Camping - Friday night
It’s 9:54 pm and I’m finally eating something in my new (tall) tent. That something isn’t exactly fine cuisine but it does taste better. It is called lasagne with meat sauce and it gives up its tasty juiciness when 440mL of boiling water is added and allowed to be absorbed with infrequent stirring. Civilized life is made complete with a Glenn Campbell playlist through headphones.
My shelter for the next 36 hours or so is a new old guy tent that I intend to use for future annual camp-Mountain bike weekends. It has a 10x10 footprint, is 6’ at the walls and 8’ in the center. I have it set up this weekend with a queen size inflatable mattress, double sleeping bag, table and chair. I have to admit that it’s so much more comfortable than the regular 3-person version I’ve been using for years. The regular tent is a pain in the ass after a long sweat-drenched trail ride. Wiping down and changing into clean clothes whilst lying prostrate is not fun.
I’m staying at the Susquehannock camp site which is situated on a peninsula which juts into Raystown Lake in PA. I’m here to ride the fabled Allegrippis trails tomorrow and Sunday, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The Susquehannock experience started early. For some reason I thought it was a two hour drive from home. Turns out it’s actually a 3.5 hour drive and I didn’t get here until 8pm so no chance to throw up the tent and go for a quick ride before dinner. I booked my site a couple of weeks ago and I think it was the last tent pitch available. I suspect I know why, the whole pitch slopes towards the road. It rained as I erected the tent but not heavily so no harm done. As I pulled my gear into the tent it dawned on me that I’d forgotten the bag that contains my post-ride change of clean clothes. I have the clothes I’m wearing tonight and that’ll just have to suffice. Alternatively, I may drive into Huntingdon later tomorrow and pick up a couple of things. It’d offer the perfect excuse to have a beer. By the way and before you rush out and start a Gofundme campaign to help me, consider this. My camping neighbor forgot to bring his tent. He and his son are sleeping in the back of their Jeep tonight...that stuff happens on a Friday when you’re rushing to get going after work.
That’s that. I’m set up and will turn in soon. It’s now 10:38pm and all is quiet. The camp site is supposed to be quiet between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am and Americans in this part of the country are good at sticking to that. A beetle sneaked into the tent as I was loading it. Its gender-unknown self is parked on my GoPro instruction manual for now.
