Alive in the Dead of Winter

Less than 16 hours to go till I do some crazy cold weather camping with many crazy like minded individuals. I loves me some campin'! Not that what I do is called camping by everyone. I drive a '79 VW Westfalia to wherever she leads me, put her in park, and set up camp. I like to think of it as sleeping in a tent with locking doors. Its really not much more than that. Sure, it has some comfortable beds, a sink, a stove, an icebox, and electric hookups, but it's not the 40-ft. behemoth of a traveling house that so many "campers" take up space with at many parks around this wonderful country of ours. It is little. And I like it. It is just right. Let me tell you, it is cold in February. I have seen snow here, and have prayed for a lot of it several times. But as much as I have wanted, it hasn't snowed us in, although there have been some pretty neat ice formations...


This weekend has been a tradition for 10 or more years for VW camping enthusiasts from the southeast region. Started by a club from Marietta, GA called the Peach State Transporters, it has grown from a small handful of folks to a double handful of folks camping at Cloudland Canyon State Park. Not much growth there. That's the way we like it. The campout is not announced on the internet nor are informational fliers sent out. Its just a given that the first full weekend in February is the weekend for the Dead of Winter campout. It grows like this: You tell your friends, they tell their friends, so on and so on. Somehow it still manages to be a small gathering of friends. Friends that are hard core bus camping people. Its the small group of people that like it to stay that way. You can spread the word that we will be there, but don't spread it too far.

Some of the people that show up here are people that I only see at this campout. Friends that I have known for years still show up. Others have fallen by the wayside, but I can always count on several known friends to be here every year. Its nice to see how they change from year to year. One couple I know (Chris and Beth) once sold their VW camper and moved to Dubai, UAE to teach at a university. They went from driving a VW camper to 4-wheel drive vehicles able to drive in sand dunes. A few years ago, they moved back to the states and immediately started the search for another camper. They emailed me and I was able to help them get the Vanagon Westfalia they drive now. It felt good to get them back into their element.

The dude who started it all is Dave Easterwood. He always has the rarest and neatest buses. From a 50's model "Barn Door" bus, to a early 60's Single Cab Pickup, he drives one of them to the campout. The one of his that I like the best is the one pictured below.


Then there are the friends that I take with me. Friends that I see all the time and interact with at least several times a month. Brian and Crystal, Moose, Anthony, just to name a few. These are folks that are in my local VW club, the Scenic City Volks Folks. Moose is my bud (pictured below) and it is not the same campout without him. Below Moose is Brian and Crystal, friends who have shown what good friends they are to me. I love them all.

New friends and old friends. This year I hope to have fun with them all. There's nothing better than to be surrounded by people having a good time, remembering past campouts with old friends, making new memories with new ones, and the companionship that is renewed each and every year. Speaking of new friends, I am taking one with me this year. You ready for a good time? I am. A nice fire, good food and great friends. Let's go!