Naming Your RV, Tent or Other Gear!

This week's episode is just a fun, chatty time of discussing our RV name plans and some ideas for where you can draw inspiration to name your vehicles and gear, as well! 

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Transcript

Speaker 0:02

Welcome to Camp Mindowinia, where we're reviving the vintage camping vibe in the Midwest. There is so much to see and do in the Midwest, and we want to share it with everyone. So on this show, we'll be talking about all things camping as we explore the states of our name. Glad to have you back at camp, everyone. I'm Liv and I'm here today with my longtime camping buddy and sister Ab. Hi, everybody. Today we are going to be talking about what I think of as one of the most fun things around acquiring a new camper or tent, and that is giving it a name. I'm not sure if this is something people have been doing all along, but naming your RV or tent, because we're doing tents too. Yeah. Any gear, really. It really only came into my radar within like maybe the past five years or so. Yeah. It's just something I never thought of, but what a fun thing to do. And we're like, we're big nickname people. Yes, we are. Like our younger brother has even named his sleeping bag. I believe it is named Clive. Yes, it's Clive. Yes. And it's been named for like eight years. Yeah. So he he clearly got on the naming things thing right away, maybe. Yeah, ages ago. Unless they've been doing it longer than we think. And your SUV is named. Yes, it's the bike, which is actually from a movie. Yeah, it's from Princess Diaries 2. Yes, it is. And it's the scene where Chris Pine's character, I can't remember the character's name, is going to save Princess Mia from a bad marriage. Yep. And he tells the housekeeper, Oh, we don't have the car, because the bad uncle, the scheming uncle, took it. And she goes, You can take the bike. And he goes, We don't have a bike. And she goes, No, your grandfather's bike. And it's one of those old cool ones with the huge wheel. And the little tiny wheel. And since everyone in my family has a much larger vehicle than my crossover, it barely counts as an SUV. I'm like, compared to all of yours, it's like the bike. Yeah. And it's stuck. And I named it like eight or nine years ago. I know. Yeah, it's been a long time. It's been the bike this whole time. And like everyone knows what it means. Like people will be like, wait, where's the bike if I show up without the bike? And I'm like, it's good gas mileage, like the bike. It does. Basically a bicycle. Like powered. And there is like no takeoff. So it's a bike. So if, like us, you are somewhat new to naming your gear and specifically your RV or tent, we have some ideas for how you can choose a name for your RV. And we've kind of broken it down into some just loose categories for giving maybe to spark your imagination on how you can do this. Just some inspiration categories. Yes. For naming things. So without further ado, let's go. The first one I would say, and I think this one is probably very common, is naming your RV around some kind of interest. Yes. So and I think we kind of like have this written down as like interest slash theme. Yeah. So, like, you know, I don't know if ever everybody has a theme to their RV. Probably a lot of people don't. You just enjoy your camper in its purest form. But for some of us, there has to be a theme to everything. Yes. Live. My camper has an early American theme. And it's actually kind of like early American via 1980s design style. Think those country living magazines that were kind of like the revival of the early American look. Yes. Yeah. So in keeping with my early American theme, I've got kind of early American decor going on inside modern early American, I guess you might say. Yes. And the continuation of my theme is that I kind of think of my camper as being like, you know, a colonial inn. Yes. Sort of like a a wayside inn.

unknown 4:02

I don't know.

Speaker 4:03

Coaching inn. Something like that. Oh, like an old English almost theme. Yeah, well, you know, but like the American version. Yeah, it's kind of kind of like almost old English adjacent. Yes. You had a heavy English influence. I mean they came from there, so yes. Right. People probably still had English accents. Yeah, right. I don't know. I don't think that's how it works. I think it's a very complicated history of the American accent. Or maybe the English accent. We're just such a melting pot here of so many accents. That's true. Yeah. And yeah. I mean every continent's accent has just gotten in on it. Very true. So to name my RV, and now I might be confusing the early American in with more of the English in, correct me if that's like where I'm going, but I'm kind of already committed. Okay. So there are always names like, well, I love the pub from the Inklings, you know, that was like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, the those authors in the 1940s. They met at a pub, which was, of course, English. Yes. Um, called the Eagle and Child. And their like kind of pet name for it was the bird and baby. Yes. But I just love that old in type of naming structure where they kind of like it's the such and such and such and such. You know, they're like taking two things that probably had some meaning to perhaps the the proprietor or something. So that was kind of like that. So my actually, my RV is not named yet. I know. Mine's been named since like the first month I've had it. I know. But I don't know. You haven't even designed your car. No. Or your truck rather. No, I really have not. So anyway, I have some name ideas. If anybody wants to weigh in and vote on these, feel free to do so on our social medias. But I'll just give you the ideas that I have in mind. Yes. And they're very close because this is what I've got it narrowed down to. So I wanted it to be something like interest-based. This is the interest part, interest and theme kind of, you know. So the um I wanted to like reference my dog, and she's a blue healer. Yes. So when I say healer, I don't mean like healing. I mean, you know, like a blue healer. Yes. And um, a cattle dog. And um, I also love to write and to read. So anything about writing or books or the page, I thought, oh, that would be fun too. Also kind of has that early American sound. Yes, it does. So these are I think the four I have it narrowed down to. Two of them are just basically inverted versions of each other. So there's the healer and quill, or the quill and healer, whichever sounds better. I haven't decided. The dog and page. I love that one. Do you? Okay. That one's my favorite so far. And the dog and quill. Oh, my God. Is because quill sounds very old. You know? Yes, it does. But it also sounds like your name could be quill. Okay. That's interesting. Yeah. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. Right. Your name could be quill. I mean, it's not, but it could be.

unknown 6:58

Okay.

Speaker 6:59

So the goal eventually is to get a little sign I can hang in my campsite, especially if I'm staying someplace long enough. Like those cute ones people do where they're like the so-and-so banner or whatever. Yes. And then, you know, I want to have this name on there, the name of my camper. And so, and I thought even if I did like, you know, the dog and quill in, that would be quilling. The dog and page in. Something like that. Yeah. Anyway, so that is how I am trying to use the interest kind of based naming. And that's what I'm leaning towards right now. I get that. I will keep people updated on what I actually choose. Yeah, because in the future you can just refer to it by name. Yeah. Like how I do it all the time. But I might just say the inn. Oh, you could just say the inn. But then people are gonna think you're not talking about camping. That's true. When I was at the dog and quill. See, it sounds cute. I don't like it. Another way that you can name your camper is based on a fun location or a favorite location. So I had some ideas. If you have like a mini light or any of those ones with mini in the name, I think it would be so cute to do it based on your state. Like a mini soda or a mini coda, if you're in the Dakotas. Yeah. Or you know, something like that. Wouldn't that be a good one? Mini Scottie. Oh my gosh, a mini scotty. That sounds fun. Something like that. Yeah, that does sound fun.

unknown 8:24

Yeah.

Speaker 8:24

Yeah, that's a good idea. I like that. Specifically for mini lights. And that kind of also crosses the territory into puns a little bit as well. Yeah, it kind of works as both, but also you're like telling your location at the same time. Or I thought it'd be fun to do like the jewel of the west for your camper. Like it's the jewel cave, but it's a camper. That's fun. Okay. Especially if you were into something like collecting, I don't know, geodes or something. You could do it with a GeoPro and decorate the inside with geodes. Yes. You get like geode bedding and pillow. The geode art. We wouldn't even have it to be like so literal. I mean, if you were calling it the geode. You could do that. Or like I was saying, if you could call it the jewel, then you could decorate it with things that look like jewels. Yes, that's true. And geodes look like them kind of. Yeah, I think so. If you're like you're a rock hound person or something. Yeah. Yeah. That'd really work too. Yeah. Is bounder still a camper? Do you remember bounders? People still have them. They might not be making them, but you can get one that's not. Rock hounder. Oh, that would be cute. Yeah. Yeah. The bounding hounds. If you had hound dogs and you had a bounder. Yeah. That would be an owner. Hounds bound. That could be cute too. You really can be so creative with this. The sky's the limit. You can literally name your RV anything. You can. You can always name your camp er camper something related to a favorite location. Especially like in the Menduinia, we have well, we have a lot of like bison here. And I realize that those aren't location specific, but something about buffalo. You could call it the custard mustard. Like for custer state park, and you're mustering your will to camp. Yes. Or if it was yellow. The custard mustard. Oh, that would work too. Of course, there is sugarloaf quote unquote mountain in Wisconsin. Yeah. Any kind of well, I think isn't a sugar loaf conical in shape. I just think of a loaf of sugar. I don't know what a sugar loaf is. So any kind of squared off boxy trailer, you could call that a sugar loaf. Yeah. That would be cute. Vocation specific. And then you'd always have to bring a loaf with you of something sweet. Like a quick bread. Coffee cake. Yeah. Lemon loaf. Yeah. A loaf of babka. Oh yeah. You could paint chocolate chips on your RV. Yeah. I pretty much always have a loaf of babka on camping trips anyway. It's because maybe I should rebrand always existing and be the sugar loaf. Sugar loaf in.

unknown 11:03

It'd be cute.

Speaker 11:05

Another direction you could go is favorite characters. Yeah. Any really any favorite character, but something that I thought was kind of fun. Because it is popular for people to name their RVs, I think, people names. Yes. And so I was like, oh, you know what you could name it? Tracy for the character in the long long trailer. Oh my gosh. It's very camping specific. Yes. And if you want to know more about the long long trailer, I'm guessing probably a lot of people have seen that movie because it's very iconic, very camping. Yeah. But if you need more details, reference our camping films episode. Yes. And where we did kind of a review of the long long trailer as well as other camping movies. Yeah. And then if you happen to be one of the few lucky owners of a borough of fiberglass, Lucky Few. Yeah, lucky few. You could name that baby the Donkey Kong. There you go. Of course, you'd have to be a Mario fan. But if you're a Mario fan and you own one, you better be naming it Donkey Kong. Since older lady names are very popular, I mean they're probably characters. Like there's so many Pearls and Lois. Rosie. Yeah. Yeah. All those, like, for some reason, those kind of like vintage lady names, super popular. And then you could really lean into one of those names and decorate your campsite like that. Like Rosie. You could get like rose outdoor pillows and stuff. Yeah. And really make it fun. I really think, see, I just love a theme anyway. But I think that no matter what you name your camper, you could absolutely like use that as kind of a starting off point to decorate your campsite, decorate inside your camper. Yeah. Fun things like that. Make signage. You could for sure. Another one is puns. Which I have. Yes. I think these are really popular just because they're really fun. And campers and RVs in general really just lend themselves to puns. They do. You know, there's a lot of either the names of them, the places you can go, your themes. Yes. And that's how we arrived at the name for our ice castle. So we started calling it the fishy house. And this has multiple reasons why. One, because we feel like we're the most suspicious ice house on the lake. Because I don't think we've ever gone fishing and not had the DNR stop in. Oh. And I don't think I've met anyone else who's had that happen every time the guy's fishing. So I'm like, there's something fishy about our house. Like, what's going on? And then it kind of turned into here. Right. And I'm like, we're not doing anything illegal. But apparently we look suspicious. So hence the name, the fishy house, and then it kind of stuck. And because an ice castle is a fish house. Yes, it is. So it's kind of a plan words plus a pun because that very typical, like most people call those a fish house. Yeah. They'll call them a fish house. Or their ice cabin or things like that. Or some people refer to it directly by brand name. Right. But like even like the old fashioned kind, like what you had before you have this, where it was just like they're all either called a fish house or an ice hut or an ice house. Yeah. Okay. So see there, it's like that's like a everybody's gonna recognize that a fish house means this kind of an of a camper. Yes. Basically. Okay. And ours is this extra layer because the DNR is always like what are you guys doing? And we're like, nothing. Fishing? And then the big reason that really cemented the name was everywhere we go, people are like, What is this camper? We don't know how this works. What's going on with these before? Yes. And so it's very I think. How do you set it on the ground like that? Yes. Because I feel like there aren't a ton of them out of Minnesota. Like Minnesota and Wisconsin apparently have the largest concentration of them. Yes. So when we go to Iowa, people are like, What? And we went to Nebraska, people were like, What is that thing? And then we have to, of course, explain a really fishy camper. Yes, it is. Hence why it's called the fishy house. Yeah, I think that's so fun. It fits perfectly. Yeah. It references some attribute of the RV. It it fits within a theme because it is for fishing. Yes. It's perfect. Yeah, I think so. There are so many fun pun ones like drive o'clock somewhere. I sound that one. I love when people are like, it's five o'clock somewhere. Then if you have a class C camper, you could do class C, but you could like spell it, you know, like with a C E at the end or something to make it like or a C. I think you just even could spell it like classy, like C-L-A-S-S-Y. And people are gonna know. Well, you say, Oh, that's my class C, the classy, classy chassis. Classy camper, maybe. Classy chassis just a little bit. Sounds bad. Yeah. Classy tires. It's weird. Oh, okay. Yeah. Um, how about if you have a van, how about Van Gogh spelt van G-O? That would be awesome. Especially if you're like artsy or you're like going to art festivals. That'd be fun. Or you have like a homemade or van, like you know, you've done it really colorfully inside. Yeah, it is it's like your own masterpiece. Exactly. Something I've even seen in some RVing groups on like Facebook is people naming them after relatives that were beloved, like a great aunt or a grandpa or something like that as kind of a way to memorialize them, I think. You could name it after a pet too. You really could. That'd be fun. Yeah. If you are thinking about naming your tent, you could give it a funny name based on its size. Like, you know, everyone knows what like the coffin tents are. Nobody calls them a coffin tent except for us. Exactly. So you could name it the coffin tent. I don't think they do. Maybe they do. You know those little one-man tents? They look like a bivy. Yeah. You could be like, this is the coffin. I'm retiring now to the coffin. Yes. You can kind of give it that like gothic novel feel. You could. I mean, why not? Sure. That goes for both tents and RVs, really. And that's like naming it for what it looks like. Yes. This is kind of like that sugar loaf for the really boxy squared off ones, I guess. So yeah, a lot of these overlap, which is okay. But I've seen so many big berthas or tinies. Like sometimes huge tent or camper. Yeah, tiny, that's like the best name. Tiny Tim. Yeah. The runt. Oh my gosh. If but not for not for big ones. If I had like what are those toe-behind ones? Teardrops. A teardrop. If I had a little teardrop, I would totally name it the runt. Oh yeah. That would be a good thing. Because they're like the small camper. Like the runt. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And you know what the motif could be? Like nerds. I was just thinking of that. Yes. Isn't there like a nerd that's named the runt or something? Nerd character. And like not like they have characters. They're just a little candy. But I feel like for some reason, I don't know why that is like so tied together in my mind. But yes, it could be like a nerds-themed teardrop camper called the Runt. That would be adorable. It sounds so cute. It does. If we're talking about naming your tent based on how it looks, you could name your tent after a fruit or a veg based on its coloring. So if you have a blue one, you could call it the blueberry. Or an orange one could be the tangerine. And of course, beyond your RV and tent, there are so many other pieces of gear that you can name, including, of course, your tow vehicle, as we touched on a little bit. We had this short stint when we were, I was probably in like junior high, when our mom's vehicle had been in an accident. And so they bought this kind of temporary vehicle for a while. And it was like this 1970s extra long green van that only had two seats in the back. So it really was only like a four-seater van, despite No, it was three seats. It was three seats. Yes, because we all fit in there. It was a five-seater, despite the fact that it was like twice as long as your typical vehicle. Yeah. And it just looked to us like a giant green caterpillar. It did. The very hungry caterpillar. If you know that children's book. We loved that book when we were kids. Yes. But our youngest sister, who was like a baby, a toddler at the time, she couldn't say caterpillar, so she called it a calipiter. She must have been a little bit older than that, probably like four maybe. So, and the name stuck. It was the calipiter. Yep. And so we told everyone, yes, this is our calipiter. And then our cousins even started calling it that. Yeah, they'd be like, oh, and especially because so because it was it had like ten feet of trunk behind the one bench seat. We would go on field trips or something. It was like our hangout space. I know. We'd go to the park and we'd all be like, here, let's have our snack in the calipiter. And we'd arrive on the calipiter. Yeah. It was so ugly though. It was really ugly. Poor thing. Yeah. But you can name your vehicle something kind of, you know, like a fun thing. Like, you know, somebody can't say a word. You come up with a new word. It's kind of fun. Um, other pieces of gear you could name are like your pack. Like if you're a backpacker, you could name your shoes. You could name your walking stick. I want to name Clara's bag the banana. Like, have you packed your banana? She's got one of those giant packs. Yep. It's a waterproof canoe camping bag. Yep. And it's bright yellow. I think she should name it the banana. The banana. I think it'd be awesome. Yeah. And since mine is bright red, we could call it the fruit salad. Oh! Like you have the fruit salad. And it'd be both bags. There we go. Yours then needs to be like the strawberry, cherry, or raspberry. Yeah, cherry, I think. It's kind of cherry cherry. Cherry red. Yeah. Yeah, makes sense. Sweet cherry. You could name anything though. Like you could name your hiking shoes. You could name your paddle board or your canoe. Oh, yeah. That would be really funny. I feel like naming a canoe or kind of like personal watercraft like that, I think that's like already a thing, isn't it? Yeah. We had a rowboat that we called the flying carrot. So we we had a pond next door on our grandparents' property. And we used to love going out in the rowboat. Yep. And one time we were pulling the rowboat in, and typically the person who was still in the rowboat, if there was anybody still in there, knew to sit down when you pull it up on the boat. How ever if the person thinks that they're gonna get out before you pull it up because they have their new rain boots on that go up to their knees, they don't expect you to pull it until they're out. So here's what happened. We were getting out of the rowboat and the canoe, and Ab was still in the rowboat, and our older brother just gave it this giant pull up onto shore, and she like flew off the back of the rowboat orange feet, her orange rain boot feet in the air. She splashed into the pond. And our much younger brother goes, Oh my gosh, you look just like a flying carrot. Oh my god, and from then on, we called like it was you know, like a oh yeah, we're gonna go in the flying carrot boat, you know, until then the rowboat became the flying carrot. We should have called it like the carrot slinger or something that was I was that flying carrot that got flown out. And then when Liv and Colt pulled me out, like my boots were so full of water, and I was so disappointed because I'm like the rain boots are supposed to have the water on the outside. It was awesome. And I think that is all we have to say on naming your RV tent and other gear. We hope you are inspired to go out and name all your stuff. I mean, it's so much fun. You should even just so you have an insight joke with like your camping buddies or your partner or whatever, because it's awesome. Yes, and by all means, we would love to hear what you're naming your gear. It'll give us some good inspiration for some of our gear, maybe. And if you have any input, takes or opinions on my potential names for my RV, I would love to hear them. So head over to our social media accounts and do that as soon as you're done listening. And that is our show for this week. Thanks for listening to the Camp Mindowinia Podcast. If you want to connect with us, head over to our Facebook group, Camp Mindowinia, or follow us on Instagram at Camp Mindowinia. Take us on Instagram in your camping posts for the chance to be featured on our page. And if you're enjoying the show, please follow us on your favorite podcasting platform, and we'd love it if you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or a comment on Spotify. Join us next Monday for another episode. Bye, guys!