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Hey, you know, it was so nice all of us getting to go camping last…last month down in the redwoods and I’m so excited to go to a whole new national park, what, in like a week or so for my birthday, my birthday trip. That’s going to be a lot of fun. I love camping.

I miss it. Y’know, I miss…used to do it a lot more in my early 20s and it’s a bit different now doing car camping compared to hiking in but it’s still nice to get out.

Yeah, it reminds me, I sent out a tweet, y’know, a little message on Twitter, last time we went camping and I mentioned that we did car camping. And then I got some responses asking me well what is car camping, y’know, how is that different from, like you said, hiking in or backpacking.

So I think it’s interesting because in America, at least, we have this sort of culture, I think in other countries, too, but especially here, we have all these different types, y’know, from backpacking in where you’re carrying everything on your back, so you’re really going in to more wilderness areas.

They’re not developed, there aren’t developed campsites. You’re just picking a place and setting up a campsite. And then car camping where you actually park next to something and it’s a little more, what, developed.

Y’know, there’s a little, maybe a little flat area and a grill and maybe some bathrooms nearby. And then, of course, the whole RV thing, which is, y’know, the height of luxury where you’re carrying your house with you on the road.

It seems like there’s even different degrees of car camping. I mean before I ever went camping with like Jake’s family and Eric’s family, I always thought car camping just meant your car was close by so you were able to take a few extra things with you, right?

Hm.

But those guys…

Yeah, like, oh my god…

…they have like an air mattress…

That gigantic tent.

Yeah…Eric’s tent is like a country in and of itself.

A little palace.

It’s massive, y’know? And they all have those carts that they’re wheeling in all their things on, y’know? So like, y’know, I had never even thought of car camping like that. I just thought car camping meant your car was close enough you could walk to it.

Those guys, they really take everything but the kitchen sink with them, y’know? But it was a lot of fun though. Y’know, regardless of if its car camping or more back country camping, I just love doing it and, y’know, the more the merrier.

Yeah.

That was a lot of fun having all of us there.

Yeah.

Now that you mention it, I do think there are different kinds of car camping. Like when I was little my family, we would travel around a lot and sometimes, maybe not so much, but sometimes we would maybe just stop off on the side of the road, like near a beach or something, and put up a tent.

Well, yeah, right.

And so, yeah, here, y’know, that’s considered car camping, too, but you don’t have a ton of things with you like you’re describing Eric and Jake bring all their dishes and utensils. We just…we’re, we’re traveling, y’know, we’re driving far distances and to save money from staying in a hotel we would maybe do that.

Yeah, which is, y’know, it’s kind of…to me it’s a little bit of a romantic part of American culture, that sort of on the road culture, all the different levels of it and a little bit of left over frontier culture maybe where this…this idea that, of just hitting the road.

Y’know, like packing up the car and taking off and whether you hike in to the mountains somewhere, deep into the mountains, or you’re just, y’know, staying in little campsites, it’s still that sort of romantic thing of getting away from the city and being on the move.

Yeah, for me a trip that I’ve wanted to do since college and I still would like to do it is to drive across country.

Yeah, that’s a great American tradition.

Yeah, my cousin did it when she was in college and she loved it, drove from out west to the East Coast and she had such a great time.

Yeah, I’ve driven cross-country one time actually. It was when I moved from Pennsylvania to San Francisco. But I had done long drives before, y’know, during summer months, especially during college.

Y’know, we would…we would follow around this one music band and they would play all around the country. And it was a lot of fun because not only would we go see the band play but we’d camp along the way. And it was a lot of fun.

But, y’know, AJ, I was thinking about something you just said about how it’s a real like American-type thing, like when you think of the frontier and, y’know, setting out on the road. Well, I think one of the reasons it’s an American thing also is because there’s so much land here.

Yeah, it’s a huge place, y’know? That’s right.

I mean Canada has it, too, I guess you could say.

Yeah.

But not only does the United States have that much land, the interstate highway system that was developed in the 1950s provides easy access to, y’know, points all over the country.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah…y’know, from everything from like Kerouac’s “On the Road,” y’know, I think of that book, y’know, because that’s…it’s all about him just taking off across country and having this incredible like wild adventure.

And, y’know, I have to admit there are a couple of those kind of trips that I still want to do. I’d love to do a big, not only go cross-country, cross-country and then back again, I’d love to do that in a van or something…just camping out. And I also want to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Yeah, I was just thinking when you mentioned Kerouac, having that book, what is it called?

On the Road.

On the Road, Willie Nelson’s got that song On the Road Again.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, right. That’s a classic song, yep.

I really love that Kerouac book, On the Road. I think also, for me, it was…I read it right at the perfect time in my life, y’know? I read it just as I was about to finish college, when really, y’know, the world was my oyster.

Hm.

Y’know, what was I going to do and I didn’t have any job that I was starting that summer after college. I did have a job I was starting but it wasn’t starting for like four months after I…until four months after I graduated.

So I really did hit the road and I had just read that book and you’re right. It was like this real romantic idea of setting out on the road and, y’know, what type of adventures I was going to run into.

Yeah, this idea of freedom, y’know, just freedom. You’re not working, you’re not doing anything.

You’re just…just traveling and you don’t really even know exactly what’s going to happen or where you’re going. You’re just heading west, y’know, is sort of the classic direction, yeah.

Y’know, I thought it was interesting when Joe and I were in West Africa, I noticed a lot of RVs. They were Europeans driving down from Europe.

Ahh.

And I was surprised by that because I thought RVs were very much an American thing.

Yeah.

So it was interesting. And there’d be…I don’t know if they were all friends who were traveling together. Sometimes there’d be like a whole parade of them.

A caravan…

Yeah, a caravan.

…of RVs. Here, I mean I think of like RVs, I think the stereotype is retired people.

Yes.

Right? That aren’t going to sleep on the ground or don’t want to necessarily. And, y’know, they can be very simple RVs, like very small like maybe just a little bigger than van. And then some of them are basically like big houses on wheels. They’re elaborate.

Yeah, it’s true. I mean some of these RVs are like palaces.

Yeah.

Y’know?

They’ve got the little things that like pop out, y’know, like they have some…

For shade you mean.

No, no, I mean like…

A side?

…I mean like a whole room that pops out…

Oh!

…to give extra space. Have you ever seen that?

I think I know what you mean. Do you mean like how it goes up above the roof of the RV? How it goes up you mean?

They’ve got that but there’s ones that have, basically when they’re driving they…it kind of retracts in.

Yes.

When they camp, they push some button or something and like the wall comes out so it gets wider. The whole thing gets bigger.

Yeah, I’ve seen that. You know, what I just remembered, too, there are campers. So they’re…they’re pulled behind like a truck.

Oh yeah, right.

We had one of those actually.

Yeah, you pull it behind the truck…

Yeah.

…and then you’ve got to set it up when you arrive somewhere.

Right, right.

Yeah, it’s…I don’t know, it all sounds fun to me. I think any level of…of just roaming around and camping. It’s, it’s a great tradition in America.

hi, this is Christian dots and this is joe lice and we just wanted to let you know that this material has been copyrighted by learn real english LLC.

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