Tenting tonight

[Grandpa Ron]

Though age has driven me to an RV for most of my travels. I still find time every year for a few 18th century reenactments. Canvas, candle lanterns and sounds of the night are rare treat indeed.

I may have posted this before, but I came across it while filing photos and it still brings pleasant memories.

 

[smoke665]

My last "tent" experience was 10 yrs ago. Took my two adult sons deer hunting. The temperature was hovering in the high teens. I made the mistake of making camp chili the first night, that combined with the beverages made sleeping in a tent with them challenging. I also found out there is no gray area on a sleeping bag rating. If it's good to 20 and the temperature is 19 you'll freeze you $$$ off. Then around 3am a wandering band of coyotes came into camp, made a short night for me. We hunted the day then headed home that night. Despite the trials the boys still talk about the trip, but I haven't camped in a tent since.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Everyone who tent camps has stories. My wife and I canoed and camped every other year in northern MN with the grandkids, from before they we 1 year old to into their mid-teens. Our family were 18th century reenactors also.

You are correct, the kids always remember the rain, wind, and the portages, but they also talk about the fishing, sightseeing and adventure.

 

[smoke665]

@Grandpa Ron in our younger prekids days we did a lot of canoe trips down the Jacks Fork and Current River in the Ozarks. No tent, just a light sleeping bag. We'd pull up on a gravel bar when it started getting dark, and sleep under the stars. One night we got caught in a horrible storm...... thunder, lightning, hail all around us, and we're huddled under overturned aluminum canoes watching the water level rise around us. Fortunately we survived, but DW adamantly refused to ever do it again.