What Is It About Camping, Anyway?

These guys look like they are having fun, don't they?

I just don't get it

Why do people find it "fun" to pack up a ton of equipment (tent, trailer, sleeping bags, food, bug spray, bear rifle, tarps, stove, lanterns, fuel, flashlights, batteries, books, games, toys, bikes, beer, boats, rain gear...and more), only to find some spot in the woods or at the shore or in the mountains to unpack it all and sit around?

Many years ago, our grandparents and great-grandparents (and probably great-great-grandparents), spent much of their daily lives trying to get us farther and farther away from "camping". It wasn't called "Little Tent on the Prairie". No one aspired to "move up" to that new four room canvas model farther away from the mosquito breeding pond. Well, maybe farther from there, but I'm trying to make a point....

They (and we) wanted a house.

A HOUSE! Preferably one in a good neighborhood with good access to services like DELIVERY PIZZA and a good dry cleaner. And, if we are lucky, a housekeeper, a gardener and a cook. No chauffeur, though, I LIKE to drive (but I wouldn't mind a car butler to wash/wax/vacuum my toys :)

(We do not, as far as I know, aspire to beat our clothes on rocks in the nearby stream to clean them either). In fact, a washer and dryer are high on the list of wants...as are refrigerators, dish washers and television. OH! And indoor plumbing...and lights...and heat! What the heck?

Why, then, do people find it FUN! and RESTFUL! to go out into the woods with whatever stuff they can pack into the SUV and spend their time living without these things?

It's not fun or restful...it's going backwards...your grandpa would be shaking his head and saying something about spending all that time working when he could have been playing if all you really wanted was a TENT!

Now there are those folks that will yell and scream that they go camping to get "back to nature" or to see beautiful areas of the country...OK...but can't you get that by going to the lodge and enjoying room service while sitting on your own little deck with a glass of wine and a whole building full of people that want nothing more than to do whatever you need done? OK...no room service...now THAT'S camping! LOL.

There are also those folks that become what we call "camp contractors". They take it all with them and just set it up wherever the hell they land. Case in point...the camping bar...(it's real, but currently out of stock/unavailable through amazon.com here (sorry contractors - you know who you are!)



I guess if you get dragged out into the "wild" you might as well get blotto while you are there. Nothing makes the cold, hard ground (when all the air has gone out of your pretty little air mattress) feel better than a margarita induced bout of amnesia (your bones remember, but your brain doesn't...LOL).

And, I guess, some people just don't have time to go home...so I can see needing to sleep...



BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

OK...so here's the deal...camp if you want...but remember that my idea of camping is the Hyatt (Regency) without room service. If there's one near where you are camping, I'll come along...if not, enjoy the bugs and the bumps and smoke in your eyes, and I'll be waiting at home with a nice margarita for you when you come to your senses and head on home.

Seriously, just call my cell.

M&G