Why did we start Camping with Friends? As the husband and I were driving back from a work event on Florida's Emerald Coast (beautiful) we were discussing our next camping trip and the our usual conundrum - we don't have friends to camp with. We have amazing friends in our lives, but none of them camp, and many aren't nearby. So, when we camp, it's just our family. And we love our family, and sometimes being just the 5 of us is just what we need, but we are also extroverts and love to be around other people so we are always open to making new friends and that's often a LOT of time with just us.
In this digital age of social media and yelp and DoorDash and working-from-home, the opportunities to have real conversations with real people, in person, have been diminished. Our intention is to use Camping with Friends as a way to facilitate in-person interactions. The world just functions better when we talk face-to-face and we understand the human race just a little bit better. We love to RV because our fellow RV-ers just seem a little happier, a little more open to being out in the world, in nature, in a new location, a little more adventurous than the average bear. We also love that RV-ing spans ages, backgrounds, generations, religions, political affiliations. It is quite literally open and accessible to anyone.
We often take walks around campgrounds, looking longingly at the camping groups; family, friends, family and friends gathered around a picnic table or campfire, enjoying each other's company. That dynamic isn't easy to infiltrate.
When staying in larger RV parks (like Reunion Lake in Louisiana) we wonder if there is anyone we know there; any other families our youngest has spent the day swimming with, riding bikes around the RV park, hanging out at a playground. I wonder if any of the RV-ers who do the amazing RV renovation projects I see on Facebook and Instagram are staying there. I'd love to talk to them and hear all about what they've done. I know they would love to talk about it and show off their renovations. The husband wonders if there's anyone else who loves Craft Beer or whiskey and would like to share a new find with him, or check out a nearby brewery, or knows of a good fishing spot nearby, or even someone who can fix our jack that stopped working. In large campgrounds, some of our new found friends could be just down the way and we would never know it.
As a whole, we love to meet new people, and RV parks and campgrounds are a hive of people from all over the US, and sometimes the world. During Covid we met a couple from Australia (husband) and Croatia (wife). Talking to them was fascinating and we learned so much about them, their home countries, their travels around the world, their jobs, their families. Covid was a unique experience where a bunch of families had a chance to forge new friendships while staying at an RV park for weeks on a time. We want to have a chance to forge those same friendships, but perhaps in a shorter time span. Let's do it!
Let's Camp Socially.
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