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Planning your camping trip
Planning for your long awaited camping trip could be just as much fun as the trip itself. When thinking of my excursion into the wilderness, I'm thinking about enjoying nature as if it were in my backyard. So just imagine you are home in your nice comfortable house in the city, you wake up on a relaxing Saturday morning, head to the coffee pot to pour yourself a delicious aromatic cup of coffee.
You take a walk to the window and look out to a lush green grove of trees and vegitation. You wait a few seconds and a rabbit appears munching on some grass, you spot a deer in the distance grazing on the land, and you look up and see the trees filled with birds and squirrels. You step outside onto your back patio and sit and just enjoy the nature scene that surrounds you.
Well, this is the camping atmosphere that I am attempting to experience once I get out at the campsite. This is what I begin to imagine when I get moving on preparatons to achieve that goal. To implement that cozy secure feeling that comes over me sitting in my backyard, and take that out into the wilderness, I first have to establish a home base.
In this vision, I am gearing up to make this a reality. This is the vision of creating a home base. This begins with my tent.
This is a must to create my place to retreat to after a long day at the beach, or that exhausting hike on those trails. This item would be one of my first items on my planning checklist.
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My tent is now set up. Now what's next. It's time to pick out my furniture. The first thought that crosses my mind that I need to consider in order make my stay as cozy as possible, is a cot. My day out on the beach or the trails or in the water, have exhausted me until I'm ready to drop. My thoughts would brng to mind a comfortable, cushy bed to fall into.
Well, this is where my cot will be my answer to those aching, tired muscles from head to toe. Cots of today are way more soothing than those of several years ago. I remember sleeping on those canvas wooden cots that I slept in when I was a kid. Not very cushiony or inviting to lay into. I kept turning over in my sleep and hitting those rough wooden supports. But, that was camping.
Cots have some advantages when out in the open wilderness. They keep you elevated from the tent floor and is a big plus for me. If for some reason moisture creeps up from the ground from under the tent floor that would not be good to lay in. Resting against the floor like for instance on an air mattress, puts me that much closer to the humidity. With a cot, I have at least a foot of air space between me and my tent floor.
Not only serving as a good moisture barrier, but also cots can also keep me distant from who knows what kind of crawly creatures may wonder into my tent in the middle of the night. Anything from ants, to bugs, to scorpions would not be welcomed as a sleeping buddy.
So, today's cots are very plush and soothing to a tired body. Some have plenty of padding where they are even more comfortable that an air mattress. And, they help me to alleviate getting those ant bits in the middle of the night. A cot would surely be the second item on my planning checklist to remember to take along on the trip.
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Now, if I wanted to take my comfort to the next level, which I normally do, I'm thinking of the possibility of a nice comfy chilly night at the campsite. Blankets are nice to have to keep me warm with those cool nights. I dont want to be cold, this is not fully enjoying the experience. The plan is all about taking comfort to the max.
I can have some blankets with me to keep me warm. But sometimes they end up on the floor when I toss and turn at night. If the blankets tend to drape over the cot onto the floor, that makes for an easy climb for those creepy crawlers on the floor. So, what is the best solution to this problem? A sleeping bag!
Can you imagine, I'm tired from the long strenuous day, I turn-in to my cot to sleep, but its a bit chilly in the tent. I would normally wrestle with my blanket to get it just right. Then after a few minutes I turn over, and then my blanket is all undone. That could be frustrating. So what is the solution here? Again, my trusty sleeping bag.
I can just imagine climbing into my neat, totally contained sleeping bag laying on top of my cot. The coziness is totally unmatchable when attempting to experience nirvana out in the wilderness. The feeling of sliding into a warming sleeping bag in a chilly night is pure bliss. It makes you feel like a wiener wrapped in a warm cozy hot dog bun. What more can a he-man or he-lady camper ask for.
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It's morning, I just woke up from a nice, cozy, comfy, warm sleep. It's time for a hot cup of coffee, or hot chocolate to start the day. The smell of hot coffee brewing on the campsite stove is a nice aroma to begin the adventures of the day. I prefer the old fashion perculator coffee pots. They make the best tasting coffee.
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For some reason, the tantilizing aromatic bouquet of bacon and eggs combined with coffee would be the only thing that would get me out of my cozy sleeping bag in the cool morning. It is a aromatic trio that is solely responsible for getting me out in the woods with creatures roaming around my campsite perimeter wanting to accompany me in my culinary experience that I'm about to enjoy.
In order for this banquet to occur, I would hope to never forget my camping stove. A camping stove is safe and essential to providing a cooking platform that allow me to have better control of the cooking temperatures. This control will help ensure that my food is fully cooked and safe to eat. This is especially true if I bring raw meats with me to the campsite. It's also good insurance that I will have a cooking method at the campsite if by chance that the campgrounds may not temporarily allow open campfires due to dry conditions in the area.
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Here are a few more items that are used to facilitate a great evening and morning at the campsite. A good night sleep and a great breakfast will give you the energy needed to face a bold, adventerous, and exciting day while on a camping pilgrimage out in the rugged wilderness of the vast frontier.
Click each image to see at Amazon.com
Click each image to see at Amazon.com |