by Ann Scott

Created on: February 03, 2010

One of the greatest outdoor activities, enjoyed by a huge number of Americans, is the activity of camping. There are a number of ways one can enjoy this great activity. Many people camp in tents, enjoying “roughing it”, as opposed to being safe and snug in a nice RV.  My first experience with camping was not even as comfortable as the tent.

Some time after our first child was born, some friends of ours purchased  a small tent.  We had nothing much in the way of luxuries, but we usually did notlet that hinder us from doing things we wanted to do.  One week-end they asked us to go camping at the lake, with them.  Of course, we began to try to plan how we would do it with nothing to camp in.  Finally we came up with the idea that we would not need anything that we could not take with us in our car.

We mulled the idea over and decided to try it, after all, camping out seemed like a fun thing to do. We had a 1960, two-door, Ford automobile. We also had a small, one-year-old son. We decided that the baby could sleep in the front seat and we could both sleep in the back. Now, to understand just what this trip consisted of, one must know the facts. Our friends had two small children, girls, about three and five years old. They were also keeping a foster child, another little girl, about the same age as our son. So there were eight of us together on this trip.

When we arrived at the lake, they set up their tent and got their camp spot ready. We did not have to worry with all that, because our beds were already prepared. Everything went very well that day. We visited; chased our kids; and rested, taking a break from chasing the kids, inside their tent. The children had a great time, and it was a wonderful change of pace from our daily routine.

I do not remember what we ate through the day, but I do know that if any cooking was done, it was done on the outdoor grills that were set up in the park for the use of the campers, and I do not remember using them, either.

At the end of the day, we all prepared our portable homes for our night of repose. We allowed our small son to sleep in the front seat of the car, and we each slept in the back seat. Needless to say, we did very little sleeping. Do you know how hard it is to sleep sitting up? You twist and turn, trying to find a comfortable position, and search for a way to stretch out and relax. There is no way!

I suppose we did get a few hours of sleep, but it sure was not pleasant.

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