There must be a Murphy’s Law of tent camping. There is nothing as much fun as getting the family together in the wilderness. The kids love to crawl inside the tent when it is flopping on the ground. The laughter and giggles that come from under a tent are some of the great sounds of summer.
Mistakes made when tent camping can be hilarious. One that comes to mind is when the family drove eighteen hours to get to a reserved camping spot. Each family member had a job to do. Mom was responsible for the cooking area. The kids were to gather wood. Dad was to put up the tent.
Everything started out well. Suddenly words of frustration erupted from Dad’s mouth,
“We have a tent, but no tent poles!” There on the ground the tent lay in a heap surrounded by ropes and stakes. It was late return home for the poles, especially after driving from all day and night.
It looked strange, but it worked. We strung ropes between large trees on the lot and hung the tent between them. We used a long tree trunk we found nearby on the ground to prop up the center point in the tent. We threw our things inside and climbed into what looked like a huge hanging bag for the night.
