We used to go to Yosemite Camp 7 the last week of July/first week of August for quite a few years back in the late '50s. My folks used an umbrella tent but I had my trusty Army pump tent & air mattress. That was our summer get-away from SF for about 6 years or so.
They bought a place on the Russian River with beach frontage in about 1960 and my oldere cousin and I switched to Army hammocks with the netting/roof cut off. That lasted up into the late 60s for me.
Next was the 55 GMC I fixed up; I wasn't going back to a tent on the ground again with my girlfriend so I rigged up my trusty pup tent over the 8' bed of the Jimmy and added a mattress to it for a year's worth of camping.
I picked up an old cab-height 8' camper that was sitting down in Sausalito near the Heliport for next to nothing, maybe $75.00 and after dumping the old fish netting in it and cleaning it with Clorox and adding some Walnut stain to the wood and cleaning the exterior aluminum and getting the windows to slide again, I used that for a couple summers...if my buddy was camping with me, he had his own tent but when I brought my girlfriend, the 48" width for sleeping was getting to be a tad tight.
Then one time I saw a guy back into the campsite next to me with a camper that looked exactly like mine until he opened the door and began jacking up his Alaskan 8 ft. NCO. After he gave me the usual tour Alaskan owners are wont to do, I had to have one.
I bought an F-150 and found a 60s-era 8' NCO like his and loved it. It was still a bit tight in there, but the option for bug-free sleeping, a propane stove, a water tank/sink and an icebox made it seem like heaven. I made a shakedown trip alone up to Wild Plum camp on the Yuba that Memorial weekend. At about 4am when it started pouring rain I woke up, looked out the rear window as most of the tent campers cleared out and went back to sleep. Next trip was Yosemite with my wife and we stayed in an un-organized place just short of the park. It has started raining with lighting as we got out of the valley but when we arrived, I hopped out, raised the top and we snuggled in listening to the rain falling.
We used that on for a few years until the lack of a restroom became an issue so I sold it and got a Lance. I had to upgrade to an F-250 to carry that beast. It lasted a few years more until a hit-and run destroyed the left front jack and tore open the Cab-Over. It died a miserable death.
A couple years later, I decided on another Alaskan, only this time the C/O was required so we could both have some more sleeping space. I wanted an 8' C/O and now one is in the driveway! It is still a "minimalist rig" by most standards as it had an icebox and sink/H2O tank and a stove, but no furnace and no built in toilet but came with a Thetford.
It still isn't as well outfitted at that old Lance was, or most of what you guys have and has no batteries or solar or anything. If we camp where AC is available, thats fine, we have lights inside. If we don't, then we just spend the time before sleeping outside and use my Coleman lantern. It runs on campfuel of course, not batteries.
We are not planning on long hauls so this works for us as dinner is a BBQ and breakfast is oatmeal and fruit and juice/coffee. I plan to add a small trailer (4' x 6') with a tailgate on it to carry additional things like another icechest, tarps, other things I don't want to haul in the Alaskan like nasty BBQ grills & brickquetts or camp table & chairs. That means we can just pull in at night, raise the roof and crash out. We can "set up" camp the next am.
If you see us in this rig this summer in the Sierras, stop by to say Hi and have a coffee/soda/adult beverage.
Happy Camping!
