Camping Preparations

Every year since 1993, we have vacationed at the

Lair of the Golden Bear, the family camp sponsored by the
U.C. Berkeley Alumni Association.
The Lair is in the Sierras near
the little town of Pinecrest.
We are getting ready for our annual road trip now. Our SUV will have six people in
it, plus our stuff in the used
“Yuppie Wagon” (a small enclosed trailer with a polyethylene shell) we
just bought. My friend Laura and her son J.R. are driving their car in caravan with
us. My brother Pete is driving up with his family from Southern California.

The Lair provides the tent (canvas top, wood floor and half walls), 3 meals
a day, arts and crafts and sports and campfires, so we just have to get there and
settle in. Part of my job is to make and manage The List of Stuff.
Here are some of the items we are planning to bring to the Lair:

Regular stuff
- a flashlight for everyone (with fresh batteries)
- bedding: sleeping bag, pillow, etc.
- fitted sheets to cover plastic mattresses
- clothes: including shorts, jeans, bathing suits, sweatshirt, jacket,
hat, hiking boots, hiking socks, water sandals, etc.
- 2 big towels for everyone (a bathing towel and a swim towel)
Other stuff for each person
- reading material, songbooks
- camera, extra batteries, charger
- day pack or fanny pack for hiking
- sunglasses
- sunscreen
- bug repellent
- canteen or hiking water bottle
- toiletries in bag or caddy
- personal medicines as needed
- money for snacks, movies, etc.
Stuff for everyone:
- games (especially "Wheel & Deal", "Scrabble", and "Dread Pirate"), dice, cards,
poker chips, game rulebooks, etc.
- Christmas lights to decorate tent
- tent chandelier, reading lights, extension cords, etc.
- alarm clock
- mirror
- ice chest, water dispenser
- drinking glasses
- cheese board and knife, wine opener
- laundry supplies and quarters, clothes line and pins
- step stool
- folding chairs
- headboard
- futons
- pup tent
- rug
- trash bags
- clay, clay tools, glazes
- white clothes to tie dye or paint, extra rubber bands for tie dye
- camelback water pack and water filter
- picnic blankets
- walkie talkie sets
- paper towels
- hammock
- binoculars for birding and stargazing
- basic tools: hammer, nails, screwdriver, etc.
- clothes hangers
- rope
- medicine chest, first aid supplies
- bear mascot
- extra batteries
- laptops and chargers
- solar garden lights on stakes (to mark the trail for trips to the head in the dark)

I am sure I have forgotten something… I think John wants to bring his
portable N-scale model train layout so he can program it between other
activities. When going camping, I feel like I am packing the Rat’s luncheon-basket in
Chapter 1 of Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 The Wind in the Willows:

“… after a short interval [the Rat] reappeared staggering under a fat, wicker luncheon-basket.

`Shove that under your feet,’ he observed to the Mole, as he passed it down into the boat. Then he untied the painter and took the sculls again.

`What’s inside it?’ asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity.

`There’s cold chicken inside it,’ replied the Rat briefly; `coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscresssandwichespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater—-‘

`O stop, stop,’ cried the Mole in ecstacies: `This is too much!’

`Do you really think so?’ enquired the Rat seriously. `It’s only what I always take on these little excursions; and the other animals are always telling me that I’m a mean beast and cut it VERY fine!'”

Here is our Yuppie Wagon, waiting for its first Lair trip:

Image Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson