A follow-up on the Home Depot Prep List post, ...
These are my own ideas, some of which are derived from videos, "brainstorming" and/or "stream-of-delirium" thinking. This contemporary concept of Van Camping and related issues largely has its origins in the experiences and dreams of my wife (aka "the Boss Lady").
My Dad was about 5 years older than her Dad (born 1916 vs. 1921). He entered the Army by way of pre-WWII National Guard service. He transitioned from that eventually into 155 mm howitzer action in the U.S. 3rd Army, after Pearl Harbor. His Field Artillery Battalion moved across France sometime after D-Day and then through Germany, ending up in Austria on VE Day. Thus he had plenty of outdoor experience with "outdoor Army life", which included the Army's version of "camping out".
On the other hand, her Dad volunteered for the U.S. Marines. He was seriously injured in a shipboard accident on an aircraft carrier and probably missed being in the Iwo Jima landing because of his injury. Thus, he didn't have the "camping out experience" of my Dad, though he would have if he had survived the harsh fighting during and after the Iwo Jima landing.
My sister and I are lucky in that our parents enjoyed being outdoors whether through their years of having a one-acre garden on the creek floodplain and a small muscadine "vineyard" and a small apple orchard on the upland; nature hikes; picking blackberries, and gold-panning outings. We built a barn built about 1969. All of these things (and more) bolstered our collective outdoor experiences.
My Dad did go camping with me during my Boy Scout years and he did dabble in the idea of getting (or borrowing) an RV or a pop-up camper, but I guess his extended U.S. Army "camping trip" across Europe during 1944-1945 made him opt for motels. And during his WWII "campouts", someone else always did the cooking and I am sure he wasn't too keen on having to deal with traveling with a portable stove, cooking supplies, and food. (Though we had a few backyard cookouts at home.) And I doubt he nor Mom were keen on dealing with camping "latrine" issues.
As for my second wife, to escape the often harsh winters of Traverse City, Michigan, their family had a pop-up trailer and they made several adventurous trips southward and southwestward, including one trip into Mexico - as far as Guadalajara - during the 1970s, before "drug war" violence became more prevalent.
More to come ...
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