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Thirty-four years ago I took a walk around an RV show inside the Butler Building of the UP State Fairgrounds. I was trying to figure out how my wife, our first child, Lisa and I could get into camping. I had tried the tent idea but that didn’t fare well with the wife and daughter. Hilltop Campers, now known as Hilltop RV Center of Escanaba, was holding the event and their staff was as helpful then as they are today, in first qualifying our needs and then working to see if they could outfit us in a camper.

After discussing our situation, the sales rep understood we didn’t have much financial resources as a young family and weren’t sure if this type of recreation was what we really wanted. He told me they had a trade-in, a small simple camper that was certainly within our price range. It was a 1963 Beeline trailer measuring only 13 feet in length and adequate for our needs, a secure and comfortable sleeper, protecting us from inclement weather.

The teardrop shaped camper had a double bed in the back with storage below for equipment, and a sling bunk above that we used to store clothing and other essentials. The small seat and table in the nose of the trailer had storage beneath the seats and would convert to a bed for our daughter to sleep in.

It didn’t have much more except for a two burner gas fired cook top, a three gallon gravity fed water tank with sink and a vertical cooler for a fridge. The actual floor space was about a 3x4 foot area immediately centered between all. It was so small, (How small was it?), that we had to change clothes in shifts. The price was right and after a trip to see Paul “Bud” Laviolette at the State Bank and made the deal.

We rigged a screen tent to the outside wall with a homemade opening in front of the access door as kind of an add-a-room concept. We used it to eat meals and enjoy shade. We could stay dry when it rained and otherwise protected from insects. It wasn’t much but it was ours.

It convinced us that camping was the way to go as an affordable recreation with an immediate return on investment. We picked up various essentials that were kept on board so all we had to do was load clothes, groceries and the dog and go.

A few years later we had our second daughter, Amanda. Time to upgrade.

Our next camper was a 16 foot Shasta. The added length accommodated the extra child for sleeping arrangements and otherwise, except for the sling bunk, the upper berth had a cabinet face that folded down flat to convert to an additional bed or storage compartment if left upright. Now instead of a screen tent, we graduated to our first canopy, electric heat and water system that operated when a manual pump pushed enough compressed air to push water to the sink. We were styling.

Then came our first son, Jacob and we needed to upgrade.

When I went to the Bank this time, Bud asked if we had a boy or a girl? Curious as to why it was asked, he figured we had once again expanded the family and was just wondering. He smiled as we signed the papers on our 18 foot Mallard, our first trailer with a self-contained bathroom, essential for those late night potty visits with little kids.

Carolyn was the fourth of our brood and when she arrived, the other kids had grown to an age where they occasionally wanted to bring a friend with so we had to find something that opened with enough sleeping areas to accommodate a group and was isolated from the front where we would sleep.

With the purchase of our 22 foot Aristocrat trailer, my wife and thought we had hit the big time. It had a full compliment of household utilities right down to a self-storing TV antenna. It had an expanding table/couch system that would easily handle the kids for those days when inside was better than outside, and converted to what looked like an acre of bed to handle a bounty of children in sleeping bags. Bud thought it should last us for quite a while, now with four kids, yet still “having a little room for expansion.”

Very funny.

By 1990 we had our last child, our son Tony, and the time for camping started to be diverted to other summer activities as the older kids got involved with ball sports and school extra-curricula’s. Mary Kay and I both worked and sometimes had conflicting schedules. The trailer sat more than it traveled in the summer, and we really missed having the recreational time outdoors.

In 1992, friends of ours, Richard and Judy Denam had an older camp they were considering abandoning. They had purchased a newer cabin on adjacent property and no longer needed the old place. Rich and Judy appreciated how we wanted the same experience they had when their family was younger, so they made us a fantastic deal.

Regrettably, we sold the trailer and went to see Bud about the investment. He recommended that I take the deal, feeling assured it was a bargain. In fact he told me that if I didn’t buy it he would! When we got up to leave, Bud did raise an eyebrow and asked if we were thinking of having twins?

Very funny Bud!

I’ve never considered the money we spent as a cost. It was and is an investment that along with all the trailers we shared through the years, has made a lasting impression on our kids. The recreation of camping and camp helped cement our relationships. It made having fun together immeasurable and affordable.

Our kids now enjoy the outdoors the same way we did when they were little. We’re even considering getting back into camping so we can enjoy it with them. Time has come full circle, only now they will have to consider the expansions.