Camping in modern times....

[Jeff Lane]

Back when I was young and single, I was a "rough it" type of camper for the most part: way out in off-the-beaten-path places with lots of solitude. Now, with My Lovely Bride and two other city-slicker couples always in tow, it's still tent camping, but in a park full of RV's -- because the wimmen' ain't campin' ceptin' they can walk to a hot shower and a flushing toilet. (And how's this camping, exactly?)

When we land, it looks like a thousand Bedouins have invaded -- we set up a tent for each of three old-people couples, plus three or four (or five) for our grown-up-but-not-married children, plus a 10x20 foot canvas carport with three camp stoves and an assortment of tables, Wal-Mart quality folding camp chairs, Coleman lanterns, tea pots, coffee pots, every other kind of (non-smokeable) pot, and every useless gizmo and gadget ever foisted on a tenderfoot camper in the history of mankind. I kid you not -- it takes us three pickups and a Tahoe just to haul all the gear for a three day "camping" weekend. (Part of that is that as the group's travelling minstrel, I'm required to bring a guitar and a mandolin, while one of the other members of our little clan brings a washboard and ukelele. You think we don't annoy the neighbors at our little RV-hood?)

Still, it's lots of fun being away from the house, and cooking in dutch ovens, and watching the campfire. It ain't camping, but it's surely entertaining. And little in life beats waking up in canvas.