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This time 35 years ago we were gathering up supplies for our very first camping trip - tent, sleeping bags, Coleman stove, lantern, pots and pans.
We have camped out over the years in many different ways - tents, a truck camper, motorhomes, and a travel trailer. They keep getting bigger and harder to fit into campsites and less like real camping.
Now we find ourselves once again looking at tent camping, so once again we are gathering up supplies - tent, sleeping bags, Coleman stove, lantern, pots and pans. There is not much left from our first camping trip, so far we have only found our original Coleman stove and one sleeping bag.
We got a new tent, it is very different from our first one. The new one is nylon and lightweight versus the old heavy canvas one. But the biggest difference is the poles. The new poles are small, fiberglass, and interconnected with elastic cord. The old ones were of course bigger and aluminum, and who can forget that sound of clanging tent poles echoing through the campground…
Our new tent is pitched in the back yard, and has been there for a few days. We waterproofed the seams as suggested, and let it stay out in the thunderstorm Saturday night. Of course there are a few puddles inside, but what else is new!
Our first camping trip was on our honeymoon 'cross country. We traveled west from Georgia, across the Mississippi River, drove through miles and days of corn in Kansas, and finally arrived at our destination, the Colorado Rockies, just in time for the gas shortage in the summer of '73. We took our place in the long lines at the gas stations in Denver, the gas being rationed out on even/odd days according to your license plate number.
We have come full circle in the 35 years we have been married, it is all so different, yet all so very much the same.
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