On a weekend in one of the mountain or beach campsites in Luzon, a group of tents clustered around an imaginary circle, with pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans defining its borders, may look like an ordinary sight. But if you get closer to the group, you will sense that this is an extraordinary group of people.
They are seniors, mostly couples who have been together for more than two decades, and their vigor, zest for life, and more apparent, the bond that love had strengthened, are images that play a lovely feeling throughout the day.
They call themselves the Senior Car Campers, couples who drifted towards the same paths to camping sites to seek some leisure at the latter days of the pandemic. Along the way, they met avid car campers – Lawrence Dy, Winston Chua, Peter Gaw and Joey Ong.
Bodjie Rivera, who coordinates the activities, said Chua conceived the concept of forming a group of senior citizens because that would inspire other seniors to venture outdoors. Dy and his friends Gaw and Ong, put together the initial plan for the first camping expedition of the group at Tanay Highlands in September 2022.
“From then on, monthly camps were organized at places like Nature Venture, Camp Spotted Woods, Aurora's Resort in Batangas, The Preserve, Marahuyo, Camp Well and the River Ranch. The latter was chosen by the members as their official home base due to the warm welcome and personal attention given to the seniors' needs,” Rivera said.
The saying – age is just a number – must belong to that extraordinary group of senior citizens who have discovered the joy of car camping. On a whim, which is about a two-day notice, they pack stuff at the back of their vehicles and drive out to the countryside – at least twice a month, sometimes more often.
Driving large SUVs, 4x4 pickup trucks and vans, they cross rivers to reach a campsite. There, without help from their children or drivers, they unload each item and set-up their “rooms for the night” – tents, cots, air mattresses. They also put up their mobile kitchens and communal dining room which has now expanded under a large canopy tent provided by Lope and Nida Bernardo, known as Lolo and Lola Campers in social media.
Finally, they unroll meters of fairy lights to hang over their tents.
Setting up camp is not an easy task, even for young people, many who still struggle through the motion of putting rods into tent spines. Unfolding tables and chairs, preparing camp stoves and cooking ingredients – the senior campers do it all in a happy mood.
At a campsite – any campsite – new neighbors who have already set up their tents come forward to hold the other end of a tent to help the owner put the rods in, or hammer a peg to secure it.
Lola Camper Nida Bernardo, in one of her popular Facebook posts, remarked in Pilipino but which I shall translate in English here: “If only the world will be like that, people coming up to help one another without a word or request – then it will be a beautiful world.”
Inside what has been defined as their camp grounds, the banter and laughter that continuously flows, keep everyone occupied. Of course, food is a flowing buffet, each couple putting on the long table what they had cooked or purchased along the way. A member brings out his halo-halo ice shaver. Someone sets up a giant screen for a movie night, now a regular feature in their camping weekends. A bottle of wine is opened, a bowl of freshly-popped corn appears – and the evening does not end early.
Conversation flows like a pleasant melody among people who have met only a few months or weeks before in a campsite but now have found a bond – despite the inconvenience of the absence of urban amenities.
In a recent camping trip, there were three generations who joined the senior car campers circle – the baby boomers, millennials, and Generation Alpha. They will likely join more camping trips with the group.
Adventure follows this group of seniors. They have crossed many rivers with their vehicles just to reach a campsite. They endured severe cramps when temperatures dropped in the early morning. They have even “ran away” from a raging river.
Rivera related those experiences, calling them all “unforgettable.” “There was Marahuyo edition where the temperature dropped to 17°, causing everyone to experience cramps and wake up at 2 a.m. to warm up.
“Another memorable event was the Christmas party at Camp Well, where it rained all day. We were camped by the river bank but had to quickly move to higher ground because of the rising river water. We prioritized moving our vehicles and belongings, leaving the tents to be transferred last. That night, all of us soaked by the rain, we all slept in our vehicles.
“Recently, we celebrated the January birthdays – a tree planting initiative titled "Planting a tree today for tomorrow's campers" at River Ranch,” Rivera said.
Rivera is not new to camping. He’s been camping since his boy scout days, and in his 30s, he enjoyed mountain camping with friends. He said that “today's camping is quite different, with amenities like restrooms, internet network signals, and accessibility to sedan cars being prioritized.”
Lola Camper (Nida Bernardo), and husband Lope are also avid campers, and through her Facebook page, she has shared many tips on camping for seniors. She loves to cook and brings her specialties to share with the group. But one of her tips remain top of mind: “Bring ready-to-eat food for when you reach camp. You will need your strength to set up your tents.”
They usually camp for three days and two nights because, as lovely and lively Connie Garcia said: Day one is to set up the tent; day two is to enjoy the camp because we are too tired to put them all back in our vehicles; and day three is for breaking camp.”
Sit for a while with this group and you will get to know them and how they love the outdoors: Lope and Nida Bernardo, Roland and Connie Garcia, Zaldy and Claire Ramones, Pabs Villanueva and Cora Padillo, Richard Joseph Siy, Lawrence Dy, Susan Rachel Jose and Rivera, Peter Gaw and Joey Ong ate some of the more active campers in the group.
Recently, Rivera said the senior campers welcomed Dean and Nette Jacobe, Larry and Thessa Romantico, Tony and Luz Bautista, and Kei and Mitch Benesa.
Much wisdom, wit, and tales of younger days are exchanged during the weekend. Those are woven into what love must be all about when you grow old together.