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Turning Camping into Cash?Pt. 1
“Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.” - Dave Berry.Having returned from my first camping trip, while casually thumbing through the Yellow Pages for quick divorce lawyers, I received a call from TopSleeping Bags, anew camping equipment website, asking “can you write an article on turningcamping into cash?” I closed the phone book and here’s the first installment of myseries of answers. The camping world needs a woman’s touch and I don’t mean a female DanielBoone. I mean a female Dave Berry. It really needs one and there’s gold in them‘thar hills. There’s no advice for dreamers (who looked at brochure photos of laughing couples, holding hands while hiking along majestic mountain paths) only toreturn from their first camping trip with blisters the size of baseballs, poison ivywelts and the need for blood tests for Lyme Disease. And that’s where turningcamping into cash and you come in. Just think about it, if you like to hike, canoeand camp anyway, it’s all upside. That advice giver could be you.Camping gear reviews -- advice on what camping gear to buy and why -- iseverywhere, from eBay’sCamping Buying Guideor REI’sCamp/Hike Expert Advice.
In bone-numbing detail, we learn we’ll need outsleeping bagsrated for -10*Fahrenheit to camp in the snow or that a car rack must clamp to the seam betweenthe door and vehicle frame if a car lacks gutters. And, coincidentally, every tip andevery piece of advice relates back to a product for sale on the site.And the Internet also abounds with campsite reviews where information that shouldcause civilized people to recoil in horror is considered mighty handy information forthe hardy camping crowd. These reviews allow them to discover which campsiteshave 30 amp electricity, which have sewage disposal for RVs, and those where youbest keep an eye out for rattlesnakes and scorpions.But real-world advice? Forget it. You can search the Internet in vain or Google untilthe cows come home but you won’t find advice on whether it is better to choke todeath on fish bones or simply walk into the wilderness and freeze to death afteryour newly retired husband – who somehow convinced you to share a winteradventure ice fishing in Canada – hands you his fresh catch to clean and cook forthe evening’s meal over a tiny propane flame. Nor can you find advice on the bestresponse when -- while pitching a tent in the dark with someone who forgot to packflashlights -- asked what’s taking so long to pound in your half of the tent stakesinto the ground with the heel of your shoe because someone also forgot to pack ahammer. You’ll search forever for camping advice that begins with “Just don’t do it, don’t go.But if you must be certain you know how far the nearest 4-Star restaurant is fromyour campsite and you’veMapQuestedthe directions… “So where to start, in turning good advice like that into gold? My advice – start acamping blog? Start a camping blog, gain a following with your advice and make
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