I will admit that when it comes to camping I will probably never be organized. I grew up in a family whose idea of camping was renting a cabin by the lake. I would occasionally go camping with friend’s families and be so impressed with all the gadgets they would bring along - something to make toast on the camp stove, enough tarps to cover a small city, and tents that you could actually walk around in. They would have everything covered. On the couple of occassions I had been camping, we would always forget something. Our brains just don’t seem to be programmed to the necessities of camping. No, you will not have running water necessarily, nor will you have flat ground to set up the tent, and you will also require some things to keep you entertained, such as cards, bikes, things for floating in the water.
So this past long weekend, guess what we decided to do at the last minute - that’s right, go camping. Well, our first hurdle was that the only camping equipment we own is a tent. A brand new, never-been-out-of-the-box tent (even if it is 4 years old). The next dilemma is that we drive a MINI Cooper. There is not a tonne of space for extras, but we managed. Our compromise being that we would simply only eat out; therefor, we required no camp stove, no utensils, no cooler, etc. That would have been fine except there really were no restaurants or places to eat close by. And the local “grocery shop” was a place I would never even let my dog (if I owned one) near. So we had to trek back for 40 miles each way for food. Not overly convenient.
While setting up our tent, we encountered dive-bombing flies. Now, we have had record breaking temperatures up here in BC and Washington. These flies were sleepy flies. We almost decided to pack up right then and there. Instead, we calmed down in our air-conditioned vehicle and headed out for some food. Fully realizing that we are probably not camping people. The fact that you are more excited to check out the local, dinky town’s fast food assortment is a bad sign. But when we got back a couple hours later, the flies had gone away with the sun and all was good. I highly doubt we will ever camp again, and if we do, can someone please remind us that we’re just not good campers?
Here’s a list of camping essentials for those of you who are the camping type: http://www.gonewengland.org/campgear.htm.
Signing off from the comfort of my home office, with a soy latte in hand.
