Cyber Camping vs Great Outdoors

April 18, 2010


Occasionally a caller will balk at Lock 30 Woodlands’ prices and say “Well, for that price, I can stay in a motel room.”

Occasionally I’m tempted to poke gently at this comparison and ask “So, tell me, for what price can you build a campfire in that motel room?”

Most of us know that comparing motels to campgrounds is like comparing apples to cantaloupes. Yet guests expect similar levels of service, amenities, and conveniences.

That’s not a bad thing, but it should prompt campground owners and managers to consider what they offer and at what price. Some of the conveniences offered in urban settings simply don’t work as well when offered “in the woods,” yet, like offering fast food, we‘re constantly looking to super-size these services, even when their benefit is debatable.

Wifi is one of those expected conveniences.

As I type this blog on my 3 pound notebook computer I can’t help but lament how I’m tied to technology almost as much as I’m tied to water and food. I had major surgery several months ago; half my anxiety was concern over climbing the stairs to access online Lock 30 reservations, read emails and pay bills. A lightweight, portable computer allowed me to breath with more ease.

We understand that campers, too, want these conveniences and that’s why we offer Wifi. But some days I wonder if it’s not a big mistake. If we took away their cyber world for just one weekend and replaced it with the real world, would we not be doing our guests a huge favor? Would we not be opening a drawer for them that may have been closed for too long? Could we reawaken their hearing to the early morning joy of song birds or the end of day calm of a crackling fire?

I’m more than a little anxious about kids whose thumbs are constantly texting, instead of casting a line in the fishing pond. With smart phones and interactive games requiring internet access, I’m concerned there will never be enough broadband to stay ahead of the demand.

That’s only part of the problem—our part—since we’re providing the service. But if we consider the challenge parents must face every day, competing with the tech world of instant answers, instant gratification and instant access to information, when do they get the chance to explore with their children the world that makes for memories, rather than a tech world neatly packaged on a flash drive?

Camping is so much more than lodging, so much more than changing the backdrop of where we do our day to day routine. It allows us to step away—even if it’s only for a few days at a time-- from our self-created slavery to convenience.

It allows us the time and space to poke the fire with the people who matter to us the most.