Last spring, I had to be bribed to get excited about camping. Which is totally uncharacteristic. Kinda like a kid dreading Christmas. Yeah, so you know how weird it is. I'm usually the geeky cheerleader dad, you know the one who wears a fishing vest, and Bermuda shorts with a lantern tied to their belt, while chanting "who wants to go camping with me?". I still don't know why everyone scatters like cockroaches when a light is turned on. Not that I'm saying my family are cockroaches, by any means! Am I digging myself a bigger hole? Oh dear!
Or, maybe last year, my sub-conscience knew what calamities would befall us on our first outing. Ummmm, like my all-to-simple brain could figure that out...please!! Or maybe I just had a 2011 post-camping season depression hangover. Or, maybe it is one of those universal mysteries that just can't be explained. Which happens all too often with me.
Whatever the reason, when this spring rolled around I was ready. Even possibly excited. And this year, I know exactly why. Many hours of deep introspection and meditation revealed it to me. Ok, so I embellished the severity of my concentration. It really only took me a few moments to determine why. There were 3 quite specific reasons.
First, is that we purchased the fantastic tow vehicle (ok, confession time...fantastic to me) last year after our disaster with the Astro Van, so I did not need to worry about it falling apart. My beloved Toyota FJ Cruiser. That in and of itself is a big relief. No more holding the old van together with duck tape, rubber bands, bubble gum and a prayer. Try to convince me not to smile about that! Granted, we are back to "Dad! He's on my side of the seat!" "Am not! Mom, tell her to stop annoying me!" But still, it beats the uncertainty of not knowing if we will be blowed apart when the engine decides it has had enough of us.
Then, we had an acquaintance of ours buy their first trailer, and asked for tips to get them going. Now, them asking that was akin to asking a dog if it would like a bone to chew on. I lept at the chance and I think in the process, it got me raring to go. It inspired me to clean the Casita out before they came over to get pointers, wash and wax it, vacuum the ceiling and remove 6 years of dust collection from the fantastic fan. I also begged my wife to quiz me on all aspects of camping if for no other reason than to not look stupid. Because I might be a few ingredients short of the entire cake, but I do NOT like it being too obvious, that's for sure. "Before leaving, do you make sure you have your wife or your children, or both, or do you even care?", "Should you open both the black and the gray valves at the same time?", "Is it necessary to block the wheels if the trailer is on a downhill slant?" and many more thought-provoking questions.
The third and final reason I think I was a bit more jazzed this year than last was that we were going on a long cross country trip. Nothing makes me happier than a trip, aka "National Lampoon's Vacation", or "RV". Oh, except they had misery, while we would have no such thing. We would have sunshine and soft breezes wafting past our smiling faces for 4000 miles. Plus, we were taking our 2 Boston Terriers. Nothing spells a positive mental attitude like mangy mutts!
No, 2013 is going to be different...better...stay tuned.
