allyson and bryan

Guilty Admission #002 /



Today is the 102nd day of our around-the-world trip, and it has been a shut-in. In the Krieger-Campbell household, this means a day with the shades pulled closed to let no sunshine into the room, the air-con (Aussie term) cranked up to keep the temperature icy cold, and a baseball game on the tee-vee.

**Please note that this our first official shut-in of the trip and only my second baseball game of the season**

The day has also included two loads of laundry, which was long overdue. The shut-in comes off the heels of a week-long adventure in the Northern Territory (NT) state of Australia -- and five days in a campervan. It is this campervan that brings me to my second guilty admission of the trip: unless under very specific environmental and social conditions, I DO NOT LIKE CAMPING.

My story begins when we picked up the van in Darwin, both filled with excitement about moving on from our rented house and living “on the road” for the next five days. The process of procuring the van took two hours as we filled out no less than 55 forms and had our credit card charged and credited $1200 approximately six times. “Something must be wrong with the system!” the representative said to us. Not to be deterred, we finally got on the road and headed to the supermarket for a five days worth of supplies. About 45 minutes later, we were armed with ramen noodles, vegetables, fruit, yogurt (of course!), cereal, soup and other lunch/dinner supplies. Finally, we were rolling, with our first destination being Kakadu National Park. Along the way, we passed hundreds of termite mounds, many over 10 feet tall! Once darkness set in, we pulled into our first campground and paid the $25 fee to park and use the toilets. We rewarded ourselves with a VB (local Aussie beer) at Happy Hour and toasted to this leg of our adventure. But then … it was at this point that the van began to heat up (with the engine OFF) – so we pulled out our camping chairs and had a seat outside. Which is about when the mosquitoes must have sensed the fresh meat in the park and began to feast on our not-so-tough exposed skin. Both Allyson and I were now in a bind … we were comfortable neither inside the van, as it was sweltering, nor outside (where it was 20 degrees cooler) for fear of turning into one gigantic, red, itchy mosquito bite. And I haven’t even mentioned the flies yet! We finally chose to sit perfectly still in the van, still sweating profusely, and praying that we would drift off to sleep. We finally did about 3am or so.

The next three days were spent seeing the beautiful sights of the Northern Territory’s national parks, eating Cheerios and yogurts, and praying for sleep once the dark (and the mosquitoes) arrived. We saw native Aboriginal art, took a boat ride through the wetlands, and saw some pretty fascinating wildlife. Our favorite part of the trip was a hike up Katherine Gorge – where it was 50 degrees C at the top, and you could throw stones from the lookout. The nights were spent sweating over the gas stove, slathering insect repellent all over ourselves, and searching for a cooling breeze. One low point came when the flies began to congregate on my head, my arms, and my calves like I was their symbiotic host. Each night we tried different ways to cool the van prior to parking for the night, but none were successful. We should have just purchased a fan!

Day Five was a fast-paced drive back to Darwin to ditch the heat-pit. We completed the final drive around 11am, and breathed a sigh of relief as we walked to the bus stop to head back into Darwin. It was on the drive back to the campervan company that I thought about the admission that I don’t really like camping. But then I also thought of some past camping experiences that I have really enjoyed -- and what it was about them that made them special.

1. My first memories of camping were from Eagle Camp in South Hero, Vermont. Here, I spent a week with my family each summer on Lake Champlain. It is a beautiful area of the country, and the camp was tented with planked wood floors and cots within. This gave you more room to spread out, and kept the bugs out of the sleeping area at night. (Although, as a kid, I think one is much more tolerant of the nuisance of mosquitoes and flies.) The camp observed a mandatory quiet hour each day (the adults tended to nap while us pre-teens tried to find ways to entertain ourselves without making any noise), and had a wake-up bugle at 7am for breakfast and a lights-out bugle at 10pm. It was a much-anticipated week each year as I got to spend time with my dad, swim, sail, and water ski (well, I tried at least) in the lake, and be reunited with summertime friends. The tradition, the family time, and the friendships that made this a memorable camping experience … year after year.

2. In adulthood, fun camping has been at campsites like Henry Coe State Park or up on the American River in California, where the nights cool off and the bugs are all but absent. Throw in amazing friends, great Color War games, white water rafting, and exquisite talents -- and that is a great camping experience.

So, in sum -- camping just needs to be cool, breezy (fan-powered or natural), and fairly bug free. Friends and family help (as does Allyson), and under all circumstances, camping should be followed by a shut-in.

stars, they're just like bryan @ 5:22 AM  

..........