Growing up, we never went camping. Oh, yeah, we had a cheapo little tent that my brother and I would set up in the backyard once in a blue moon, and it would inevitably start raining so I’d run inside to avoid getting wet. But that was the extent.

My mother said that camping was just for poor people (yet I had a lot of friends who regularly went camping, and their parents had much better jobs than mine, and they had CAMPERS!!!). For her, Holiday Inn Express was roughing it. BUT she decided she wanted to give it a go on a trip to the Grand Canyon. She energetically reserved 3 nights of camping on each rim of the canyon. Little did we know she screwed up the reservations, with the first few nights on the north, second half on the south. Guess which way we went? Yeah…we drove south, through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas panhandle…we pulled up to the campsite on the south rim, only to find that our reservations were on the OTHER SIDE OF THE CANYON! Cue us piling back into the van and driving as fast as we could to get to the other side before it got dark so we could set up the tent.

Well, we made it just as dusk was setting in. The tent was set up, air mattresses inflated (she wasn’t going to rough it on a sleeping bag on the ground!), and we crashed for the night. The next day, seeing as how we were already on the north side of the canyon, she decided it was as good a time as ever to head back home. So instead of 6 nights of camping, we got 1.

Fast forward several years to college in Florida, and my sorority sisters got this bright idea to go camping for a sisterhood retreat. The dad of one of the gals actually reserved the campsite and set up a bunch of tents for us, so we didn’t have to worry about that. But once again it was dusk when we arrived. And lucky me stood on a fire ant nest next to the camp fire. I was in so much pain, and so dang itchy that night and the next morning. My ankles and calves were all swollen, so getting to the local spring was a blessing. I sat on the edge of the dock and just let my feet and legs enjoy the coolness, and that, combined with benadryl that one of the gals brought along (I definitely took WAAAAY too many of them the night after getting bit and then the following morning), the swelling and itchiness went down.

Side note – my brother and his fraternity brothers went camping the next weekend. He also accidentally stood on a fire ant nest. His reaction was much worse and he was brought back to campus to see the mother of one of his fraternity brothers, who just happened to be a nurse. Since then, both of us actively avoid any type of ant.

Twenty years go by, and I’m at storytime last summer. Sugar Britches tells myself and the other moms that she’s planning on taking her two little girls camping a few counties over to visit some libraries. Everyone is shocked that she’s going to do it on her own and I say “Want some company? I’ll join you.” So I get a tent (2 actually, just in case one didn’t get here in time), toss our tri-fold mattress, a sheet, and a blanket in the back of the Highlander, fill a cooler with some snacks and pulled pork, and off we go. I even brought our collapsible toilet (I’m glad we did, because it was a hike to the toilets at the campground, so we just set it up behind Mac the Highlander, and it was used often through the night).

We had a blast! It was just Bug and myself since Mr Man was in Illinois for his visit with my folks. Sugar Britches and I quickly realized that we got along swimmingly, and the kids already love each other. So we decided to do another 3 day trip a few weeks later. This time we chose a regular campground, not a rustic state park one like we first did. The second time, I took the Dreadnaught, because we had 4 kids, plus the 2 of us, plus our camping gear. I tossed the basket on the back and it held the cooler, pop up canopy, and a few other items that didn’t fit in the cargo area, and we were off. This time, one of the storytime mamas joined us with her two little ones!

I’m glad I brought both of my tents on this trip. The second night, we had a big rain storm come through. The bigger tent we have doesn’t have a rain fly, and even though it’s waterproof, I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. So I took it down and put up my little 1.5 person tent. It was comical how the boys and I squeezed into it, but we stayed nice and dry!

We quickly realized we brought a few too many things, and that helped us to pare everything down for our trip to Tennessee for SRF in October. No, we didn’t camp on this trip. I rented a small cabin not far from the event (hooray business trip write-offs!!!). I did bring the larger of the two camping pads we have. I wasn’t sure if any of the kids would want to sleep on it instead of in a bed with the moms. No one slept on it, but it was nice to lay on the floor of the living room when we were there and the kids could lounge around on it.

After meeting Spags and crew from the Midwest Preparedness Project at Self Reliance Festival, Sugar Britches and I decided we want to go. So, the first week of May, she and I will be heading to Kansas with the kiddos!

My inlaws bought me a single mattress pad for Christmas, and I found out that it doesn’t really fit well in my tent when I have the double pad down. My folks have a handful of cots in their basement for overflow guests, so I’ll borrow one of those to bring with to MWPP. I’ll let the boys sleep on the double pad and I’ll use the single. That being said, I have also picked up a travel wash bag and portable clothesline for the trip. I’m working on getting us to travel as minimally as possible, so these two items will help us do that (and clean up any big messes that happen, as you know they do with growing boys).

Now, this will be my longest camping trip. What suggestions do you have for A) keeping food cold. B) food to bring and eat. C) surviving rustic camping for 5 nights? Let me know!