Camping....

Camping...

This is totally not serious...in fact, I have been chuckling since one of my grandsons picked out the "how-to" camping book written by the late Patrick McManus. I picked it up to put away later and couldn't help but scan a couple of his antidotes...oh, my...

What memories that my mind meandered into...

Camping for our family didn't really start until we moved from central California to the redwoods at the north end of the state...

I distinctly remember the first trip...(no one can argue with me as my parents have both passed away and I am an only child)...

Some generous person had given my parents a large canvas tent which was held up by a center post then umbrellaed out...the canvas was coated with wax and it had a very distinct odor, which I can still remember 60 years later...we had not clue how it went up and it was so heavy it took all three of us to get it into and out of the pickup...but here we were...we laid it out in the square shape it seemed to make, found the door hole and sent my father into it with the center pole...he gingerly lifted it up and then danced around trying to get it to stand, at which point my mom decided it wasn't in the right area of the camp site...so we had to start all over...by this time my dad was a little frustrated with us and we were all laughing so hard, we were crying...

It finally took shape and we were able to use it several years until it went to the Salvation Army when my parents moved...it served its purpose well..Never easy to put and never got lighter...plus, there was always the center pole dance...

Our camping drill each summer for several summers was the dads, my uncles and dad, would take us to the campsites, set us up...they would usually be working during the week....leave the wives and kids at camp...we, the kids and mothers would spend two weeks camping...
We would spend most of the day at the nearby river, playing in the water, reading, laying in the sun-lathered in anything we thought would give the best tan(burn, in my case, spf hadn't been invented yet), (for which we are all paying for now)...

I don't know how relaxing it was for our mothers, but we kids had a lot of fun, going on  daily ranger walks, playing hide and seek in the woods, meeting other kids from different areas, sing a longs at night with the Rangers ...some'ores over the campfires...dirt, leaves, laundry...and poison oak...as well as bugs and spiders of all kinds...
By the end of the two weeks, we were bedraggled, dirty and well burned, begging to stay, but ready to leave as well...I am sure our mothers were yearning for a real bed to sleep in, clean clothes, and some privacy...so all was piled back into our cars or pickups haphazardly to be cleaned once we got home...

Our beds were old army wood and canvas cots...stretched tight on the ends with the cross bar that had to pulled until your arms ached. Then we put our piles of blankets or if we were lucky, a real sleeping bag and pillow...we kept our clothes under our bedding, not wanting to put it too close to the waxy tent canvas or in the forever dirty floor. I remember part of my chores was to sweep out the tent everyday...where had all the dirt come from, I mused each time...

Food always included tacos, as well as some grilling, fresh corn from some nearby farm, bacon and pancakes in the mornings...that smell of bacon always brought out the song from my dad, "can you smell that bacon frying, just a sizzling in the pan" as he whistled or sang through the campsite...

Air mattresses were a necessity.   They were the vertical lumpy ones we each had to blow up without a pump...and there always seemed to be ones with the inevitable hole somewhere on its surface...we used them to soften the canvas cots and to float on in the water(dual purpose, of course)
On the cots, when they were flat, it was usually morning...on the water, it was time to get out...
One such mattress was taken on a trip to "lake of the woods " in Oregon one year...my dad had blown his up and was eagerly waiting to float in the sunshine in the peaceful lake...he got himself situated, floating peacefully and the next thing we knew he was flailing away, the dog was paddling back to shore...my dad was straddling the mattress paddling furiously trying to reach shore as well as the mattress  quickly flattened...well so much for that one as it was discarded into the nearby trash can..

When I look at our modern trailers, fold out tents, ultra light camping gear that my children and grandchildren now require, I am pleased...they, too, are making those lifelong memories that they will tell about in the future as well. Some tales will similar...and others, quite their own with laughter and musings...
Still  other children and grandchildren will have totally different adventures to regain their families with...each unique to their lifestyle ...thank YOU that You are with us through our lives, through the good and bad, the thick and thin, the short and long times...You are there throughout all generations...

May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors.
1 Kings 8:57-58

Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.
Psalm 71:17-18