Yeah, it's definitely a pipe dream on my part.
Kind of a funny story on that note: I grew up in rural Minnesota on a gravel road 6 miles from the nearest town and a 1/4 mile from the nearest neighbor. Lots of nature to be had.
We went camping as a family a lot - we would throw our heavy canvas Eureka tent in the back of Dad's 74 Chevy truck, the 4 of us would pile into the cab, and hit various campgrounds, state parks, and county parks around Minnesota and Wisconsin. I have a lot of happy memories of camping - beating around on bikes, maybe meeting some other kids to play with, roughing it, being soaked to the bone due to the rain, etc. All good stuff.
My approach to camping eventually diverged from Mom and Dad's. While I'm one to really rough it, they eventually bought a pull-behind camper, and have owned quite a few in their lives, each a bit nicer than the last one. Mom and Dad are now in their late 60s and still live where I grew up. They have a nice fire ring area in the back yard, and still no neighbors. It's very peaceful.
In a strange version of getting back to nature, they will use their camper about twice per year, where they go and park in a busy campground, 15 feet from their nearest neighbor, and sit and watch TV in the air conditioning for a weekend. About the only aspect of this which might be considered roughing it is that they don't have all their cable channels. All they need is a campfire video playing on the second TV to complete the effect.
Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador