Patti’s Saga of an RV Rookie: “iPods, iPads, iPhones, and now rpods? This Is Why God Made Tents.”

 We (briefly) contemplated buying a Forest River rpod travel trailer over the weekend. http://bit.ly/dnHnfG

For those of you who haven’t channeled your inner tear drop lately, the rpod is a tiny, cool, self-contained trailer shaped like a tear drop. Now, the more observant among  you may have noted the word “pod” after the  “r.”  How could they do that to us?  Who, in the 21^st century, would torture the RVing public by  naming something with yet another “pod” in it? Don’t they have focus groups to check that stuff out ? And if they do, would someone invite me to be in one? 

If you don’t believe it’s tough keeping  all these virtually identical names straight, talk to our poor  RV guy. I kept saying things like, “How big is the blackwater tank in this rpad ?” and “Does this iPad have AC?” and “Do these Rphones leak in storms?” I don’t think I even once called the thing by its correct name:  rpod.   The rep seemed confused by my confusion;  a state well recognized by anyone nearby who loved me enough to marry me.

Sometimes all  these gizmos with their interchangeable names make me long to wake up in a dank, smoky cave where  gnawing the marrow out of a  mastodon brunch would be considered a technological achievement. And what, may you ask, caused all this reflection about goof ball tech names?  It was a a tent.

We just bought a 10 man Coleman Weather Master tent. http://amzn.to/gdPLgL (note: we got ours at Costco for about fifty bucks less).  Yup…’member tents? Those (mostly) simple things powered by parents and any kids old enough to stake them (the tents, not the parents).  Those things you position so you can watch dying embers well into the night? Those things you sit camp chairs in front of so you can  dodge smoke? I remember tents well;  before I became a techno-geek; back when I thought a book was something with two sides that had a bunch of pages sewn in between them; back when I though blackwater was something sung by Credence Clearwater Survival. Allow me to wax nostalgic while I  chose to forget the downsides of tents.

We’re going to stake a giant tent  beside our travel trailer this summer to act as a “bonus room.” I’ll let you know how that goes. There could be stories.  I think I’ll love our tent, and deep in my whiny heart, I love technology even when I hate it. I work, play, stay in touch using my tech toys. They’re  like a herd of puppies nipping at my ankles; they can righteously tick me off but they are adorable and  fun and for the most part, add to my life.

 I’ll keep abreast of new technology with its bewildering array of almost identical names and enjoy the simplicity of our  new tent. I think. I’ll let you know how a tent-as-bonus-room works, or better yet, will you let me know?  And yes, I can say “leak.”

Happy Tales to you and yours,

Patti