High-tech amenities bring new age of camping

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) — High-tech amenities allow campers to enjoy nature with all the comforts of a luxury motel. But does sitting outside watching a big-screen satellite television really constitute camping? “To me, it is not so much camping as living, but that’s just my opinion,” said Shaun Reilly, the assistant ranger at Morgan Creek Park, a 260-acre Linn County facility just west of Cedar Rapids. Reilly recognizes, however, that “the RV (recreational vehicle) lifestyle is becoming increasingly popular” and that campgrounds will have to adjust to accommodate more upscale recreational vehicles. State park officials have said there’s growing demand for modern campsites with electrical hookups, while primitive sites have spaces to spare. Reilly noted, though, that even tent campers sit outside watching TV, and RV campers complain that the park’s numerous trees interfere with reception of satellite television signals. “Satellite TV is the big thing, but the growth in electronic camping accessories has been phenomenal,” said Gary Ketelsen, proprietor of Ketelsen RV in Hiawatha. The new flat-screen TVs give campers more room, and high-tech antennae enable campers to lock on to satellite signals even at highway speeds, he said. Air conditioning is standard on all campers except pop-up trailers and pickup campers, “and we are putting it on 80 percent of those,” he said. Camera systems that allow RV drivers to see beside and behind their rigs also are becoming standard, according to Ketelsen. “Everybody is taking laptops and going wireless,” he said. Computers are especially important to the snowbirds who go south for the winter, a growing segment of the RV market, Ketelsen said. “It seems like the younger families want to get away, and the retirees want to stay in touch,” he said. Reilly, the Morgan Creek Park ranger, said “the next big thing” for the parks will be Wi-Fi service for campers’ wireless laptop computers. Linn County has not installed any Wi-Fi zones, “but it is in the back of our minds,” Reilly said. “Campers ask about wireless all the time. Most of the campers who stop have computers aboard,” said Angie Procter, an employee of the KOA West Liberty just off Interstate 80 in Cedar County. Sammie Sue Mills, a snowbird from Kansas City, Mo., who was camping last week with her husband, John, at Backbone State Park near Dundee, calls her laptop computer indispensable. “I use it for checking, paying bills and staying in touch with family” during the 10 weeks the retired couple spend each winter in south Texas. Their 34-foot motor home has a remote camera in back that allows them to easily hook up the trailer that hauls the more fuel-efficient automobile they use for sightseeing and errands. John Mills said his next camping acquisition will be a global positioning system unit that provides audible directions for reaching a destination. Mills said his RV has a fixed satellite dish mounted on its roof. “I also have a portable unit in case I get around trees blocking my signal,” he said. A few hundred yards from the Mills’ swank 10-cylinder motor cruiser, Dr. Maarten Mourits, an ophthalmologist from Utrecht, the Netherlands, sat on the grass in front of a nylon tent, sharing a bottle of wine with his wife, Henny. Though the physician probably could have afforded more opulent quarters, he said he and his wife prefer tent camping. “We like the simplicity, the lack of hassles, the closeness to nature,” said Mourits, who planned to cook supper on a campfire before spending the night in a sleeping bag in an un-air-conditioned tent. “In Europe, you can’t make a campfire. We appreciate being able to do it here,” he said. Farther down the hill from the Mourits’ site, two retired Cedar Rapids couples practiced a comfortable and relaxed style of camping that falls between the simplicity of a tent and the luxury of a motor home. “We have the basic comforts of home — air conditioning, shower, stove, refrigerator, microwave — but nothing fancy. For what we do, this is just fine,” said Eileen Fluharty, who was camping with her husband, George, in their 28-foot fifthwheel trailer. Similar accoutrements, plus a gasoline-powered generator and two large storage batteries, could be found in the 25-foot van camper of Roger and Karen Turner. “With this outfit, we can dry camp (without water and sewer hookups) anywhere for six days. It comes in really handy when we are visiting national parks,” Roger Turner said. If the Fluhartys and the Turners tired of sitting in the shade, they said, they would more likely deploy their canoes than turn on their televisions.