The Taj III

For Christmas, Santa brought me a new tent. The Taj III. A Taj Mahal made for 3 people. Or two people and some gear. Or a tent palace for just me. One that (hopefully) doesn’t leak at all, much less through every single part of the tent. Before leaving to return to my small Portland apartment, my dad suggested we practice setting it up in the basement.

Tent makers have gotten smarter and now print the directions right on the bag. No more excuses that you used the directions to start a fire last time and now you can’t remember how to set up your tent (I’m not even making that story up). However step one was to stake down the tent if it was windy out. I licked my finger, stuck it up in the air and just as I suspected, no wind in the basement. So I quit reading step one and moved to step two. Do you remember those tests that said “read all questions before beginning,” and of course the last question/direction was to sign your name, and don’t answer any of the questions? Yeah, I always sucked at that one too. And the directions didn’t make sense to me (of course I’d missed half of step one). So like I do with most of my life, I figured I’d do it my own way.

It wasn’t until my dad stopped even attempting to help me that I realized maybe we should look at the directions again. Since he is clearly smarter than I am, I made him read them. They made more sense coming from him than from the bag for some reason. Eventually we successfully set up the tent in the basement, rain fly and all.

Having successfully set up my tent once, I am ready to go camping! Unfortunately the high temperature is about 40 (F) and it’s been raining an awful lot. While my tent may not leak, I rarely choose to camp in the rain. So I did the next best thing and emailed all my friends to set up a weekend to go camping this summer.

Since I am the only person in my crew of friends to have grown up in the country, it’s my responsibility to get these city folks in the outdoors every now and then. We’ve gone at least three times now and every year I try and introduce new people. This year I think I’ve talked one of my favorite friends into going camping for the first time. Her stipulations were a shower and a Starbucks nearby. The shower isn’t a problem. The chai tea latte she prefers may be trickier. I’ve told her it’s a done deal, even though it’s a bit of a trek to the Starbucks. No worries though, my friend Jake usually brings his latte machine and generator to run it.

I told you, these are city folks. Latte machines are a necessity of camping for them. And to be completely honest, I’ve never turned down the freshly made Americano over cowboy coffee when I go with them. Or the shower. The first year I pulled out my hatchet and no one could figure out why I’d brought an axe camping. Last year, someone brought dura-flame logs to start the fire. And then proceeded to up-wrap them and be stumped about how to get them lit.

While my friends may not be Montana camping trained, the best thing about them is they always try. They continue to humor me year after year with a camping trip. They always sign on to come along, have fun and make a memorable experience. We’ve camped in the rain and sunshine together. Played line tag in the sand dunes, sat on the beach looking at the stars, gone swimming in the rain, and laughed around the campfire. They may not be experienced lifelong campers, but we always manage to have a heck of a good time.