by Scott Freeman

Created on: August 19, 2009   Last Updated: August 20, 2009

As I am not among the wealthy, I most often work on the Fridays when we are going camping for the weekend. Due to this, we often arrive at our campground a bit into the evening hours, tired, frustrated from the drive and in a short temper. I bet that this sounds familiar to most campers at some time or another.

Unless it is pouring down rain, the first and highest priority is this, RELAX. Take a deep breath in, hold it for a minute, and let it out. As your breath flows from you, let your frustrations and the cares of the day flow out of you as well! For me, this often takes several minutes.

Usually, we let the kids run off together to explore the campground while my wife and I survey our weekend home. There is nothing worse then trying to set up with a bunch of screaming kids under foot. As the kids became old enough we assigned each a job to do. This gave them a sense of being part of the process instead of observers. Works great until the teen years!

Now that my wife and I are looking around, what things need to be done. This can vary depending on your type of camping, tent or RV, Pop-up or motor home. It is highly recommended that you practice setting up your rig at home following the manufacturers recommendation so you are at least somewhat familiar with how it all works.

For us, the first thing to set up is our shelter. We have a sweet little Pop-up camper that we use. We look for a level spot, with enough overhead clearance to not hit the camper, no obvious dead wood above our head, enough area for our kitchen setup, far enough from the fire ring to avoid burning everything down. Once we agree on a spot, we talk about how to get the camper there and place the camper.

As you set up, you will realize how that practice at home really helped out.

Camper is in, unhooked from the truck, leveled, popped up, and ready for use, or almost ready. Now that shelter is set up, we need to move on to comfort. While each family will work out there own division of duties, my wife and I have it down to inside / outside. She handles everything inside the camper and I handle everything outside the camper.

While she sets up the inside kitchen, makes beds, sets up the dining table, stacks our food etc, I am outside hooking up electric, water, grey water drain, outside stove, dining canopy, lighting the water heater and breaking out the firewood and arm chairs.

While it may seem like a lot, when you consider we are setting up food, shelter and comfort, it really does not take long. If we work steady, we can be done in 45 minutes to an hour. If we stop for a cold drink it can take an hour and a half. If it is raining, I can do it in 35 minutes. Trust me, I know!

As long as the weather is good, I try not to worry about how long it takes me. After all, I am camping and relaxing is more important then speed.

Now that I am set up and comfortable, I think it is time to light the campfire, sit down and just let the evening wash over me. It is good to be here!

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