, people around the great earth would say to him:  "We did it." 1969 followed the riots of 1968, and war protests were still going strong.  Yet, this one event drew the whole world together for a brief moment.  Camping or glamping, it was an event in 1969 not to be missed.

Crystal Cave

 Images by author, July 2019

missed.