How Renting an Airstream Made Camping Fun
A different type of vacation to consider
I didn’t grow up doing a whole lot of camping. When I did, it usually consisted of waking up in a damp sleeping bag on the ground in a tent. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t very memorable either.
But last summer changed my perspective on the entire camping experience.
My family and I decided to travel to Michigan in a 16 ft. Airstream Basecamp. We got the idea when my husband and son stumbled upon the Youtube channel, Tails of Wanderlust. We watched hours of videos featuring Cass with her dog and cat traveling all over the United States in her Basecamp.
We saw her sleek, silver home on wheels and became intrigued. My son couldn’t stop talking about how cool it would be to rent one.
With us itching to travel, we searched online and found someone local that was renting theirs out. We booked our dates, and when summer finally arrived we took off for a week-long adventure.
It had all the amenities that camping in a tent was always lacking.
Flushable toilet…check.
A place to shower…check.
A stove to cook on…check.
It also had a king-size bed and panoramic windows with black-out panels that zipped.
This 16 ft. trailer was even better in person. It had such an adventurous vibe.
The materials on the floor and seat were durable yet comfy. I didn’t have to worry about the kids tracking in sand from our stay at Grand Haven State Park. Everything inside was easy to clean and wipe off.
We felt the camaraderie from families traveling with their own tiny homes in tow.
The sheer look of the Airstream Basecamp attracted attention. It stood out with its’ “silver bullet” design and large tinted windows. Fellow RV travelers came up to us asking what model it was wanting to take a peek inside.
As I was setting up lunch one day at the picnic table, an 84-year-old woman walked by saying, “What a cute home.”
She was visiting the parks with one of her children and some of her grandchildren.
She told me that over 50 years ago, she and her husband decided to buy a camper and haul it with a small car they could afford. They ended up having a total of three kids that joined them on their camping adventures.
She said it was the best time of her life traveling all over the United States. You could hear the joy in her voice as she described their time as a family together.
I could also start to see the allure to camping on wheels and the kindness of the RV community. Everywhere we camped we had friendly faces to greet us and offer their help.
Traveling with this rented home on wheels gave us newfound freedom.
Once we spent a few days in Grand Haven State Park, we traveled further north towards Sleeping Bear Dunes. After the first few days, we started to get the hang of what was needed to hitch and unhitch our trailer.
We knew we had to go on the Saugatuck Dune rides. My husband had experienced the same rides himself as a child on family vacations.
Luckily, with our trailer’s smaller size it was easy to find parking. The dune rides were similar to a roller coaster except we were in this large fire-engine type wagon racing up and down hills through the sand.
Our kids got a kick out of holding their hands up high every time we were approaching a hill.
After that fun, while the kids fell asleep, we took advantage of driving through the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. There was no issue with hauling our Basecamp behind us.
Because of the 16 ft. size, if we had to keep the trailer with us, it was small enough not to feel like it was in the way. It was even a perk having our private toilet and kitchen available to us wherever we went. If we did want to unhitch it at the campground, we could do that too to explore small towns nearby.
Even when we went nowhere, hanging out in the Airstream were some of the best memories.
We had the outdoors wherever we went, but our kids couldn’t get enough of playing inside.
With netted storage overhead, it was an ideal spot for hanging plastic spider toys from the game, “Barrel of Monkeys.” Simply seeing how many they could hang without falling became a competition with my two.
With the smaller tables in the converted lounge space, we had room for snacks and games. My daughter and I played multiple rounds of UNO. We played over and over during some of those hot afternoons snacking on peanut butter and pretzels.
When it was time to settle down at the end of the day, I loved snuggling in between my babies. We pulled the covers around us as we selected a movie on the iPad and enjoyed popcorn in bed.
It was a fun way of camping indeed. It’s a different type of vacation I’m ready to do again.
