Arbitrary words with arbitrary definitions...
Once upon a time..... I met my husband in a State Park on Memorial Day weekend in 1979. We spent the night under the sky, in a sleeping bag next to a fire. No tent. Just us and those darn overly friendly raccoons at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Was that "camping" since we had no tent? Was it "boondocking" since back then, "boondocking simply meant "camping with out hookups or self-contained".
We bought a little cheap 3 man tent from K-Mart and went "camping" every weekend. We would roll into a nearby campground and then get dressed up to go out to restaurants and bars with our friends. I would get a lot of strange looks when I walked out of a campground bathhouse in spike heels and a fancy dance-party dress (it was the 70's after all). Were we still "camping"? After getting caught in a sudden deluge one evening (the tent was standing in 8 inches of water within minutes... we measured) and deciding that getting dressed laying down was getting old, we upgraded to a Sears Hillary cabin tent around Christmas '79. We "camped" in that, along with the dog, until 1987.
I had twins in 1986 and our first house burned down in 1987. We lost all our possessions except the camping gear along with a few other items that were packed into the barn to protect them from inquisitive little fingers. My in-laws came up to visit a week after the house had burned (we had moved into a one bedroom cabin my parents owned). My dear darling mother-in-law insisted that we stay with them at one of the local campgrounds that they had booked into. So we hauled out the camping gear and loaded the kids and the dog up and went to the campground. The kids were quite happy to play in the tent all afternoon. And then it got dark. And they freaked out in the tent. There was no consoling them. We took them home. My mother-in-law was pissed. Shortly after that we decided to build a new house on the same land that the one that was burned (it was on 2 acres bordered on two sides by the Nantahala NF over 15 miles from town and a couple of miles from the Appalachian Trail). We bought a well used solid sided Apache Roamer pop-up camper to give us a place to rest and occasionally spend the night while we were clearing the debris away. The kids loved it. We put up a little fence so the dog and the kids could wander around without us worrying about them wandering off or into the creek that ran thru our property. Was that "camping" or was it "boondocking"? Was it something else?
We used the popup camper from 1987 thru 2005 when I sold it. I had also repaired and remodeled that little pop-up several times over the years. The girls and I could set it up or take it down in less than 15 minutes. We learned to do it so fast because we used it at least every other week, year round. And it would often rain, sleet and/or snow while we were setting up or breaking down... sometimes both times. We stayed public parks. We usually had W/E hookups. Was that "camping", "boondocking" or something else?
We moved to nearby Seneca, SC one year. We spent almost 3 months in a local public campground while we tried to rent a house (a decent house would stay on the market about 2 days before it was rented). Was that "camping", "fulltiming" or something else?
Years later we lived in that popup for 18 months when we moved to the Chattanooga TN area. We mostly lived in Chester Frost County Park and Harrison Bay State Park (W/E hookups) until we got tired of bouncing back and forth in the wet winter at which point we moved into a private park. Was that "camping" or "fulltiming" or what?
In 2005 we got rid of our house (the 4th one), I sold the popup. We bought a vintage Class C and remodeled and repaired it. Then in 2006, I loaded up the dog and cat into the Class C, my husband loaded up his cargo trailer and we ran away from home, forever pissing off both my eldest twin because we "left home first" and my youngest twin because we took the dog and cat but left her in Franklin.
We've not lived in a house since then. We worked in construction in several states. We simply took our "mobile apartment" with us. When the bottom dropped out of building, my husband decided it was finally time to change careers. We parked at my Mom's house. He built a food cart and he vended for a few months in NC & GA while I worked front desk at a hotel before leaving to head out west. Is that still considered "fulltiming" because we weren't retired and moving every few nights? Or is there a new word for that?
I converted the bus that we had used as a moving van into a "residential vehicle" and we moved into it in 2010 after David suffered several heart attacks one weekend. Was that considered "fulltiming" since we lived in the bus and no place else? Even though we parked it in an RV park as a "permanent" location? Have you come up with a new word for it?
David passed away in 2014. I got rid of the food cart (it's rolling around on one of the Apache reservations as a storage cart) and continued working at a big box DIY place until I couldn't stand it any more. I acquired my youngest daughter and she, along with her skinny, overly anxious rescued dog, moved in with me. And we both worked. Is that considered "fulltiming" since we both work and live in an RV park? Are we "camping"? What is it called?
Arbitrary words with arbitrary definitions decided by people I don't know.
I camp. I camp in my "camper" bus in an RV Park. All the time. I think that makes me a "fulltime camper". I camp, along with my daughter in her slide in vintage Lance Truck Camper. It's a "truck camper". It is used as a rolling motel room as well as a "dog house" for when we take the dog to town with us so she can go to the dog park and stay in the "camper" while we go shopping. We do like having our own CLEAN bathroom and not have to worry about hypodermic needles all over the place. We also stay in campgrounds in the truck camper. Even stayed at my Mom's last year. Was that "camping" since we only had an extension cord run to the camper? Or was it "boondocking"? Maybe it was "Driveway Surfing" or some other made up word?
I also park overnight in parking lots because it's more convenient than trying to find a campground/RV park that will have rules that let me and mine in. All my stuff is only mine (no payments) and tends to be older or "vintage". More and more RV Parks don't want "vintage" they want shiny new and have decreed that any RV over 10yo is "junkers". I do wish they would get that across to the RV builders. Their product is worthless after 10 years. I also wish the people who sell their RVs that are over 10yo would put "junker" prices on them.
Arbitrary words with arbitrary definitions decided by people I don't know with no authority to define the words.
I will continue to stay in my bus or the truck camper and call it camping. I will continue to camp 24/7 and call it camping fulltime. I will continue to stay, self-contained, over night in parking lots and call it Overnight Boondocking. I really don't give a flying fig what "you" or "they" call it since I don't know most of the "yous" or "theys" online. And I will keep "myself to myself".
Have a nice whatever you/they call it.
