Change is in the Air

Paul and I went camping last weekend.  We’ve owned a Springbar tent for almost twenty years, camped with the kids many times, and still enjoy getting away for a long weekend in the mountains.  There’s something about the clear, crisp mountain air that allows the kind of relaxation that rejuvenates.  Not to mention, of course, the total lack of distraction from technology. J

As we were packing up Tuesday morning to come home, it occurred to me that this may have been my last time tent-camping.  This summer is almost over, and next summer, when we plan to make camping (at least, camp-hosting) our career, the tent will stay in the basement storage - along with the camping box and kitchen box that we have lovingly kept over the years.  Instead, we’ll be pulling a home behind us.

I will miss tent camping.  I will miss waking to an outdoor kitchen and watching the sun rise while the coffee perks merrily on a camp stove.  I will miss bringing that first cup of coffee down to the lake to fish.  I will miss Paul’s gourmet Dutch oven meals.   I will miss the card and dice games inside the tent while the rain which is inevitable in our local mountains splashes in loud dollops on the canvas – but stays outside. 

OK – I can still pour a cup of coffee from the Mr. Coffee in the fifth-wheel and take it fishing.  And no, Paul will not stop cooking in the Dutch oven – I’m sure we can find a fire pit somewhere in camp.  But it won’t be the same.  Some of the changes in retirement will be more difficult to manage than others.

The camping equipment has all been cleaned and prepared for the next trip – just in case.