Thinking about Birol and Popups and Magic.

[NightOwl]

What a phenomenon this board is!


You'll soon see what I mean if you   just step back for a minute  and take a look at all this stuff about Birol and his  dream of getting a popup and finding it on e-bay and now the trip and the red tape and problems getting ahold of Lee and Andi and then getting the pu safely back home to Whitby.  Pages and pages of threads and posts about Birol and The PopUp Dream if we add them all up.

To an Alien Form of Ectoplasm all of this  excitement about a space-friend would probably leave him (it?) shaking its  3 heads and muttering "these  Earthling HUmanoids need to get a LIFE!"   :yikes:

Isnt it fantastic  that through Birol's experience  we can all kind of re-live our own excitement when we were new to popups (and OH, how much we all wanted our first one!) and just the smell of it was  wonderul when we went inside.

 I have stayed in fancy motorhomes  with friends and my cousin's "fiver" and then there's even  my own nice hardsided TrailManor, but I can honestly say that there is NOTHING that touches my heart the way our old SKamper did.

There is just no RV that is more magic than a popup--and no matter how we love the convenience and comfort of our more elaborate, more expensive rigs when we move on, it is only the popups that truly take us back to our childhood days.  

 To me, a popup  combines the thrill of a treehouse and a clubhouse and "a fort" and all the great, fun, hidey holes we kids used to play in without any adults to nag us about doing homework and chores and  not getting our clothes dirty.

Do the rest of you think this way about them?   Do they whisper "escape" to you, too?

[slowpez]

Oh yes, they do.

[MtnCamper]

Mine is getting ready to "escape" to Canada! We are getting excited. :eyecrazy:  What a journey it will be for us, We have never really been east of Wisconsin (planes don't count), and now we will see Ontario (& Birol), The western edge of NY, PA, OH, IN, Il, MI. It will be a long trip 18 days, but I think fun, after all, we have only one fixed destination, the first weekend at The Pinery, after that wherever we find ourselves.......

[Starryart]

Escape is the name of the game! Nightowl, my PU shouts ESCAPE!
I have acquaintences at work ask me why we go camping so much? Here is my top ten list....
1. It our chance to go some place peaceful and kick back.
2. To live some place different for a while. Our PU is our 2nd home after all!
3. Forget about the house and work.
4. To tie my hammock next to the lake and read a book while swaying in the gentle breeze blowing across the water.
5. To wake up and listen to the birds singing in the morning air or hear the hoot owls call in the night.
6. To sip my coffee and watch the sun come up over the horizon.
7. Roasting marchmallows!
8. The challenge of cooking over a campfire
9. The camaradery of other campers. We have met some of the best people that way.  
10. Taking walks and enjoying the scenery and wildlife.
11. Family togetherness. Very Important!!!

Oh Gee! Did I say just ten? Well, there are a lot more. Guess it is hard to stop
:tent:
   

[Dayton Dave]

The thing that I cannot seem to get over to some people is the idea of getting away and getting out to the woods.  To have the argument brought up about how many nights I could buy at a hotel with what I am going to be paying for my camper gets old.  How can you equate what we feel when we are camping to just dollars and cents?  I know that I will spend way to much money on my camper and my campground memberships, but Lord willing, I will be able to pay them off someday, and will be able to use them for many many years to come.  

I am sorry! But a hotel room is not the same as my very own camper!

Right, Birol?  I think YOU know what I mean.

[David Roder]

Thank you for making the connection here.  I didn't understand why I like the pop-up so much and why I've wanting one for so long.  It is so true, it takes me back to tree forts, the "club" under the stairs, just my own place that was secret and mine.  That's what my pop-up is.  I do love that pop-up!!

[wiininkwe]

Yes, you're all right, it's a return to the days when we had hidden hideouts and weinie and corn roasts in the field, and a secret handshake and how many of you went to your friend's door and 'called' for them?   And how many remember that the call was "IIAAKII (or EEAAKEE)?   Ok, I'm dating myself badly here, but this camping phenomenon is kind of a way for many of us to feel that excitement at being part of the outdoors again.
T

[birol]

Hotel room versus Camping ?

Silly ! Give me the PU anytime ! Waking up to the chirps of the birds and nature versus breakfast in room ? Ha, Birds win hands down.

In my other life, when I was rich, I stayed at all the luxury hotels ! And I do not mean the luxury they have here, believe me when I say, the luxury a Hilton, Intercontinental, Sheraton offers in Middle east is way above what they offer here. (How do you all thing I got fat ? all the fattening hotel food, before I knew better). None of them are more attractive then waking up under the trees, havign a coffe, a breakfast, gathering the family and taking off for a day of fun ! What is better than chatting with people you meet at the campgrund, making new friends.

[Miss-Teri]

To me, a popup  combines the thrill of a treehouse and a clubhouse and "a fort" and all the great, fun, hidey holes we kids used to play in without any adults to nag us about doing homework and chores and  not getting our clothes dirty.

Exactly!  

[Starcraft Dad]

I know what you all mean. We used to stay at the nicest hotels and visit wonderful and a few exotic places. The kids liked it and had fun. Then we got the pop up last year. The kids are having a ball with it. They told me that we are having the best times we ever had and at just a local park. One of my favorite memories is a very recent one. The boys and I (no mom) were camping just two weeks ago. It was a rainy first night and they wanted a campfire real bad. So o.k. dad got the fire going. Then they wanted smores. O.k. we got the smores stuff out. You should have seen the three of us. We were all huddled under a big umbrella roasting the marshmellows and laughing at a raccoon getting into the neighboring campers stuff. I have never felt as close to my boys as I have at that moment. We shared some great stories and I had the best time of my life. Camping. It doesn't get any better. Especially with the pop up. It just wouldn't be the same in a MH, TT or 5er. Listening to the rain gently falling on the canvas at night while you sleep. Is there a better or more soothing sound? I think not.

[NightOwl]

. We shared some great stories and I had the best time of my life. Camping. It doesn't get any better. Especially with the pop up. It just wouldn't be the same in a MH, TT or 5er. Listening to the rain gently falling on the canvas at night while you sleep. Is there a better or more soothing sound? I think not.

StarcraftDad, I think you have hit upon the reason so many people here continue to hang out at PUT even when they have moved dbeyond their popup days--it is the whole popup mystique, the birds in the morning and at night, the rain on the canvas, the cozy feeling you get when you are all inside for the night and everyone is tucked into bed.

Isnt this all a big part of why Briol's new popup thrills all of us so much?  I wouldnt have missed sharing  this  with him for the world.  

And when your sons are grown men, they will recall the night you wrote about and know how very special it all was.  OH, yes, they know right now that it was "great fun," but not until they are grown men  (and perhaps fathers themselves) will they truly value it as the rare  tresure it was.   Childhood and times when we all feel as close as one skin--they  are  gone in a flash (I KNOW from experience! )  and if those deep bonds are not built now, they never will be.   Good for you--you arent letting the chance slip away.

When I read a post like yours and some of the others here , I still have hope for the future of our country, because there are still some values which  are not tossed aside, but which continue from one generation to the next.