Frazz by Jef Mallett for August 04, 2014

Freddog and I are backpacking this week in the high sierra. Love the solitude of the wilderness at night after being terrified of it in my much younger years (I’m 66). He’s not big on sleeping in a tent but I don’t want him chasing bears or marmots!

I’ve done my time camping. These days “roughing it” involves bad cable in the hotel room. ;)

Poison ivy and leeches on the same day. After that, forget camping, period.

Never caught poison ivy while camping. I hope the bears who raided my food did.

Very helpful website:http://www.poison-ivy.org/

My childhood memory of my family camping out, was of staying in a tent while it poured the whole week. We never went camping again after that.

This whole “what I will do this summer” series of comics has gone on so far that my kids actually started back in school today.

We tried a nice hotel once. The kids were bored in less than an hour. I’ll take a week camping in the great outdoors over a resort hotel any day.

I thought I was done camping until I discovered good air mattresses…I sleep better in a tent on one of those, than anywhere else. Gotta be prepared for anything, though..Sand flies are the worst…..A big tarp helps in case of rain…Gives you someplace to be besides in the tent……I’ve had some very pleasant times talking to friends, or reading good books underneath a tarp in the rain, listening to it fall……

In 1967 I said, “I will never go camping or sleep outside” and I’ve stuck with it! When this Marine got home from Vietnam, I swore off sleeping on the dirt! I did my share of it over there!!!