Lou's going camping

[Lou Newton]

Sorry I have not written anything for a couple of days. I have been getting ready for a camping trip while I still field phone calls with questions and helping people with their cars etc.


I will be back on Wednesday or Thursday sometime.

Lou

[Lou Newton]

Sorry I have not written anything for a couple of days. I have been getting ready for a camping trip while I still field phone calls with questions and helping people with their cars etc.


I will be back on Wednesday or Thursday sometime.

Lou

Well I am back. I enjoyed meeting Barry and we had a lot of good discussions.

Cook's Forest is very rare old growth forest. Some of the trees there are very old. Some have been there before the Europeans got to America.

We set up camp and then went hiking. The really old trees are up high on the hill. So you have to hike up trails so steep that they have stone or timber steps for the trail. But the steps are not like those in your home with a rise of about 8", instead they have a rise of about 2 feet every step. Some places the steps went up continuous for maybe close to a mile. Taking 2 foot high steps for a mile is very strenuous.

We hiked for about 4 hours. I took my youngest son there when he was about 14. We ran just about every trail there. They had this Magnolia tree that was the oldest living one in the world. I hunted for this tree for hours, but could not find it this time.

It was forecast to rain all day. But it did not rain at all until about 6 PM. Barry built a fire to cook on and it started to rain real hard and the rain put it out. So we ate at a restaurant.

We had to break camp the next morning with a wet tent. So I took all day yesterday drying the tent and all the mats, tarps etc out.

The Lord was very merciful to us and we had a very good time.

Lou

[Baruch]

I was only bitten once by a mosquito. Around here that is a miracle. Seriously.

After we had dinner we returned to the camp to plan the remainder of our evening. I expected to have to hide from insects in the tent. The firewood was so hard that the rain didn't soak it. We were able to chip the wood and, after a few false starts, with the Lord's blessing and some care and no small amount of highly flammable fluid a radiant and smokey fire gave us comfort the rest of the night. I judged it a good end to a good day. The Lord was kind to us.

A raccoon roamed fearlessly into our camping area looking for plunder. He was quite fat, the girth of his belly showing off the history of his successes. He made off with a bag holding a couple ears of corn that was on the table right behind us. For a fat critter he still moved faster than I could.

The forest was beautiful, old, green and thriving. As always, it is a superb reminder of the Lord's abundance and patient faithfulness. The whole earth is full of His glory.

[Lou Newton]

I was only bitten once by a mosquito. Around here that is a miracle. Seriously.

After we had dinner we returned to the camp to plan the remainder of our evening. I expected to have to hide from insects in the tent. The firewood was so hard that the rain didn't soak it. We were able to chip the wood and, after a few false starts, with the Lord's blessing and some care and no small amount of highly flammable fluid a radiant and smokey fire gave us comfort the rest of the night. I judged it a good end to a good day. The Lord was kind to us.

A raccoon roamed fearlessly into our camping area looking for plunder. He was quite fat, the girth of his belly showing off the history of his successes. He made off with a bag holding a couple ears of corn that was on the table right behind us. For a fat critter he still moved faster than I could.

The forest was beautiful, old, green and thriving. As always, it is a superb reminder of the Lord's abundance and patient faithfulness. The whole earth is full of His glory.

I was amazed by that raccoon's boldness and non aggressive behavior. It walked right into our camp and faced me, not over 15 feet away, as to say I only want your food.

It was also very persistent. I chased it off of our table I think three times, but it got the corn on the 4th attempt.

BTW, when I was drying out the tent, I noticed it had several small holes ( the size of a BB and larger) right at the crease where the side meets the floor. We should have had water in our tent considering how hard it rained and the standing water right at the tent floor. But we did not get one drop inside. Now that is mercy and grace from our dear Lord.

To let anyone know how we finally got the wet wood started: I found a can of brake cleaner in the trunk of my car. I was not sure it was flammable, but felt pretty confident it was. If you ever use this to start a fire, BE VERY CAREFUL. It is like using a flame thrower. It is way more flammable than gasoline. Barry can confirm this.