Tent Camping

Thank you Mr. Coleman!

I once watched a History Channel program on American camping along with the history of the American love affair with the automobile. Mr. Coleman invented the campstove, and the propane lantern. Since then his logo is widespread over America, and most of my camping equipment, including the 10 x 17 foot tent that holds two large Coleman air mattresses and a portable crib.

Kai's first nap in a tent!

Last weekend we went to our favorite campground, Tumwater Canyon. Located on Hwy 2 in the North Cascades, east of Stevens Pass. Our daughter Faith and her children started camping here with me 9 years ago. This year we included their new family member, Kai.

Isaiah was just about 4 when we started camping, now at almost 13 he was so much help, from putting up the tent to blowing up the mattresses! I heard Faith exclaim at one point, "Oh, I love having big kids with a baby around!" Either Elisabeth or Isaiah were there to watch Kai while the other helped with our camping tasks.

A Fine and Pleasant Misery **
Camping is a pastime which takes all the usual chores or living at home outdoors, and increases the challenges of everyday life by adding insects, dirt, threat of rain, subtracting indoor plumbing and electricity.

There is no question about it! Our generation has gotten soft! In fact, when we walked to the bathroom, or scavenged firewood. We thought we were at the RV show! Hugh trailers, 5th wheels almost as big as the one we call home, charming tent trailers, and motorhomes of all makes and sizes.

Only the backpackers, which we once were, work harder than the tent camper. Backpackers prove how little you need to survive in the wilderness, because they have to carry it all on their backs. Car campers see how much they can cram into their pick-up!

The trick to a successful tent camping experience is preparedness. As Louis Pasteur once said, "Camping favors the prepared"*. Murphy's law assures us that if we are overly prepared we will only need half of what we bring, but if we leave anything out, that will be the one indispensible item.

But hey, whatever you should have brought is never forgotten again.

The campfire

The first thing I did in the morning was build the fire, and the last thing at night was to stir the ashes and spread the coals far apart and make sure they go out. A fire starts best for me if I use scavenged wood partly burned covered in candle wax. I drug Isaiah all over the empty campsites digging through the undergrowth looking for free fire wood.

The campfire is used for roasting hotdogs, marshmallows and toast, frying bacon and eggs,grilling tortillas and keeping water hot for coffee, hot chocolate and washing dishes, babies and dirty feet before bedtime.

Still it exceeds a one star hotel in Mexico (costs the same and feels cleaner)

Over the years Eddie and Jay have not been able to join us on our Tumwater trips, so we go alone with the kids. When two women camp together as Faith and I have over the years, camping involves so much work. We put up a tent, pump up air mattresses, put up tarps to prevent rain (Murphy's Law), gather wood, build fires cook meals, wash dishes, wash kids. I can understand why any woman would think we were crazy to look so forward to camping.

But camping was a gift my father gave me, and a gift Eddie and I gave to our kids. Besides the work, we also play by the river, explore, play in the dirt and relax in the beautiful northwest wilderness.... and of course, again, there is the wonder of looking into the campfire, watching the coals dance and glow, and listening to the sound of the river at night.

Camping builds memories, and traditions which some say are the result of shared suffering and meeting unique challenges. Miseries that none of us would relish, like cooking my special ham, potatoes, cheese and eggs in the pouring rain, or waking up in the middle of the night surrounded by water, practically floating on your air mattress, can be tolerable if you can spend one night around the fire making smores, or experience the family content, away from television or electronic devices.

Isaiah and Elisabeth eating MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), military field rations, issued years ago which Grandpa found in his stuff), probably the same issue that their mom and uncles ate when they were kids.

Walking to the bathroom in the dark with my dying flashlight, I looked up into the Milky Way and I remembered why I love this place. I have always said that "any night spent in a tent was better than a night spent anywhere else". There is nothing as cozy as a warm sleeping bag on a cold morning, unless the air mattress has gone flat in the night.

Elisabeth beating me at backgammon by Chiwaukum Creek

Well, some of you understand and are agreeing with me heartily, the rest are shaking their heads, especially those of you who told me that your idea of camping was a 3 star hotel.

Staying at Tumwater puts you about 20 minutes away from the lovely Bavarian village of Leavenworth

One last glance at baby cuteness!

Well, as I close, I will tell you that Eddie and I will be leaving Washington is less than 2 weeks. We have a lot of planning and preparing to do. We head for Mexico and expect to arrive in Oaxaca by October 10th or 11th. But before that....

I will be on a 10 day tour of Spain with my father, while Eddie housesits in Palm Springs. If any of you have any unused Euros laying around, you are welcome to donate them to my spending money fund for Spain. You can send them to me at P.O. Box 1946, Mount Vernon, WA 98273, by September 16th.....I would be ecstatic to receive them!

P.S. Did you know that Eddie and I sleep in a tent when we are up in the mountains in El Mosco?

*Actually, Pasteur said that "Luck favors the prepared mind", so he could have been talking about camping.....or germ theory.
**A Fine and Pleasant Misery is a wonderful, humorous book by Pat McManus