Somebody going camping got me thinking...
When I was in high school we didn't camp much in the Summertime because of way too many snakes and mosquitos to make it fun. Winter in South Louisiana is really not too severe and allow for good camping weather.
I'd take my shotgun, ammo, a canvas tarp (maybe a sleeping bag in dry weather) and of course fire starters (matches in waterproof container and a candle). Fires were difficult at times because everything is always wet down there and before you make a fire you had to find some "land". Usually a big oak tree would provide some "land" and the only trouble with a tiny island in a swamp, was that most everything else with a foot or belly was already there. But, in winter there weren't that many residents that weren't edible.
Of course I was in school (or college) and my trips were only one or two nights. I was tired but nothing beyond normal or that could not be cured with an afternoon nap.
Fast forward 45 years...
Camping. Truck, Tent to sleep in, Tent to keep stuff from the back of the truck in, air mattress, generator to run coffee pot and more importantly the CPAP machine. Food, lots of food and water, Warm clothes, funnel with tubing to run through hole in the tent to pee fifteen times a night without going outside. Cell phone, extra cell phone....
Spend three hours setting up camp, spend three hours resting from setting up camp, spend three hours cooking and eating food, fixing coffee pot for the morning, and cleaning up, sit by camp fire for three hours, toss and turn for most of the night while intermittently peeing in funnel. Fall asleep exhausted at 4 am. Wake up at 8 AM to watch the sunrise (sunrise was at 7 AM) and drink coffee while trying to decide whether to break camp or just leave it all there. Break camp and drive home. Wife asks, "Did you have fun?" Of course I had fun.
Alan
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