Amy went camping in the rain Part 1

I have always hated camping, (I made excuses and never even attended Girls Camp) but since learning of the trials which will come in the latter days, it was time to learn some camping skills.

My husband is a complete camping maniac, has always been in scouting, and owns all the equipment REI and Campmore sells.

He asked if I wanted to go camping on Friday night, and with a huge frown on my face, I said "Yes."  I figured it would be a useful experience, like getting a tooth filled, but I didn't expect to enjoy it.

It was about 40 degrees and rained the ENTIRE time.  We went to a nearby state park, and W. showed me every camping trick he knows.  We put up two shelters, put all the gear under them, then put up the tent, and filled it with the bedding during lulls in the rain.

The fire pit became a huge puddle.  We were thankful we had brought our Stovetec rocket stove so we didn't need to use the fire pit.  We set the Stovetec on the ground under the big shelter.  We used the firestarter I had made (I made a bunch of firestarters last week out of cardboard egg cartons, dryer lint, and melted wax) and the charcoal started really easily.  We ate really easy food for supper, just a can of soup with an added can of green beans, heated in a pot, with some bread.

He taught me how to regulate the fire by opening and closing the air vent door at the bottom of the rocket stove.

We roasted marshmallows and ate mint chocolate Hershey bars with the graham crackers---Yum!

We sat there enjoying the fire, and as we fed it, sparks would fly around.  I had on my wonderful L.L. Bean ski pants that I purchased from Goodwill for $10, and I was fearful that a spark would melt a hole in them.  W. also had on some expensive Boy Scout pants, and I didn't want them melted either. I remembered that I had brought a wool blanket that I bought at a yard sale, so we threw that over both of us, and I didn't worry about the sparks anymore.  (I'm going to try to bring wool blankets every time, for that purpose.  It would be a good idea to make the outer covering of the grandkids' winter pants out of wool, so they would be protected around fires too.)

This is our Stovetac rocket stove, when we used wood for the fire the next morning.