by Doug Clore

Created on: November 30, 2009   Last Updated: December 08, 2009

Tents provide much better camping experiences than RVs. There are two main purposes of camping: get close to nature and get away from civilization. With a tent, you can drive to the middle of a national forest, hike through the woods for hours and find the perfect  camping spot, miles from any other humans. With each step, you find yourself farther from the noise and congestion of civilization, and farther from the hectic pace and suffocating stress of daily life. Before long, it is just you and nature. The natural sounds of the forest repeat ancient rhythms and cycles that resonate with your inner-most being. You are more aware of the buzzing grasshoppers and cicada. The bird calls cause you to pause and enjoy. You ford a stream full of trout, and pass near a small lake where otters float on their backs and eat food they balance on their stomachs. When you reach a camping spot, you pitch your tent and prepare a small fire pit. As afternoon becomes evening and fades into dusk, you find yourself enjoying the solitude of a sunset so beautiful that you catch your breath and feel a special awesome appreciation that is so powerful it is almost painful. When darkness comes, you sit by your fire and relax. Eventually you crawl into your tent while the crickets and frogs take over and lead the symphony of night-sounds. You hear the call of a lonely loon or the yipping of a pack of coyotes. On certain special nights, when the bugs allow, you sleep under the stars. The hiking and work tires you, and it's not long before you sleep. You wake early in a tent, as the forest begins to change long before sunrise. A walk at dawn will stretch your stiff muscles and allow you the opportunity to see local wildlife. You will never be closer to nature or farther from civilization.

On the other hand, in an RV you can drive down a paved road to a park where you squeeze your 12 foot wide vehicle into a 15 foot wide space between two of the twenty-eight other RVs on a three acre plot of ground that used to be woods. You can fire up your generator and your AC, talk on your crystal clear cell phone connection. You can take a community shower in a dirty concrete facility and hope that the hordes of kids on bikes and skateboards don't run you over as you walk to the campground store. You can sit at a table in your RV and play cards, or watch satellite TV or the latest DVD. You won't have to worry about insects or birds keeping you awake. Even if there were any left after the regular insecticide spraying, the barking dogs drown them out.  If noise bothers you, just leave your generator and AC on all night, like six of your neighbors are doing. Don't worry about sunsets. If you happen to look out your RV window, you see only the side of your new neighbor's RV. The only wildlife to concern you are the raggedy rabies-infected looking raccoons that live by the putrid community dumpsters. Don't worry about rising early; most RV "campers" won't emerge before 10:00 AM. You will never be farther from nature or closer to civilization.

Learn more about this author, Doug Clore.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.