Camping I’m discovering is an art form. One that with experience I’m learning to navigate joyfully. I have discovered a hardiness to campers. Oh, I’m not talking about the big RV kind of camper, where people have taken all the home conveniences with them…no, I’m talking about the tent and pop-up people who get challenged now and then by the conditions! Too cold, too hot, too wet, too windy but mostly too cold…goose-bump cold…toes crying for help cold…those are the campers I am talking about! I am enjoying not being in my comfort zone, stepping away from routine and seeing and experiencing so many new and wonderful things.
First, I am in awe to discover so much of our country is desert or mountainous and those living there face challenges that many of us in the metropolitan areas take for granted. I can go shopping 2 miles down the road…these people have to travel great distances often over an hour away just to stock simple food items. Water that comes from a faucet, without thought to many of us (unless you have a well then you tend to be more keenly aware of what is going on), but all the same the convenience of just turning on that faucet to cook or shower…for many that we have seen out west it is an ordeal making water something you don’t take for granted. In the mountains, we saw signs for winter preparation encouraging the locals to fill out forms to place their order for case-lots of goods to have in store for the long enduring winters. Men, paying $20 for 4 cords of wood that he could pluck from the National Forest to enable warmth for his home in the winter. Hardy men and women…strong stock…tough…I am completely in awe of their hardiness in living everyday life.
Another thing we noticed is that not many local newspapers carry much about politics. It is mostly news about townspeople or the local municipalities. It struck me as we noticed the lack of national news, that this is what Newspapers use to be. Papers touting what the local community people did along with the local municipalities activities. These are the events that have an effect on everyday lives. I do a lot of old newspaper research for my family history projects and have commented before that newspapers of old were basic gossip rags. Maybe if they went back to more of that they would sell more newspapers.
The biggest thing I have seen in my travels is that all campgrounds are not equal. When one camps the way David and I are camping, clean showers and bathrooms are the most important. Laundry is a luxury and we look for that when we need to do laundry but for the most part, it is the bathroom situation. We have stayed at National Parks and State Parks (more often than not they are cheaper than privately owned ones) and find they are often cleaner in the shower and bathroom area than some of the paid-for camps we stayed at. Just saying to the campsite owners of the world out there, if you want repeat business then clean up your act. I know people can be slobs but if you provide a respectable facility people would take better care of it….(I would hope!)
Other things I have learned while camping is to try not to forget your underwear when you go to the showers. The first couple of times I did this, really caught me off guard. What do I do? Now I keep a pair in my shower bag, just in case. I’ve been good, this last pair I put in the bag has been there for two weeks. I am getting better. (Note: this morning I forgot my underwear. That will teach me to feel too cocky. That being said I still could not use the pair in my shower bag because they had gotten wet from my body wash bag…go figure!)
I also need to remember to take a good towel for drying off and one to stand on once you are done in the shower. With showers not all equal, most all showers throw as much water outside the shower stall as in, so finding a dry spot on the floor can be impossible…besides some of the floors were not something you wanted to put your clean wet feet on anyway!
I have discovered also that I have a balance problem. Standing on one foot, with nothing to lean against (at least nothing I wanted to put my naked body up against), trying to put my one foot inside a pant leg and not let that pant leg touch the wet floor is challenging to this 70-year-old. I must say though, after 3 weeks of practice I am getting better! I have learned a new one-foot dance in the process!
The latest lesson to come our way is that if you choose to camp in the desert, watch where you walk. Last night as I returned from the bathroom I was suddenly in crazy pain with something sticking in my feet. Apparently, in walking across the lawn I was unaware of this weed with tiny little sharp stickers that immediately stuck to my shoe top and bottom, pant legs and anything else it managed to touch. I’m still finding remnants on the rug with my bare feet!
There are many joys too in this camping arena…like right now sitting here typing this, the neighbor to us is serenading the space with his guitar and singing…a wonderful thing!
With the road trip not finished yet, I am sure there are more lessons to learn, but the greatest is to let go, be flexible, not take life too seriously and have fun!
9/21/2017
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