Just what the heck is a home-away-from-home anyway? As our camping life became a more frequent expression of everyday living , we began to see a glimmer of potential. Of a sudden, it became abundantly clear we were achieving much more than thought. We had of course seen or at least heard about the group whose campfire is a little too big, whose behaviour is a little too small and whose hands just don't seem to be able to handle the multitude of pieces of trash that are now all over their campsite. Yet our feelings toward those impacts had changed materially! Just what happened?
In retrospect, it all started when we acquired the dining shelter we immediately could not camp without! Our family all of a sudden had the missing piece in the campsite puzzle! It was the added piece that allowed everyone to have space and increased camaraderie at the same time. It was when we realized that going tent camping did not restrict us to an often uncomfortably crowded bedroom.
At the same time grew our ability to cook on a campfire without grilling everything and without burning all food and pots so badly as to ruin them. And that ability was a child of the practice of good campfire skills both in making and controlling a fire. And discovering an alternate use for soap was an invention worthy of a Nobel prize in our estimation!
