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It was an ideal place for youngsters (and adults), and I have loved camping ever since! We continued to camp in tents until after my husband and I were married and we had children.
 However, our camping style has evolved over the years into a much more modern, more comfortable way of life (known now as "RVing"). When our children were young, we owned two different pop-up campers. After about twelve years later we bought our first travel trailer, a 24-foot Sportsmen. In 1993 we bought a 26.5-foot Coachmen trailer. In 2003 we traded for a 29-foot Coachmen, and in 2004 for another Coachmen. In August of 2005 because of a design defect in the trailer, which made it "back-end heavy" with water in the water tank, on I-40 east of Knoxville, the trailer started fishtailing and wrecked. See pictures here of the wreck. But fortunately, no one was hurt and good insurance (thanks, Allstate) paid us ACV for the ten-month-old trailer. We then purchased our current Fleetwood Prowler Regal with a 15-foot long, three-foot wide slideout, a stand-alone dining room table and chairs, and many other great features, making it the nicest RV we've owned. See picture below. Living in it for two months in the winter while we enjoy Florida's beautiful weather is almost like living at home. Modern trailers are like portable homes, with innerspring mattresses, gas/electric refrigerators, microwaves, automatic water heaters, modern heating/air conditioning systems, modern kitchen facilities (including pantries), TV, and comfortable bathrooms with showers and tubs. (And, of course, the cell phone goes along, making it easy for family to reach us in case of emergency.) Generally today we camp in modern campgrounds with water, electric, and sewer hookups and with guarded gates. We do not have the privacy we had in our early days of camping; but because of the dangers of being out in the wilds (dangers not from animals but from "kooks" out to do others harm), we feel safe. And we often camp during cold weather and enjoy it. It certainly beats staying in a motel--both in price and in comfort. It is like taking our home with us. RVing continues to be one of my favorite activities, and I wanted to share this with those of you who access my Web pages! (Try it--you'll like it! If you want to try it before investing big money, RVs are for rent at many RV dealerships.)
 There are lots of Web pages with camping information. Searches for "Camping" using search engines return hundreds of documents! Here are some of my favorite camping sites.
| - E-mail Carol Last Updated: April 30, 2009; 11:05 p.m.
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When I was a very young child, my parents and my sister and I started camping on 
In those days there were very few people who camped, so the primitive camp sites (not campgrounds, because there were no gates or attendants or paved roads--only dirt roads, which were more often than not rutted and muddy, particularly after a rain) were easy to find empty. We camped for two weeks every summer during my dad's vacation. My sister and brother and I *loved* it and always hated to come home. Norris Lake is a beautiful lake and in those days was pure and clean. Many people drank the water from the lake. We carried drinking water, but boiled lake water for washing dishes and did our bathing in the lake. Toilets were trenches dug in the woods with camp stools with cut outs in the center to resemble toilet seats. We used kerosene lanterns for light after darkness fell.
Here is a picture of our current RV made at our favorite campground, 
