I've got a lot of camping coming up next month, so I thought it'd be fun to do a camping book for a bit. I talked about this a little last year when I was suffering through the transcendentalists. It's not long, only a hundred pages or so, so I'll probably be able to bang it out in a week or two.
Chapter I OVERWORK AND RECREATION—OUTING AND OUTERS HOW TO DO IT, AND WHY THEY MISS IT
Sears starts with a plea to avoid overwork, and to relax more.
Too true. And it is the constant strain, without let-up or relaxation, that, in nine cases out of ten, snaps the cord and ends in what the doctors call "nervous prostration"—something akin to paralysis—from which the sufferer seldom wholly recovers.
useful men, many of them far from being rich; mechanics, artists, writers, merchants, clerks, business men—workers, so to speak
Stop pacing so much stuff!
But one thing all admit. Each and every one has gone to his chosen ground with too much impedimenta, too much duffle; and nearly all have used boats at least twice as heavy as they need to have been. The temptation to buy this or that bit of indispensable camp-kit has been too strong, and we have gone to the blessed woods, handicapped with a load fit for a pack-mule. This is not how to do it.
Go light; the lighter the better, so that you have the simplest material for health, comfort and enjoyment.
I always tell my wife when we travel that every item we bring is a little more stress. Sometimes its worth it. (You can pry my extra water bottles out of my cold, well hydrated, hands.) A lot of times, it's not.
A soft, warm blanket-bag, open at the ends, and just long enough to cover the sleeper, with an oblong square of water-proofed cotton cloth 6×8 feet, will give warmth and shelter by night and will weigh together five or six pounds.
I'm going to do my first tarp shelter trip later this month. I'm excited. Hopefully it's not a disaster.
Now, time for a birthday party! This was fun. Looking forward to the rest.
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