Night eleven at camp at eleven 🏕️

I was thinking that today is night eleven at camp. Tomorrow is the final night of summer vacation. How fast the nights came and went – while cool today is clear. Doesn’t seem right that it’s already August 30th, it seems like it just was that first rainy night – August 20th when I was setting up.

It really wasn’t a stretch over previous trips – in recent years summer vacation had been nine nights, but this year I added three nights by reallocating time used for other trips plus the Labor Day holiday, still it is a test of how long I could live in the woods. Truth is it wouldn’t be a stretch for me to spend a full summer in the woods if I bought land some day for that off-grid homestead even if I didn’t st first have a permanent shelter or the modern amenities like flush toilets. Much less electricity or garbage pickup.

I concede with my camper rig, on a dirt road with lights powered by an inverter, a propane stove, heater and lantern I’m hardly roughing it when I’m a handful of feet from my vehicle that connects me to urban comforts. Yet still it’s a world far removed at least in my mind from suburbia and all it represents with all that plastic wokeness and virtue signaling. I wash out my plastic containers for recycling and drive my Prius to Walmart for organic products before heading to the suburban office complex. I mock that life but in many ways I live it, despite being the crazy director who rides his mountain bike to work in the cold of winter.

Still eleven nights going on twelve tomorrow when the final night happens is a big number. Yet the day after tomorrow is Monday and Labor Day and days of grass and grass puppies must come to an end. That incense I got from Wally World sure is pungent, not only does it hide the unpleasant marijuana smoke but also makes everything smell like college dorm room rather than cow shit.

Was it with it? Despite my extreme anxiety early in the trip my answer is yes! I skipped the ice cream at Cornell Dairy as I’ve really had too much ice cream this vacation. Plus it was close to five and I figured the cafeteria would be buzzing with students instead I explored the Cascadilla Gorge and Renwick Woods. And watched the sun a set much too early!