Last night I left mine off. At 11:30 I was awakened from a sleep so deep there were no detectable brain waves by the patter of rain. Leaf litter, I prayed. My imagination, I hoped. No, simple rain drops.<\/span><\/p>\n In my underwear, I scrambled from my dark tent into the featureless outside, and shuffled in the direction of my nearby truck. I willed myself to move slowly in spite of the cold rain so I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t collide with the tailgate where I prayed Matt had placed the rainfly pole. I grabbed the pole and the fly and lurched back to where my tent should have been, but it had disappeared. The flashlights I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d bought at Walmart on my way up were still at Walmart. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d remembered to lift from the carrousel the bags with the coffee, the paper towels and the water, but not the nifty new super-powerful lights.<\/span><\/p>\n As the rain pelted down, I made it back to the truck, fired it up, and turned the lights on, but the headlights illuminated bushes and trees \u00c2\u00a0away from the tent, and I had neither the time nor the space to turn the truck around. I jammed the shift into reverse to engage my backup lights and yanked on the emergency brake. The same hand brake I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d repaired myself in order to pass my last inspection. Oh lordy, I thought. Here I am – \u00c2\u00a0blurry of mind, wet, worrying about a soggy sleeping bag, and now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m about to turn my back on my two ton idling truck while I try to find the right side of the fly, the right end of the tent, and the five plastic catches to secure it all.<\/span><\/p>\n *****************<\/p>\n Small group this time. Robby, Joe, Matt and Kyle arrived on Friday, and I drove up Saturday as Joe returned for a family trip to Cirque De Soleil.<\/p>\n Rak, there is the most amazing mouse nest in your wood stove. Also, the hinge on the door broke so it’ll have to be repaired before another winter’s fire.<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00c2\u00a0 If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve slept in a tent more than once you know that you never leave the rainfly off. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pitching the goddamn thing in the middle of the Gobi Desert or on the moon or in New Hampshire … Continue reading ![\"the_shot.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/the_shot.jpg\")
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