One could write this article about any of the thousands of campgrounds that abound around the United States of America, the article could easily be titled the camping experience in America, as families pile into their automobiles and head out to spend a weekend or the summer experiencing nature, camping under the stars, sharing stories and our lives with new found friends around camp fires through out this fine land. However, being a seasonal camper at Skyway Campgrounds just outside the town of Ellenville New York, I am sharing my thoughts on spending summer weekends down in “The Grove” at the London Family’s Skyway Campgrounds.
My wife works down in the Bronx, commutes daily into THE CITY, arriving home at about six each evening exhausted and ready to call it a day. Last year we decided we needed a change, needed a place of peace and tranquility where we could recharge our battery, find some solitude away from our hectic work-a-day life.
Our road to our own haven started a year ago in late June when we made a trip out to her brother’s campsite in Cherry Valley, New York. My wife arrived home on a Thursday night, our one week vacation officially started as she has six Friday’s off in the summer time. A quick check of our seven cats, the car loaded we headed up Interstate 87 to Albany to hook up with the rest of the family for our drive out into the country to Cherry Valley…without going into great detail it was a magical weekend of great food, fabulous conversation, campfires and sleeping late. By Sunday we were hooked on exploring camping, finding a site of our own to escape to on summer weekends.
That very Monday the stars and an intensive internet search found a campsite called Skyway that was just over one hour from our house here in Peekskill…being on vacation we decided to take a drive up and have a look around…little did we know that drive would change our life in such a major way.
Our first stop was at the London family’s camper store where we met one of the son’s (Gary) who spent a great deal of time showing us several campers (both new and used). We hit it off immediately, and found two campers that really spoke to us…a fifth wheel, and a 40 foot travel trailer that actually had a small sectional sofa…I know, not exactly the tent camping I was used to, but give us a break, we both are in our 50’s and not quite as brave of heart as we once were.
Gary suggested we go have a look at the campgrounds, and give ourselves time to mull over our choices and decisions, so we got back into our car and drove down a quiet tree lined country road, and rounding a bend in the road gasped at the beautiful well maintained pool on the right side of the road, and the majestic club house set back off the road to the left. Simply stated, it was obvious to us both that this was a well run and maintained campsite run by folks who cared for their campers, and had build their campground over decades out of love…we were hooked and just did not know it quite yet.
One of their seasonal workers met us just outside the office with a warm greeting and a offer of something to drink while Barbara got on a radio to summon the camp manager (her husband) to give us a grand tour of the grounds. Mike arrived shortly and began our tour, first showing us some sites that were available for seasonal rentals, and then taking some time to introduce us to some of the campers and their families (including family cats and dogs).
Sometimes you just know when something is right, and Skyway was right for us. Some four hours after arriving we had chosen a beautiful site in and area of the campgrounds known as The Grove, and committed ourselves to a 40 foot used camper…Pina had fallen in love with the large living room setup and the sectional sofa, and more than anything else, I wanted her to be happy with our choice, wanted her to fall in love with camping every week of the summer.
The next day we drove up to camp again, signed papers, wrote out checks and were OFFICIALLY seasonal campers, though it would be two more days before we could actually HEAD OUT TO CAMP! That first night we never even got a chance to settle in as Gary came round at about six that evening and dragged us to a big Fourth of July celebration…that was almost to the day one year ago, and what a life changing year it has been.
Camping at Skyway is all about family, your own, and the extended family you begin to develop as you meet, greet and get to know your fellow campers, first in the Grove, and then throughout the campground’s.
Our first major connection (excluding Gary London) came about when Herb and Estee invited my wife and I to join them for a Saturday yoga class…I instantly begged out of the invite, but it was right up my wife’s alley so she was up and ready to go by 7:30 in the morning (ON A SATURDAY). We became instant friends with this delightful couple, and now one year later we feel like an adopted member of the beautiful family, have met their children, their grand children, and even broke bread over the winter as we enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the Spiegel family with another one of the Skyway families who had also been invited to the mid-winter reunion.
Dee and Angelo are two campers down from ours, and again there was an instant connection because of my wife’s Italian heritage, and a shared bond of being native New Yorkers. You know you have found true friends when they are comfortable enough to call you at home and pull a practical joke.
With each passing weekend of the 2007 season our circle of close friends grew as we met more of our neighbors such as Pat and Don in the fifth wheel beside us, Arty, Bill and their beautiful wife’s. The list of new found friends just continued to grow as we met and became friends with Bill and Jackie from across the street with their two adorable Golden Retrievers, and then Pat and Judy who are sandwiched between Herb and Estee, Bill and Jackie. As our first season came to an end we briefly met Don and Deb who were moving down to The Grove in 2008.
2008 has seen Don and Deb becoming great friends, and Don’s parents (Big Don and Barbara) are just magical, and we feel very close to them…suppose they and the Spiegel’s in some sense fill a void for both Pina and I as neither of us have living parents.
We now count the minutes each week until we can be in the car and on our way to camp. Once we pass Middletown on Route 17 we feel the stress of life just falling to the wayside as the excitement of almost being at our summer home, visiting again with our friends’ takes center stage. We know who is having health problems, worry when someone is not at camp when we expect them to be, and look forward to catching up on the NEWS. A bear was sited on the Ridge, Deb’s son’s graduation party was a roaring success, and Big Don finally got his golf cart.
However, its more than that…there’s Don helping me put lights on my golf cart, there’s a new camper asking me about my cart cover, and hooking him up with one of his own. There’s an unplanned evening get together of friends, ten of us all sitting around the campfire catching up with what everyone else is up to, sharing stories about families and work. There is a sense of Patriotism sometimes lost as camping families decorate their golf carts for a Fourth of July parade through camp…it sounds funny, but you really feel the love of America driving around the camp grounds, patriotic marching tunes blaring out of a boom box strapped to a cart, some 20 other carts loaded down with kids as you wish campers a happy Fourth of July.
There are parties and events where whole families get together as a group, almost everyone of them including a fund raising event for a very worthwhile charity (St. Jude’s). When my wife was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, the concern and out pouring of support for both my wife and I was heart touching, and still brings tears to my eyes when I think on it. One long term seasonal is not doing well, and I have not sat at one campfire this season that inquiries are not made about her health. Our neighbor’s (Pat and Don) have a family member that is not doing well, and though home for the week we are worried about her, hold her, Pat and Don in our prayers.
Simply stated, for us the Skyway Experience is about community, is about a new and ever growing extended family. We feel blessed to have become a part of such a wonderful and loving campground.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Grove here at Skyway, we are a little nook of nine sites down in the lower back quadrant of the camp grounds. The kids are familiar with our area for the BIG HILL they come screaming down on weekends in the late morning and early afternoon, pedaling their bikes as fast as fast can be. It's a quieter section of the campgrounds, though we do have our moments...drive your golf cart by the Tiki bar on a Friday or Saturday night and there is a good chance you'll find 6-8 of us sharing a glass of wine and telling baldy stories from our past, or sharing the weeks news from home and work. Simply stated, for those of us secluded down in the Grove it's a perfect place to spend a weekend...ALMOST.
