Without a Tent, Would Adam Have Turned Out to Be Who He is Now?

Growing up in Scouts we had plenty of time to go camping, but in Tiger Cubs, we did not do a lot of camping as a group. We might have gone on a couple of overnights but I do not think there were many. We did use it for “Cub Weekend” at Camp Geiger our local Boy Scout camp for one night.

I remember the first tent my parents purchased for the family. It was a normal family tent. It was grey in color had windows that you could unzip and we mostly pitched it in the backyard for “camping”.  I am sure my first campout ended up with everyone back in the basement before the sun came up the next morning.

That tent was a spaceship, a fort, a jail, just a tent on occasion, and so many other fantastic things the imagination of a 6-year-old could dream up. To this day when I smell that musty dusty old tent smell, I am instantly transported back to my parent's back yard to that tent.

As the years progressed I continued to camp and use either the Troop’s tents or we had switched to smaller two or three-person tents for scout outings. Without my first tent, I would not have fallen in love with listening to the crickets chirp on muggy hot Missouri nights, falling asleep to the locusts (cicadas) buzzing, and telling stories around the campfire. 

Adam is the owner of Hiking The Trail, Co-Founder of Epic Social Adventures, and a Member of the Board of Directors of Gear Forward.