My post today about our trip will describe what my sister, daughter and I brought to eat, what we drove to get there, and how we slept...you will see how all factors describe who we are!
My daughter arrived in a white Toyota Camry, newer model, loaded with good camping gear - a tent, chairs, bedrolls and pads, camping stove and lantern, and heating unit for warmth. That's my oldest daughter and her husband in the photo above.
My sister camped in their camper van, loaded with microwave, stove, refrigerator, complete bathroom, living and dining space and two full beds, about $60,000 worth of careful comfort, with everything in it's place, everything clean and orderly.
I inched out of an ole Dodge Caravan, motor rebuilt, with fish and bird decals circling it's girth. It is dusty and loaded too, with foam mattresses in a wire mesh sack inside the canoe, which was strapped on top. Four bins contained bedding and pillows, two bins contained food and pots n' pans, there were a couple chairs, and a duffel-bag apiece for clothing.
Now food was complex - I told everyone to bring their own, with a little to share. So my daughter brought all 'organic' - avacado, exotic grains (quinola?), veggies, mango juice. Her tastes run the exotic, the Seattle 'elitist' crowd. They are tea drinkers using stainless steel capped mugs.
My sister brought homemade lentil soup, a large assortment of garden vegetables (squashes, tomatoes, green beans), and a fantastic morning omlette of eggs-feta cheese-spinach-with sour cream seasoned with powdered ranch dressing. Her taste is economic, from scratch, elegant and wholesome. Her beverage is 'pressed' coffee, served in stainless steel mugs.
I brought quick-cooking foods, instant snacks - meals served in seconds for hungry campers - fried chicken, homemade cinnamon rolls, prepared stir-fry, and hamburgers and hot-dogs. My food was served while others were busy preparing the rest. I always served coffee with Coffee Mate and Sugar, brewed with cone paper filters, and served in those paper espresso cups with lids, that keep it super warm.
Next, 'how the ladies slept' - my oldest daughter with all the fancy gear, froze the first night. Ruhiyyih gave her a better sleeping bag, and that helped, except, she said her nose froze the second night. So I told her to bury her head in the down sleeping bag, and I'd get her a big Telfa Pad to lay across her nose. If that wouldn't work I had a wad of lamb's wool. But, that was not all, this older daughter also was bothered by neighbors who were partying until 2:00 a.m., so she walked over then, and bemoaned her sleepless plight. They complied and she woke up the next morning very sleep-deprived, without any resolve to continue - we had to convince her sleep deprived people make poor decisions.
My sister, in the van, was bothered by bug-sprayers that did their rounds about midnight, so she worried about me in a tent. That led to a nightmare in which she thought two men were dragging me out of my tent. She sat bolt upright, and growled, "Put her down or you'll be eating a bullet!!"
Then, there was me....I got just what I wanted: a clear starry night, coyotes howling, a bright moon. I sat in the doorway of my tent several times, unable to relinguish the view, and slept soundly after that. When Ruhiyyih said that George snored, and kept her awake, I said, "Are you sure? I didn't hear a thing!"
