I like car camping for the "get-away-quick-don't-worry-about-weather-or-forgetting-a-few-things" aspect. It's simple. Just throw a tent and some sleeping bags in the trunk, buy some beer and cheap food and go sit around a campfire in a nice, woodsy setting. If you're like me, you'll bring way too much, but with your car right there to absorb it all, all the extras don't really matter.
Now if I like car camping, I'd have to say I love camping. It's more adventurous and comes ready-packed with bottomless possibility. When traveling by foot or bike or boat with the intention to spend nights or weeks away there's a persistent presence of the unknown. Camping this way means you may not know the distance, weather, challenges or even the destination, but you know it's going to be a grand old time. Or possibly a miserable one. Either way, it's an adventure.
Unfortunately I don't get to break away for these longer stints as often as I'd like. Instead I make do with closer, more frequent jaunts into the "wild". Nothing increases the fun meter for these outings quite like the initial decision to leave the car behind. Local hike, sunset fishing mission, a paddle down the river; getting there and back without the car is my preferred way to go.
Which brings me to my most recent rack consideration: the Surfboard Bike Rack. I'm not a surfer--yet--but I am a cyclist. And I like the idea of approaching surfing by way of the bicycle, because when I'm out riding it's nice to have a destination.
I'm looking at this through the same frame as camping. There's "car surfing" and then there's "surfing". The latter just sounds more fun. So I'm thinking about the Surfboard Bike Rack because as the gal in the video shamelessly promotes: "Surfing is so much better when you don't have to drive to the beach!"
