by Rex Trulove

Created on: July 22, 2007

Before I say whether I think that I'm "roughing" it when camping, let me relate my first experiences with camping. My opinions will then make much more sense.

I grew up in a national park, where I was already out in the wilderness. One weekend out of every two, we'd go camping...tightly regulated, with my father and mother in the camper, and us kids sleeping on the ground in our sleeping bags, under the stars as it were.

It was my brother who taught me the meaning of "roughing it". He took me camping several times with next to nothing, and taught me how to make something out of that nothing. We'd bring the necessary staples for food, but if we wanted to eat well, we had to catch or shoot something to sweeten the pot. Our bedding was adequate only so long as it didn't get cold, and we often when camping on a snow field with 20 feet of snow beneath us, so we had to learn to adapt and find ways to stay warm. For us at the time, this was roughing it.

Now I'm over 4 decades older. I could not do many of the things I did in my youth. But I still sleep in a tent when I'm camping. As a concession, I sleep on an air bed. I bring everything with me that I'm likely to want to eat, and figure on 6 days worth of food for a 3 day trip. I bring plenty of clothing and bedding. But for my age, I feel that I am still roughing it. I am not using age as an excuse, but to rough it is to do without, and that is what we do.

Different people may see "roughing it" in totally different ways. To some, going several days without a daily hot shower is roughing it. To others, going out with nothing at all will be roughing it. I can accept both of these philosophies. One thing that I can't accept, and this actually happened, is to have someone pull in, in a huge Winibago, complete with a TV and satellite receiver, and spend 90% of their time in their man-made and air conditioned 'haven', and to have them call it roughing it. Perhaps for someone making more than a Mill a year, that might qualify (to them) as roughing it, but they know neither the pleasures or joys of doing it the real way.

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