I wouldn’t have had to set up my old, green, canvas tent; it’s fairly mild out for being on the doorstep of December. It’s a classic, however, and I’ve had it since I was a wee lad. It’s a pup tent for all intents and purposes, but as it rounds the corner towards 50 years old, I decided to break it out, set it up, and use it as my base camp today.
As a kid, I always took care of my toys and what I was given. I didn’t have a lot in the way of toys growing up. I didn’t need a lot. The farm, the animals, and the surrounding woods and land that I grew up on in the hills surrounding Sparr valley were enough. But as I stated, the things that I had as a young boy still exist because I treated them with respect, and knew how to store them away when I was finished playing and using them. Over the years some of those things my parents or I have let go through garage sales, but the fact remains that they made it through the test of time. Items such as the “Game Bag” that I’m sitting on now in my tent, I received for Christmas when I was in Junior High. It’s made like a mini sleeping bag to cover you when you sit in the stands of an outdoor athletic event, but it works and fits perfectly as a pad on the floor of this tent for my dog Kora and me.
The tent was originally purchased from Montgomery Wards if I remember correctly, because I think it used to have a label patch on one of the corners. It was probably given for one of my birthdays early on in my years. In those days, our town had a Wards storefront where you could order items from their catalog and pick them up at the little building across from the fairgrounds in our town
At one point the tent was sadly stolen by a neighbor, but my Dad tracked down the culprit by following the footprints he had left in the dew covered grass. Thankfully it was returned. In my boyhood I would set it up quite often in various places around the woods surrounding our house and would lay in it to read or eat a lunch lovingly made by my mom. It was like a portable fort in the forest.
One of the best memories I have in the tent is when my Dad and I slept in it together on top of a hill at the property we had recently purchased. I’m not sure how he did it, but somehow we shared the space with his legs sticking out the flaps of the entrance. Although our family camped on a regular basis, that outing was adventurous and is forever etched in my mind. A few years later we had a house built on that land, and I would often hike up on that hill, sit down, and look out over the surrounding valleys and trees. The rocks from the fire-ring we had made during our camp-out were still there. It was a great view from that point of the hill. In fact, my sister Becky eventually planted a red pine and spruce that she had received for Arbor Day on top of that hill. Both trees are still there. Imagine camping there now, 40 years later, with the sound of wind in their towering, needled boughs. They are a crowning monument to that sacred spot.
 |
| My Daughter Jodi Next To My Sister's Trees-2009 |
When my own kids were small, I had the loops for the tent stakes repaired by a local awning maker who had the sewing machines big enough to stitch through the thick canvas. I’d periodically set it up for Todd and Jodi to play in. Typically they’d haul all of their blankets and stuffed animals out into it and then lay in it to read. Sometimes I’ve even set it up for the children of friends who are visiting so they could have the opportunity to play in it too; capturing the strong smells of the old canvas and sunlight filtering through its worn top.
Jodi & Todd - 2007
Hiking into the woods alongside a river today with my dog, Kora, I’ve seen two bald eagles, one that flew overhead and perched in a nearby tree to have a good view of the water below. I was also surprised to see a red-headed woodpecker with its distinctive black upper-wings; bigger than the hairy and downy woodpeckers. Prior to setting up the tent, we also had a herd of deer come close within range of us. Kora and I could see them coming before they could smell us and bound away. They are so ghost-like in the way they can appear and disappear between the trees and through the grasses. Later we heard half of the herd splash and swim across the river. The other half stayed on our side but seemed to spread out in different directions.
Kora lays beside me, but she has been tense and alert the whole time I’ve been writing today, as she watches anything that moves outside and sniffs the light breeze for scents. I purposely placed the back of the tent towards the wind so that the sunlight shone in on the entrance and kept the confines a bit warmer, but still allowing Kora to capture smells beyond my reckoning.
I will cook a meal for us this early afternoon, and although I probably won’t have time to use my fishing pole to cast for that elusive river pike, I remind myself that today has mostly been about setting up my tent. I duct taped together some old plastic dog food bags to make a simple ground cover and then figured out how to lash the tent to the top of my backpack before I came out to the bottomlands today. It was the care and attention my tent deserved. Welcome back my old, green, canvas tent. Welcome back! We’ve endured quite a journey these long years, and I’ll venture to guess that we’ll still have some more adventures ahead of us. I can only hope!
See you along The Way...
 |
| Base Camp |
