I’m a firm believer that if a married couple wants to truly find out what their marriage is made of they should go camping.
I must admit that when it comes to camping I kind of know what I’m doing, after all-I’ve been doing it for almost 40-years. I’ve camped on impulse in the north woods of Wisconsin under the stars or an ad-hoc lean-to made of pine bows as well as my Eureka outfitter-grade tent with a queen-size mattress under my back. I’ve roughed it in the Alaskan bush on a backpacking bear and caribou hunt. I’ve canoe-camped the Fox River. The success of any camping trip depends preparedness.
So how does the marriage thing factor into this?-Organization and teamwork…in that order. It’s fair to assume that camping involves doing without to some degree or doing with-but the hard way. You better get it straight in your head right from the get-go that it’s just the way it is and you either like it or you don’t. Both of you will have typical assignments and once you get used to it-you operate like a well-oiled machine and this is what will make setting up and tearing down camp quicker and easier; and leave the two of you on speaking terms afterwards.
I've been witness to some real shows while camping. On several occasions after setting up my camp, as part of my entertainment for the evening, I would watch and listen to other couples set up their camp. Oh this has been big time comedy at times. I remember listening to a couple set up camp in the dark once in particular. She was reading the tent instructions by flashlight and he was erecting the tent by headlight. This tent may as well have been a Rubic’s cube. As the poor guy put one tent pole in place, the previous one fell to the ground. Note-if you must set up at night, be sure to make as much noise as possible by letting the aluminum poles clang together! Anyway the couple began to yell and cuss at each other and this soon escalated. Before long I heard the aluminum poles crashing through the trees in the woods as the guy hurled one by one until done with his tantrum. The two packed up their car and presumably went home. The next morning I went into the woods and recovered those tent poles. You can always find a use for extra tent poles. Now you might be wondering why I didn’t lend the poor sap a hand. Well-this guy was angry and the last thing a lot of guys want is to have another man enter their turf and save the day in front of their wife. Also this was just too much fun to watch in all honesty.
