Blogging from my tent

I'm blogging from my tent by the light of my laptop screen and a little help from a street lamp from afar. (I forgot to pack the damn flashlight and lantern.) Phil thinks I'm loco (who knew I'd actually get a connection?), but camping after a 10-year hiatus is bringing back a ton of memories, and I'd like to capture them.

First off, when it comes to sleeping, I'm an indoor girl. I've never really been the type of person who feels at peace without anything between her and the stars. I need shelter. Luxe shelter is even better. For now an air mattress in our tent will have to do. Actually, sleeping in a tent creeps me out a little...There's a reason I haven't been back in 10 years and all I'll say is that the last time involved a tick. However, the friends we came with are super campers. As in they camped somewhere else last night and the weekend before. Someone was telling a story around the camp fire about a camping trip in November when they woke up with an inch of snow on the ground. I think I actually shuddered.

Ten of us are sharing a camp site and going rafting tomorrow. We knew two people really well prior to today, and mostly everyone else is a first-time acquaintance. Half of us are newbie rafters, and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's adventure. Not looking forward to possible wet camping tomorrow night, however (60% chance of rain). But I will say that right now it's a gorgeous night. Couldn't ask for better.

So, back to the memories. As a kid, my mom dragged my brother and me camping every single summer for one to two weeks. Although my brother and I were never lacking in adventures, I hated being in the sun all day while our boat was anchored in Berlin Lake and started despising camping all together once I developed late-summer allergies. Once I turned 16 and landed a full-time summer job, I'd beg my boss to tell my mom that he just couldn't do without me for a whole week to get out of it. It usually worked.

But, we definitely had some good times. My brother and I found a way to secretly swing off a cliff using the FORBIDDEN Tarzan swing one summer. (Of course our younger cousin blabbed as soon as we returned to the boat and we were grounded to our camp site.) And, I learned how to tube and water ski young and still love it. I swear my brother and I could've been Olympic tube bobsledders. We had our leans down like pros. I also still carry a special affection for hatchets from my memories of my brother trying to chop down any possible tree he could when my mom wasn't looking. Good times.

Camping has changed in 10 years. The tents are way better and so are the sleeping bags (we borrowed all our gear from work friends...thanks guys!). And, a van for a strip club has been driving through the campground recruiting guys to take to Southern Exposure nearby. Hilarious because I always laugh at its cheesy billboards plastered on 77 whenever I drive to Charlotte. Now I'm actually staying nearby. No, we didn't lose any husbands to the naughty van.

So, the plan for tomorrow is to grab breakfast, raft for a couple hours, break for lunch, raft for a couple more hours and then come back here for dinner with the entire group. Already got my ass kicked by Phil in cornhole, so hopefully the New River takes it easy on me.