Camping

Over the weekend, at the request of Master L, we went
camping. I haven't camped since I was four, so that
should give you an idea of my vast camping knowledge.

This was only the second time Mrs. L and I set up the
tent. Here is our humble abode:



Note the Dunkin' Donuts coffee - a sure sign that we were
"roughin' it in the great outdoors" !

A view from the tent:



Mrs. L relaxes and surveys the neighbours.


Later that night, it poured rain. And I mean POURED. And, since
we are camping novices, we hadn't correctly secured the "fly",
or tarp, that goes over the tent. Sure enough, we had some
flooding. We also learned that if you touch any part of the ceiling,
it instantly creates a pathway through the fibres for water to
come in. I felt a little better in the morning when I found out
that almost everyone around us had taken on water - even the
"veteran" campers. Later, we found a message (left during the
torrent) from my sister-in-law on the cell phone - "If
this hard rain is falling there too, don't touch the walls or the
ceiling, or the water will come right in!"

Um . . . too late. But we'll know next time.

Oh, and that's another thing. Does it seem right that
campers were hiking up the mountain while talking on
their cell phones?!? Isn't that sort of the opposite of
the idea of camping? "The Great Outdoors - now
with electronic tethers!"

So, a little flooding, a lot of aches and pains from hiking
and setting up the tent . . . still, it's good to get away from
what's going on in the world, right?

Ah, but it finds YOU. An incoming Blackhawk helicopter:


Yep, landed right in the campground. As you can see,
the natives swarmed it in case it was an enemy
combatant:



You never know - some "terrst" could have hot-wired the thing
and decided to take out the squirrels. But no. Crisis averted!

I'm not sure I'll ever be a true camper. Our stuff still hasn't
dried out - so, now at least I know why all camping gear
smells of mildew. . . the camper's aphrodisiac!