It might seem like a minor achievement to anybody else, but sleeping to dawn -- and even to sunrise! -- made me think my visitors were miracle workers. It's been a year since I visited these two mobile scoundrels. Glenn of toSimplify.net and the Mobile Kodger are here, sharing a zillion acre campsite with me. We sit out at night under the stars and solve the world's problems, after which we move on to explaining the riddles of the universe, the meaning of life, and the best rig design. A later bedtime makes for delicious sleep to dawn.
Back when I was a newbie I was actually camped at one of those dreadful Escapees' parks. I went to an evening campfire, which surprisingly wasn't against municipal code or against the RULES or something else, and an older camper came out and joined in. He said that evening campfires used to be a really big thing with RV campers, but then satellite television came along. These evening conversations with Glenn and the Kodger are really bringing this memory back.
They also help me realize how much I've missed by camping alone all these years, instead of with like-minded travel companions. There really aren't good mechanisms for finding compatible campers amongst mainstream RV groups. The vast majority of RVers are so conventional and uninteresting. Perhaps I should stretch myself and join the Kodger's camping group this summer at New Mexico state parks.
Comments
There would be nothing better than being outdoors in the natural world spending time with thinking nomadic travelers.
Wished I was there. But then I may be fooling myself to think that I could be part of the group.
Maybe next year!
People are people. A good conversation is indeed inspiring but it is a bit like having a good steak after being protein-deprived for a week. That steak would never be so good if you had it everyday.
The truth of the matter is that we are born alone and we die alone and there is no changing that. It is very nice though to enjoy the special times in between.
A solitary life gets a bit isolated at times and that might feel like loneliness, of a sort, but it sure beats the alternative.
Enjoy!
First you challenge me to a writing duel about Fred On Everything and now you are casting aspersions on my choice of Parks.
Why can't we just all get along?
Anonymous, I'm a bit confused by your comment and whether it was all tongue in cheek. But maybe you are right about camping companionship being sweeter when it's the exception rather than the rule.
Couldn't one say the same thing about satellite television?
You have just described the vast majority of anyone and everyone. I work in a kind of unconventional industry and outsiders always comment how exciting it must be. Bleh... the people here are as ordinary and boring as everyone else. Guess that's why I'm not a group person :)
The trick is to somehow find the 5% of them that are different. I've never been good at that.
Hmm... I'll ponder that a bit :)
You are not a small talk sort of guy and small talk is the safe conversation that encompasses most interactions. It also works, like two chimpanzees picking bugs off each other, i.e., it builds and supports a sort of a bond, commonly known as friendship, but often quite fragile as we all know. Anyway, I hope I made my point clearly as I have a tendency to include tangents which I apologize for.