A journey of camping, and patience
A rural scene just off Interstate 81 in Wytheville, Virginia. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
Camping is booming business, and we saw that first hand on our recent journey westward and back. The entire industry is thriving, from gear to RVs and campgrounds.
We camped in or passed through 15 states in 12 days. Our first stop was in upstate New York, where we set up our tent at a KOA campground outside of Cooperstown. Many of the people there brought the whole family with them, reflecting a growing trend of parents and young children visiting campgrounds, many for the first time, according to KOA data in North America. From 2014 to 2020, the total percentage of KOA campers with minor children in the household went up from 41 to 54%. The industry continues to skyrocket this year, even above summer 2019 levels, as we learned in Cooperstown.
Before last week, our camping experience had been limited to tenting in Maine — and usually in the same spot in early June, just after dropping off our daughter at summer camp. But over the states we traveled, the great interest in getting outside was clear, even if some of the experience, well, wasn't exactly "roughing it". I'm at the point in life where campgrounds with better amenities do help me sleep at night. We became KOA members, and KOA sites have a baseline of amenities in most of their franchised locations.
Along the way, we stayed almost entirely at KOA campgrounds, and there were plenty of people enjoying their RVs, cabins and tents. Some of our favorite tenting was at KOAs in Cooperstown, New York, and also one outside of Nashville, Tennessee — where the individual sites were nicely spaced out and on grass. We stayed in cabins near St. Louis and also Columbus, Ohio, and we attempted to tent in the rain in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, before intensifying weather put the damper on that plan. We ended up driving for a little while, before the little while turned into 90 minutes, and we finally — after many attempts — found a nice hotel room in Washington D.C. It was a blessing in disguise, allowing us to get an earlier start on touring D.C. the next day and a very comfortable bed.
Farmland along our detour from Route 24, passing through Cadiz, Kentucky. (Gareth Henderson)
On the whole, the camping experience was an enjoyable one, which can be done on a minimal budget. But it's really the experience that sticks with you — the time with family, the kind folks who help along the way, and the fresh air and scenic sunrises out in the open. Most of the campsites were just a bit off the highway, offering some beautiful rolling hills and plains along the route. We were able to see farms and life in each of these communities. The humanity that we saw, and how everyday Americans are living, cannot be captured in a highway hotel or interstate. The stories of people passing through were priceless. They are also grounded the fundamental goodness of neighbor helping neighbor, an age-old story.
One of the overarching themes of the trip was patience, because at any point, plans can change — and a couple times they did. The night we spent outside of Nashville was a surprise-tenting night. A major highway, Route 24, was shut down for several miles due to paving with a detour over a narrow county road that had backed-up highway traffic as far as the eye could see. My wife took a left on an unmarked road. For part of the way, we had no cell service and it was a leap of faith into some of the most beautiful country. We had no idea where the road went at first, but we eventually went from western Kentucky to Tennessee and found a wonderful little campground, right by a cow pasture, which very much reminded us of home. It was another proof that patience, with a bit of waiting and trusting, can go a long way, even when the long way head of you seems like a lot to handle. On the road, its rewards were great, and interlaced with some beautiful, scenic camping we hope to repeat some day. The road is always waiting.
— Gareth Henderson
