Dry Camping.. what do you think?

After reading some recent posts about "Dry Camping".. I thought I would ask.. what is your opinion? How important are these things to you?

Electric
Water
Sewer
Cable TV
WI-FI

Well I have to have my electric & water. I have never completely filled my black tanks so I could hold out on the sewer until I got to a dump station. The others I could do without.

For me.. the most important thing on the list above would be ELECTRIC.

There's a campground, not too far from me.. that is pretty nice. It sits right on a lake and many of the sites are on the water.. or within a few hundred feet of the shoreline. The CG has electric.. but does not have water on each site.

My thinking is.. I can bring bottled water for drinking and cooking. I can fill a holding tank before I get to the CG. Or I can get enough water from the community spigot,.. heat it on the stove top and take a sponge bath each day.

Without Electric.. I would have limited lighting at night.. no AC (important especially in mid summer), No micro-wave,..etc.

Here's my list in order of importance to me:

1. Electric
2. Water
3. Cable TV
4. WI-FI
5. Sewer

There are "work arounds" for most things when dry camping. We filled our tank and used it for the bathroom. Meg and I used the camper bathroom and Craig used the bathhouse during the day. We still had plenty of water left in our fresh water tank when we left though. We bring bottled water for drinking, cooking, etc. During the day we normally hooked a fan (on a stand) up to the generator and used it on us when we sat outside to keep us cool and keep the bugs off of us. Propane kept the fridge running. I think the thing I missed the most was a cell signal! The big kids stayed home and I ran down to the Sugarlands Visitors Center to get a cell signal to call them once a day. Aside from cell signal, I guess I would choose electric as the thing I missed the most as I sure like my air conditioning.

However, I actually really like dry camping. 4 nights in a row is about our limit though. At night, it is so quiet and peaceful. There are no generators running... nobody has their tv blaring, no air conditioning running... it is just you and the sounds of nature and the rushing river and your campfire popping. It was an escape from all the crazy things going on in life that I would have been keeping an eye on if I had electric to power my tv or my internet. I really do love dry camping I guess. It is just such a unique experience. I do know, however, that I could NOT tent camp.


My list in order of importance would be..

cell signal
electric
water
cable
wifi
sewer

Well after having my new camper for a month now I can tell you how easy it is to be spoiled. Ive done alot of tent camping and being without electricity was never a big deal, I guess you dont miss what you never had. In camping in the vw bus I did have a water tank and hand pump operated sink but I never once used it, I always just carried two 5 gallon plastic water jugs with me and did fine. I boiled my water to do dishes in two rubbermaid tubs,made cowboy coffee, and enjoyed the quietness of nature. I also carried a porta potti with a enclosed shower tent that I used mainly at nite and used the campgrounds facilities during the day. Using a propane lantern wasnt really necessary since I like candles anyways and had battery operated lights in the vw bus when I needed them. I did get spoiled though camping at campgrounds with elect because then I would bring my electric coffee pot (no more cowboy grounds surprizes ) and I brought a small window air conditioner I would sit in the vw's drivers window during the summer campouts ( frosty cold inside the vw) that made it pleasant to sleep at nite. So basically I upgraded to a microwave,indoor plumbing,and running water, when I bought this travel trailer. Sometimes I think back on the romance of "roughing it" , of those old tent days, but in all honesty im getting too crotchety to haul water,not enough patience for cowboy coffee to boil , and its awful nice not to get dressed at 3am in the morning to stumble in the dark in a campground heading for the bathroom.

Kim

order of importance to me:

water
electricity
dump station
sewer
tv reception

Since we have dry camped before, if you bring the important things, you can do it!!! We did it a lot as kids and even as I had my own family, kids didn't care they loved it.
Also I have two things I like to have when camping when available are:
electric
water

Well since i'm a Viet Nam vet I did all the dry camping I plan to I WANT IT ALL or at lest eveything we can get at the camp ground. LOL LOL LOL Crawford

After having spent a weekend dry camping, here is my MUST-HAVES!!

ELECTRICITY - Butch was miserable without it, I was VERY uncomfortable and the kids could have cared less!!

That's it - I can do without everything else. Bottled water will take care of our drinking needs and we have water in our tank for flushing and we have tanks to hold the remains.


Now, if I have a choice, this is what I want in the order that I want it.

1. Electric
2. Cell phone reception (which also equals wifi for me - YEAH BLACKBERRY!!)
3. Water
4. Cable or TV reception (or open sky for our satellite)
5. Sewer
6. WIFI

As Dar said before, We have both dry camped, before and after we got together. I was in boy scouts (be it many, MANY moons ago), so I grew up dry camping and always loved it. We had also dry camped (with tents) when our son was in cub scouts about 8 years ago at Cades Cove, at that time we had a perc pot on a camp stove for coffee and an air mattress with a hole in it. Then we tent camped (3 tents) at the beach, but I brought an extension cord and a 4 way box so we could at least have fans to cool us off. When we got the Pup, we got really used to having electric for Aaron's games w/tv and a portable dvd player, a portable fridge and of course the fans and we never thought we would need air conditioning, a microwave, fridge, or furnace, but we knew we could use a bathroom because some of the places we have camped had very poor shower house conditions. We moved up to a hybrid last year and love it.

Once in a while I do still miss dry camping, until it's hot, stormy, or freezing. That's not to say that I would never dry camp again, but it would be a rare occasion and must have fans...

My list:

electric
water
cell - not so much but for an emergency
sewer
tv reception or wifi - could care less when camping, but I do bring dvd's...

I was an active camper in boy scouts, so I can tent camp, but sure like the PUP better. The pup is set up for dry camping, but I sure like electric and water. Electric is my favorite, so the AC works. Still, my list is:

Electric, water, bathhouse, and for now, that's all the important stuff.

(Oh, and some friends to help in case my PUP breaks ... again!)

While Aaron and I was in scouts, we camped at Buck Toms and that was fun. Cooked fish on a hot rock and deer meat. Aaron and I enjoyed the day's of Scouts. Now that sure was dry camping.............

Well, it turns out my water tank in the PUP works, and I have a battery, so I suppose I could dry camp and still be comfy in the spring and fall. I suppose the furnace would run OK in the winter, but don't know how hard the fan would be on the battery. The fridge can run on propane. I suppose I'd be in for a dry camping trip if one comes up.

Still, water and 30-amp electric sure are nice.

I could also dry camp, if it were in the early spring, or the fall. I would rather have all of the conveniences of electric, water an sewer, though.

I coluld dry camp.. but don't think I want to,.. and doubt that I will.

chuck wrote:I coluld dry camp.. but don't think I want to,.. and doubt that I will.

Chuck, that's wisdom speaking! Lots of great Campgrounds with Electric.

Richard wrote:

chuck wrote:I coluld dry camp.. but don't think I want to,.. and doubt that I will.

Chuck, that's wisdom speaking! Lots of great Campgrounds with Electric.

and quite a few with water, sewer, and even wi-fi.