My friends Ed and Adam are both fair weather campers. This weekend’s camping trip (which I was not a part of because of house renovations) has been canceled due to 100% chance of rain on Saturday morning.
My point of saying this isn’t to rattle the cage too much, it’s more to talk about the unknown (or known) and how challenges are sometimes the thing we remember and appreciate most in life. I won’t lie: The idea of a dreary Saturday searching for wood while I get poured on isn’t the most attractive idea ever. Yet, with the right outlook, it might end up being one of the most rewarding things you could end up doing. Out of all the adventures I’ve taken, it’s the ones with some kind of adversity that I remember best. It really makes you appreciate when everything is “just right.” It brings a little sense and modesty to an individual.
Some of my trips have been relaxing and smooth. Others, not so much. That’s just the gamble you take. But regardless of what is given, I hope I can continue to appreciate and take the opportunities that are given.
All that to say, once I’m done my home renovations and I plan a trip, you two aren’t getting off so lightly. Have fun this weekend, come help me with my house if you get bored, and definitely make sure to invite me along next trip.
Hey Jason, I have a American Heart Association Walk in the morning on Saturday but would love to stop by and see how the place is coming along and help out if I can. Give me a call, Stranger!!!
I agree one needs a bit of adversity on one’s outdoor trips. As it tests you and makes you appreciate the many conveniences we take for granted each day. Camping and hiking in the rain is most comfortable if you have the right gear and practice layering. Having a set of clothing for the day and another for the evening/time around the fire is usually a wise decision. Keep me in mind next time you plan an adventure. It would be cool to see the Snow & Neally in action.
I’m with Adam and Ed on this one. I agree with some of what you’re saying — some of my most vivid memories of camping trips decades ago are those where our tent is getting buried in snow and we end up sleeping in the car (good thing we weren’t backpacking that time!), or the hot summer night in the Adirondacks where the rain was so heavy it would have collapsed the cabin tent if not for my periodic naked sprints around the perimeter to shore up the supports and pour the excess water off the top (canvas is not the best material for cabin tents!).
There are memories shared and smiled over later, adversities overcome and all that, but in each case, the circumstances crept up and surprised us. If I’d known ahead of time what the conditions would be, I’d have rescheduled if at all possible.
To each his own, and it’s certainly true that some folks are more suited to foul weather than others… but there’s a reason they call it foul, and when there’s gonna be rain falling down for sure, I like to be snug inside a nice warm house, reading a book and listening to the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof (or maybe working on renovating my son’s house…)
Boo fair-weather campers! Adversity makes the world go ’round. On the other hand, camping in nasty weather sounds much better afterwards. Proper adversity cannot be planned!
“Proper adversity cannot be planned!”
Well said!!
I would say it to do with how you view adversity. It can provide you with an opportunity to learn and explore beyond your comfort zone. This is the premise of experiental education. At the same time you have to have a feel for when an adverse situation is a dangerous situation in disguise. I think this might be what experience, age and wisdom are all about.
Geesh! Help a guy out on his house instead of camping… and then get ripped on the front page of his website. Not cool!
Hah, you knew I made this post well before you helped me on Saturday
Just curious, what did you guys do on the house?
Damn!!! Calling me out like I am scared of bad weather! Let’s see…… Wasn’t it two years ago when we went camping in Feb and it got down to 12 degrees at night. It was so cold that I woke up to ice on the inside of my tent. We took shots out of an ice shot glass that formed in a solo cup. Oh and there was last Feb. when it pored down raining all day Friday while we setup camp and it was like 30 degrees out. Don’t you remember not being able to get a really big fire going because everything was soaking wet? That just two of the trips I have been on when the weather is bad. Fair weather campers…… Please…..
I am going to write a blog about one of my friends that have been remodeling his house for five years. I will start it in approximately two years.
Nice! Alright, you’re right… Ed and Adam have both braved some pretty bad weather in the past years. I can’t argue with that!
In fact, ALL of your winter camping trips seem to have some bad weather. What’s up with that?
Found an appropriate quote for this thread:
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
G. K. Chesterton
English author & mystery novelist (1874 – 1936)