RV and tent camping are two different things! We have become accustomed to the luxury of camping in our motorhome. In our motorhome, running water flows from our faucets into our sinks, and we have hot water on demand from our water heater. We own a comfy couch and several TV sets. Most importantly, our bed is a consistent, beautiful combination of softness and firmness.
However, that being said, our motorhome is 35 feet long and not suited for some of the narrow, winding roads and remote places that we would like to venture. Plus, driving our motorhome for more than two hundred miles can get rather costly because our little house consumes one gallon of gasoline for every six miles that she travels.
Therefore, we embarked on a journey to test our capabilities and happiness in ‘roughing it.’ For our monthly pilgrimage to Memphis this month, we decided to break out our never-before-used blue nylon tent and try to camp at Hernando Point in northern Mississippi. We anticipated that the sticky southern heat and the swarms of biting mosquitoes would not present much of a problem in May.
Thankfully, it is a good thing that we decided months ago that we would try to tent camp on this trip to the Memphis area. Our motorhome is currently in a repair shop in Decatur, Indiana, with a broken refrigerator. But that is a story for another day!
So far, our experiment is going well.
We arrived at Hernando Point at about 4 pm yesterday afternoon and immediately unpacked our easy-up tent, which is our blue baby. Then, we set about turning her into our Solaas Tash-ma-hall. It looked easy enough; all we had to do was use four preassembled poles and extend the legs, and we would be done, right? Ha! We had a hard time getting all the legs on our beautiful tent pointed in the same direction. At times, during the assembly process, our tiny home away from home resembled a daddy longlegs spider going through death throws! Picture a long-legged spider lying on its back with two legs up and two legs down. When we managed to get one of the skyward legs pointed in the correct position, one of the previously corrected legs would instantaneously pop into the upward position. After several tries, we got all four legs pointed properly, so we could extend the poles and erect our majestic blue baby! As we went to extend the first pole, we noticed that it was bending like a fishing pole hauling in a whopper of a whale. So, we backtracked and extended three poles simultaneously, dancing around the tent like traditional Native American dancers at a ceremonial campfire.
Our next step was to set up our fabulous new modern outdoor camping kitchen. The camping kitchen unfolds from a three-foot-long, two-foot-wide rectangle into a six-foot-long outdoor workbench with a plastic dish sink. Like our tent, it is also advertised as “Easy set-up.” I think I am modern challenged. I grew up disadvantaged because when I was a child, transformer toys did not exist! So, in my defense, it took me twenty minutes to unfold this easy-up workbench!
Perhaps, I should say that we are semi-roughing it this trip. Even though we are living in a tent, we have some modern conveniences. We have running water located at an outdoor spigot. We brought a water hose and a garden spray head so we could have running water in our kitchen area. We also have electricity that is located at an electric box near the water spigot. An extension cord is one of many things we have brought that works with electricity. We purchased a one-burner electric cooktop! And we got the most important item of all, an electric fan, which is a wind machine!
Did I say that the sweltering Memphis summer heat shouldn’t be quite so bad in May? Ha! Ha! I am so thankful we had the forethought to pack our Wind Machine into the Jeep! The humidity is horrible, and the temperatures are soaring to 88 degrees today. I am thankful for some shade and the artificial breeze.
Last night, when we climbed onto our thirteen-year-old inflatable air bed, the temperatures were still in the upper 70s. We were grateful to have lightweight sheets instead of heavy sleeping bags. Even though it was still warm outside, we fell asleep easily. I woke up at three a.m. to a slightly squishy air mattress. Apparently, a thirteen-year-old mattress does not hold air as well as its younger self.
When I woke up, the air was cool and damp. I checked the temp on my phone, and it said that we had dropped to 64 degrees. So, I grabbed our fuzzy, warm brown blanket, covered us up, and went back to sleep.
I awoke again before sunrise at 5 a.m. to the sound of birds saying, “Good Morning.” I thought, “You guys are crazy. It is not even light out there, and it is cold!” Happily, I drifted back off to sleep with the sweet bird song gently singing in my ears.
When I awoke again, it was 7:15 and fully lit outside. It was still cool out, and the sides of the tent were drenched in the night dew. I boiled some water and then poured it over coffee grounds in our new French Press. My senses were immediately enticed by the smell of the dark, roasted morning brew. As I waited to pour my first cup, I thought, “This moment reminds me why I like tent camping. Fresh air, cooler temps, morning sun, and hot coffee.”
After I finished my first cup of coffee, I prepared an extremely heart-healthy breakfast of Bacon, Fried potatoes, and eggs. I spared no indulgences. There is something to be said about bacon cooked outdoors early in the morning. As the smell waifs throughout the campground, I do not think about the fat and cholesterol I will be consuming. To make things even healthier, (not) I fry the potatoes in a combination of bacon fat and butter. Normally, at home, I would use olive oil, but I justify my decision by saying that it would be a sin to waste good bacon grease, and (with the heat of the day) that I could be dead with heat stroke by the end of the day anyway!!! Healthy or not, I love the joy of cooking outdoors in the fresh air.
The early morning cool did not last long; by 9:30 am, the temp had climbed to 77, and the sun was hot because it was a cloudless morning. At 10, I was sticky and covered in sweat as the temps climbed back into the 80’s. So, I decided that a shower was in order, and I grabbed my grocery bag of travel toiletries and walked to the bathhouse. Along the way, I dreamt about a pristine clean shower house in which I would feel pampered and refreshed.
When I arrived at the end of my long walk, I was less than impressed because I learned the shower house was anything but pristine. It was dimly lit, and the floor of the shower was barely visible. I did notice a large patch of missing paint/plaster in the middle of the stall. I wondered what kind of beasts I would encounter hiding in the darkened corners of the shower.
At that point, I had two choices: either live with sticky gross skin and sweat-soaked hair or be a big girl, which involved shedding my shoes, amongst other things, and climbing in. I chose the latter of the two choices. The floor of the shower became pooled because the drain did not work well, and as my feet touched the puddle-drenched floor of the shower, I felt the sand-like roughness of the plaster. I closed my eyes and pretended that I was at the beach with my toes in the sand, standing in a fresh tidepool in the warm summer rain. Somehow, through my imagination, the whole ordeal became almost pleasant. When I was finished, I felt refreshed. My next task was to brush my teeth. Unfortunately, when I approached the sink, I noticed that it was already in use. A giant, brown, ugly cockroach was lying belly up, enjoying the dim light from the skylight above its head. I opted not to spit toothpaste all over my new friend. Instead, I walked back to camp and brushed my teeth using a paper cup, toothpaste, and water.
My clean, fresh feeling did not last long because, once again, I found myself sweat-soaked in the mid-south humid air. Thankfully, we will get some partial cloudy skies today.
I look forward to cooking a delicious meal of Chicken Jerk burger, slaw, corn, beans, and watermelon this evening. All of this fresh air has made me hungry!
The plus side of this adventure is that we get to enjoy nature in its entirety. Yes, there are things in nature I wish to avoid, like cockroaches in my bathroom sink. But there are a lot of wonderful, nice surprises along the way, too. Like watching the shadows of butterflies as they gracefully soar above, listening to the morning chirping of a mockingbird as it sings out a medley of songs, and falling asleep to a chorus of a million bullfrogs as they lull me to sleep. Sitting quietly, mostly disconnected from social media, TV, and the internet.
I doubt we will ever tent camp in the Mississippi summer heat again. But this experience has taught me that we are still young and resilient enough to enjoy living in the great outdoors sans our cozy, plush, airconditioned motorhome. I look forward to tent camping again someday, but maybe where it might be a little cooler. Perhaps a little further north?
330 SQFT 