How the CurbCrushers Got Started RVing

November 18, 2007 by steve.

I promised a few months ago that I’d related how the CurbCrushers got started with an RV. To begin, we should probably start with once upon a time with the formative years of CurbCrusher and Lady CurbCrusher.

RV/Camping Experience
CurbCrusher had limited camping experience as a child. This was primarily due to Pa CurbCrusher’s opinion that since he was in the United States Army, he was a professional camper, and there was no way that he was going to camp on vacation. There was one abortive attempt at camping when CurbCrusher was five years old. CurbCrusher, his uncle and a cousin went out into the woods of Northwest Florida and set up a tent. Pa CurbCrusher was to come out a bit later and join in the fun. But, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in, and CurbCrusher, the uncle and the cousin decided there was no need to stay in the woods when there was a warm, comfy house back in town, not to mention a good hot meal at Grandmother’s house. Since this was in the days before cell phones, Pa CurbCrusher ended up in the woods at night looking for a non existent campsite. Following this incident CurbCrusher was never involved in another camping trip.

However, during his first two years of college CurbCrusher did come in contact with Rving. CurbCrusher participated in an extracurricular activity known as “Speech and Debate.” Now Debate teams are ranked somewhere below basket weaving clubs on a college campus, and therefore unlike the sports teams that travel in style in a bus or plane to a completion, Speech and Debate students are lucky if they aren’t hitch hiking. One of the girl’s family owned a Winnebago, and through some sort of arrangement that offered her dad a tax write off, CurbCrusher and his teammates got to drive around the country and stay in RV parks while competing in speech and debate tournaments. Now this is not to say that CurbCrusher fell in love with RVing at this time, as trying to put ten college age kids in a motorhome that is advertised as sleeping eight doesn’t exactly leave one with memories of the spacious luxury of a modern day RV.

Meanwhile in Central Florida, Lady CurbCrusher was growing up in a family where vacation and camping were synonymous. Every summer her family spent a couple of weeks at Moss Park camping in a tent. In addition, as big scouting family, there were a number of other camping trips for this family. Even today, Lady CurbCrusher’s dad spends a number of nights each year camping with Boy Scouts, and has a pop-up camper. So Lady CurbCrusher viewed CurbCrusher’s aversion to camping as being based on a basic character flaw.

RV Fever

When Little CurbCrusher was about four years old, a number of events occurred that started us down the path of RV Ownership. The first was when Mrs. CurbCrusher went out and bought a tent and assorted other camping gear. She was determined to overcome CurbCrusher’s anti-camping character flaw. She planned a trip in the middle of summer to Moss Park. Lady CurbCrusher’s dad also was going out and took his pop-up camper. Well, lets say that it was a pretty miserable experience. It was hot, it was humid, there was no real point to it other than to be miserable. Not that there wasn’t some redeeming qualities. It was sort of nice to sit around in the evening in the woods, and Little CurbCrusher had a great time playing in the woods.

The second event was a trip to North Georgia where CurbCrusher’s cousin had just purchased a cabin. He’d invited a number of other relatives, turning it into a small family reunion of sorts. Two of the other relatives had a trailer and fifth-wheel. After touring the rigs, and talking with the relatives, CurbCrusher began to think that maybe he could handle camping if it was done in an RV.

A second camping trip was planned with Lady CurbCrusher’s dad and his pop up. This time the destination was Fort Wilderness, the Disney campground. While better than the tent camping trip, this was a bit of a mess also. It rained for most of the weekend. The three adults and one kid in the pop-up seemed way too much. Considering that CurbCrusher is not a small man (He’d not Adre the Giant sized either, but lets put is this way. If you are sitting on a plane with an empty middle seat next to you, and you see CurbCrusher coming down the aisle, you’ll probably be saying a quick prayer that he’s not the guy with the seat next to you), and neither is his father-in-law, and throw in the other two people trapped in a 6×8 space and it’s not pleasant.

So, we were left with two camping trips that weren’t great. But, and its a big but, CurbCursher could see that there was something there. Something that needed to be experienced and something worth while. It was obvious though, that it didn’t need to be experienced with canvas though. The bug was caught, and the CurbCrushers were on their way to getting an RV, the question was what would they end up with.

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