Camping life

What do you want your life to look like?

That is my favorite question for clients! It’s an integral part of framing our work. It is also the foundation of my books. I use that question all the time to take my life where I want it to be. To that end, my husband and I are on a journey with camping adventures that have infused our life with so much fun and exploration!

My husband and I used to tent camp – I introduced him to camping when we were dating and to his surprise he enjoyed it. We spent some great vacations camping and exploring early in our marriage. The Blue Ridge parkway in Virginia and the Outer Banks are two memorable trips. Once our daughter came, we gave it up. We tried tent camping again when she was 9 with an April break trip to the Outer Banks. Ocean front (short walk over the dunes) in Buxton. I remember yoga at dawn on the beach, amazing fish dinners and a week of camping cost less than one night hotel’s stay. In 2013, we bought a used camping van for a cross-country trip. We spent 3 weeks on the road with our daughter visiting friends and national parks. We actually only camped one night out of those 3 weeks. We also enjoyed a few weekends away in Nemo as she was nicknamed but sold her in 2017 when we purchased our vacation home.

In 2020, my brothers invited me to go camping with them. They had recently started camping together that summer and one weekend around the firepit one said to the other, we should invite Robin – she would love this. We had camped as a family (me, mom and dad – I am the youngest of 5 by 11 years so I had never actually camped with my brothers before, at least not that I remember) and I have many fond memories of exploring the East coast with our tenting trailer as base camp. I had so much fun with my brothers that weekend. We brought our kayaks and explored a few lakes and the town close to the campground. I had never been to that part of the Adirondacks (Old Forge) and found it charming and with lots of great lakes to paddle.

I came home from that camping trip and said “I want to get a little trailer.” Over a few weekends, I did my research and fell in love with T@G teardrops. Hubby agreed to a road trip to Dan Kearney’s in Rutland VT in October 2020. We climbed in one and it did not feel claustrophobic as I feared it might. “Sold!” We picked it up in November, I found one of the few campgrounds still open in the Adirondacks and we spent a chilly but beautiful overnight in the High Peaks. We haven’t stopped camping and exploring since.

As you can see, what do I want my life to look like has had some twists and turns. I think it’s important to remember that there is no right or wrong decision. Is there a part of me that wishes we hadn’t sold Nemo? Sure. AND at the time, selling her was the “right” decision. We are doing our research now on what our next camping rig will be as we approach retirement. Come back and read about our journey!