Camping: The Great Equalizer

Okay, so I am set up in my "happy place" once again, and I am, first of all ASTOUNDED at the beauty of my lakeside setting.


















Secondly, I am a little bit surprised that having been out "in solitude" for only 23 hours and 45 minutes, I am brimming over with things to say.

Thirdly, I discovered that in the act of camping, where we leave our daily lives behind to become closer to nature, to spend time with loved ones, and to settle into a more tranquil frame of mind, the playing field between camping neighbors is leveled, we come more closely into contact with others, we spend time with people from different walks of life.







Take my friends Larry and Ron Getz, for example, whom I met three or four years ago out here at the lake. They were born and raised in West Virginia, one chose maintaining aircraft in the U.S. Air Force for a living and the other one raising cattle and hay on their 80 acre family farm. After a lifetime of living apart, these brothers get together almost monthly to camp and fish at Jordan Lake, maintaining a strong family bond and inviting others into conversation, into fishing, and into their veritable camping feasts.







When I heard they would be at the lake this week, I packed up and got a campsite of my own on another part of the lake from where they were situated.

They arrived by boat at my camp last evening and took me out for a little fishing. The price of my admission? Being brave enough to bait my own hook. When a storm chased us in at dusk, they invited me to join them for dinner, which I accepted.

While Ron cooked chicken outside on the grill, Larry was in his camper kitchen, mixing up a salad, slicing homegrown tomatoes, and inviting me to look around as he showed off all of the features of his home-away-from home.

Well, they have lights, they have refrigeration, they have TV. They have air conditioning, they have real furniture, they have several rooms, and a full bath. They have hot and cold running water, a double kitchen sink, and when I remarked that I could hear the lady in the camper next door actually using a vacuum, they replied, "We have one too!"

And that, my friends, is when I realized that while camping just might be the "great equalizer," among men, it turns out that SOME of us are definitely MORE EQUAL than others!!!

<3 Joy!

Ronda

Location:Apex,United States