Like most people, I like to make plans ahead of time. This includes my family’s camping trips. We like to carefully plan which city or town we are going to visit, the places we want to see, the restaurants we want to eat, and things we want to do.
With the increasing popularity of RVs you may want to secure your spot on the campground with anticipation. Sometimes, you will have to make reservations one year ahead of time to make sure you have the perfect spot in the campground. What you cannot anticipate are the things that can happen in the future. This includes how the weather is going to be when you get there.
Recently we planned a trip to stay in the small town of Townsend, Tennessee. Since we were going to camp with a few other family members, we made reservations almost a year ahead of time to make sure we were going to have spots close to each other in the campground. We were all anticipating the much-needed time off to relax at the campground. One week before our trip we found out the weather turned on us. Facing blizzards, and extreme low temperatures in most of the continent we made the decision to continue with our plans for our camping trip.
You can plan ahead your trip with anticipation, but you cannot foresee what the weather will be like when you get to your destination.
Some people like to camp on these types of extreme situations, but not all of us share the same opinion or enthusiasm. While I was driving to my destination, I could not avoid thinking how we are going to do. We wanted to spend time with our family members which we haven’t seen in a while. The question remains. How are we going to get together in a tiny space like the space inside the RV? Besides, when we go camping, we like to spend time outside, not cupped up in an RV. I also did not want to re-live an experience in the past where we had similar weather and had to spend most of the time inside while visiting Washington DC a few years back.
We finally arrived at the campground; the temperature was -3 degrees with a feel like of -22. It did not help that we were camping right beside a river which make it feel even colder. You can see the campground was full of RVs but it looked desolated. Everyone was inside seeking shelter from the cold weather. It was so cold that not even the heat of a campfire was enough to warm you up outside. But my wife had a plan, which she vaguely described to me. I must admit, I did not have much faith in it at the beginning but end up been a brilliant idea.
The face of the people we invite to step into our Igloo was priceless…
She drove to the nearest dollar store and purchased a whole bunch of transparent shower curtains. We always carry with this pop-up tent that has screens to keep the bugs out. We then proceeded to hang the shower curtains upside-down using clips to secure them to the pop up, and tie-wraps and stakes through the holes of the curtain to secure them on the bottom and to avoid the wind lift them. Inside we placed an outdoor portable heater and an infrared heater, but quite honestly one heater was enough to stay warm. We called it “The Igloo”.
While the temperature outside was bone chilling, inside felt like spring in south Florida. Big enough for all the family members to sit down, talk and eat, warm enough for all of us to be cozy and without our jackets and beanies. In fact, you only need one layer of clothing to be comfortable inside the Igloo. Being outside during such a harsh temperature was great. We even caught some snow during our camping trip, and inside still felt comfortable.
Wasn’t long before the few people daring to walk their pets around the campground in the frigid temperatures to notice we were the only crazy people to be hanging outside the RV. Their curiosity made them stop by and ask where we bought our magnificent tent. The face of the people we invite to step into our Igloo was priceless, once they open the curtain and walk inside after feeling the nice warm temperature. Soon I realize that everyone was going through the same situation we were. We go camping to be outside, connect with nature and to rest and disconnect from the daily routine. It was obvious that they were trapped with no choice inside their RVs because of the cold weather.
Next day the people camping next to us had a pop-up tent with shower curtains on their site and the whole family was outside enjoying the day. We noticed during our stay that few people around the campground did the same. Another camper was telling me her frustration because she could not find shower curtains in the town. The dollar store employees were clueless as to why they were selling so many shower curtains and keep having people walking in the store asking for them.
The Igloo
We have been camping for almost seven years and have been in many situations where it has forced us to think and be creative, this been one of them. Although, I don’t think I will camp again in temperatures below 25 degrees, I am glad that we were able to enjoy our time with the family during our camping trip. Also, in a way help other people around the campground to be outside during the extreme cold weather with their families. It end up been a great learning experience. My wife jokingly says that she is now in the drawing board designing the Igloo 2.0, after successfully tested the first version. Me, personally I don’t think we are going to ever been in that situation again. But you never know if it will happen again.