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Camping out ended where it started

From the reporter's notebook

When we lived in Nampa, Idaho, we got the urge to go camping. So we had to pick a place to camp and get a ton of costly gear.

We always liked the mountains, so we drove north of Boise to a place called Lowman. It was a place, not a town.

There was a meadow there with a small stream running through it. This was when you could camp most anywhere.

So we picked our spot and started laying in some gear.

The first thing was a tent. We purchased an umbrella tent that had a pole in the middle. It was pretty good size because at the time we had three children.

Next were five sleeping bags, designed to keep you warm since it got pretty cold in the mountains in early morn.

Then we had to get blow-up mattresses so you could be comfortable. We had pillows and extra blankets so we were nearly fixed.

The salesman said we would need a stove and a lantern. He sold us a can of gas and spent some time showing us how all this worked. All I could see was how much all of this was going to cost.

This all had to fit into our older car.

So, our first camping day came. Since we knew where to go, we left after work on Friday.

It was a good thing that I could get the lantern going because a lot of things had to be done as it was getting dark.

We learned the hard way that you should never challenge late evening in the woods.

We repeated the camping trip a couple of weeks later allowing plenty of time to set up camp. We had to blow up mattresses and lay out the sleeping bags.

Fixing food in the woods was another experience.

This went on until our tent was too small for our growing family. Then it just ended. Our first camping location turned out to be our last. That’s when we discovered motels and how much appreciated a shower could be.

We vacationed in the mountains a lot in future years, but those camping days with a tent were over.

 
 

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