Why Not?

I've gotten pretty much a unanimous response when I've told people that I went camping last weekend.

WHY???

Now, you'll recall that last weekend we had a beautiful new layer of snow on the ground and that the temperatures were in the balmy zero's. Like, ten below zero. Recall, too, that the six hearty campers in question here (Eldon, Bruce, Andy, Don, Doug, and myself, in no particular order) all have warm dry beds to sleep in at home and generally don't score too badly on IQ tests, and you may ask yourself as well; "why indeed?"

And I'll have to say, "I don't know, but we sure had fun!"

Eldon put together a good description of our outing on Life at Main and Sunny and since I didn't get much for pictures I'll refer you to that post for evidence of our craziness.

To be honest, we probably pushed the limits of what our equipment and our experience could reasonably provide, but what better way to find that out than in some woods on the back side of a friend's property (who wisely elected to stay inside) only ten miles from home? And how can you say that you go on an annual winter camping trip if you don't, well, just do it?

I didn't have much to refute one elderly gentleman's observation that "you guys have rocks in your heads!", but since then I've thought about a short list of "why's". My camping gear got some use, I went off-roading in my truck, and I got some fresh air. I got to practice fire-building in the cold (who knows when you'll need that skill!), cooking in the cold, and shivering in the cold. I chopped wood, drank strong coffee, and welcomed the sun at the dawn of a new day. The food was delicious, the company wasn't half bad, the experience: priceless. "Why?" you say. I say, "Why not?"