Posted by Eric Abraham on May 31, 2002 at 13:21:06 from 199.240.138.112 user EricAbraham.
In Reply to: Outdoor Pursuits. posted by Prue Eckett on May 23, 2002 at 20:50:09:
The tent has won out over motels (too boring and expensive), RV's (might as well stay home - for nine years I had a converted school bus and camped in the parking lot in Vail, Colorado for about three summers, and one winter in Virginia when I taught in DC. The bus was very homey.)- and sleeping on the ground (too hard and out in the weather - ever experience a sudden thunderstorm in the sleeping bag on the ground --) - a trailer (you need a hefty tow vehicle and you're back to the RV situation). I've done them all, and the tent has won out (exept for the night the bears were around in Phantom Canyon in Colorado, we did sleep in my monster van).
When I first read Mr. Ransome's stories, I was in Boy Scouts and we did our summer and winter camping trips in Army Surplus pup tents that buttened down the middle (each person had a half tent so you buddied up with someone who was hopefully compatable - I bought two halves, so I had a tent to myself and could go out camping by myself). Since I was an only child, I did lots of things by myself, like camping, enjoying imagining reliving the Swallows and Amazons adventures. I have always thought that the tents on Wild Cat Island would be very practical.
Once on National Guard emcampment at White Sands, NM, several guys dug out the bottom of a similar pup tent so that they could sit up and play cards - these tents weren't very tall, being made to accomodate sleepers, not sit-up card players. It came a sudden downpour in the early morning and they wound up with 18 inches of water in their tent and nowhere to go!
We are at the point in life where most of our contemporaries are camping in monster RVs and driving Lincolns and Cadillacs, here we are in a tiny tent and a tiny '83 Honda (maybe we should call it "Rattletrap"). The spirit of Arthur Ransome lives on! We try to walk softly on the land.
There is something about a tent that seperates one from the elements, but not too much.