You cashed in the IRAs, mortgaged the expected inheritance from your weird Uncle Ludie and bought the biggest, baddest RV on the market. When you get the slide outs out, there is more room than your first apartment. You've got a satellite dish that automatically keeps the reception clear as a bell for the 50" flat screen HD TV, a queen size super plush bed, a Jacuzzi tub, satellite radio, an outside grill and TV combination, an ice dispenser on your refrigerator, and outside speakers that blast the highlights of last year's football season and that's just the beginning.

So what does your neighbor say when you return from that first extended travel experience? "How was your camping trip?"

Excuse me, camping? Camping is a sleeping blanket on ground that a herd of elephants could cross without leaving a single footprint. Camping is being cold when it's cold and wet when it's wet.  Camping is smoky campfires, ghost stories and flashlights to find a spot to use instead of your perfectly fine toilet that is at home where you desperately long to be.

Camping is telling yourself that you are having fun though every bone in your body aches from carrying supplies on that little ten mile trek through the woods to the perfect camping spot.  Camping is pretending that freeze dried anything tastes like whatever it was that was freeze dried in the first place.

No, dear friends, traveling in an RV may be many things.  For certain it is expensive.  It is not, however, anything in any way related to the concept of camping.  A quick story by way of illustration: We peeped out our RV windows in Yellowstone and watched as true campers huddled around fires before entering their tents for a cold night's rest.  We turned on our electric blanket and the TV and went to sleep.  We enjoyed the very same scenery as our camping neighbors, but without the sore backs, chills and smores.

In the morning we didn't wait for Smokey Bear to give the okay on having our fires put out.  We didn't pack up the tents, sleeping bags, pots and assorted gear.  We didn't long for a hot shower.  We started the engine and slowly left our neighbors tending to their duties.  We were not camping.  True, we spent the night in virtually the same place as our camping neighbors, but not under the same conditions.

The great thing about an RV is that you can have most of the fun of camping without the hardships.  I know that sounds kind of wimpy, but wimpy without sore muscles and lack of sleep is something I can live with.

I like having an actual bathroom, including a shower, ready to use at a moment's notice.  I like a bed, TV, grill and all of that.  Of course I really do enjoy nature, just from the comfort of my RV.  Having the very best of both worlds is not really a bad thing.  RVs, for a price, provide all of that and more.

One final note, nothing you do at Wal-Mart can, or should, be considered camping.

Jack Kean is an author and columnist who often writes about his RV experiences.  He has written hundreds of columns covering a wide variety of topics. His web site, It's A Kean World, contains tips that could save you money when buying or selling an RV as well as campground reviews and much more.