The following are continuations of my random rants/ stories of the outdoors. Neither of these are as true as the last two…

Part 3~Modern Camping

Though I was not born into the generation of old-time camping, I long to be likee them. I love the slight ammount of misery that one gets while camping the old fashion way. Burns from cooking over a fire… actually cooking, not just opening up a packet of freeze dried food and stirring it in water. No, I long for actually working to enjoy my time spent with nature. Nowadays, you see adds like "New Electric Tent- Your Home Away From Home" and the such. People bring freeze dried food, and they still can't cook it. They bring freeze dried chefs along "Ok Harv, It's time for dinner, could you unpack the chef for me?" "Sure thing, Joe." A modern tent costs around 50-300+ dollars. You get all the luxories of home… you can even bring your XBox or PS2 or Computer… or whatever, and power it with some sort of camping generator. Now, people get their freeze dried chefs a stove that fits in the palm of your hand, and can cook better than a good old fire.

As for staying warm, now people have electric heaters, but then, it was quite different. One had to use an actual fire to stay warm, you couldn't get too close, else your sleeping bag caught on fire… but if you were too far, you'd freeze to death. There was no fine line. Camping has lost the camping part of it.

Part 4~Modern Fishing

What happened to the worm? The fly? The minnow? Gone. Now, people have an insanely huge array of lures and bait to chose from, many of which could be used as lethal weapons. In one instance, people started using this weird stuff that is gell like and tastes like corn as bait. The problem was that this stuff dissolved and fell off the hooks. By the end of the year, the lake's water had reached 99 proof, and the fish were so drunk that they couldn't bite anything. They died of starvation and floated to the surface… where little children poked them with sticks until they popped, or you'd throw a match at one and it would explode. I ask, what happened to the worm?