As I mentioned last week, when Bruno Mars was at the Fargo Dome on last Friday, he had competition in the Fargo-Moorhead area.  That same weekend, there We Fest going on in Detroit Lakes, MN.  We Fest is a country music festival for the area. It is set for the whole weekends. It used to be Friday-Sunday.  Now it’s Thursday-Saturday.  It’s chance for the people to get out-of-town and hear country music live.  It is also a time where people get together to drink and to party.  I would say that it is milder form of Woodstock.  I’ve never been to We Fest; but I’ve been around that area.  The traffic is unbearable.

This past weekend, I went camping down by Alexandria, at Lake Geneva.  The weather was very nice until on Sunday, when it poured.

I stayed in a rustic cabin; so that is the closest to roughing it at my age.  I brought my sleeping bag and this time I brought an air mattress to lay on top of the mattress in the cabin. This way I was more comfortable this time around.

The meal can be very filling.  If you eat the all the meal in the dining hall. not only would it be expensive; but you could end up feeling blah and have no energy.  So I brought along some healthy camping food to eat for breakfast and lunch.  For breakfast, I ate organic cereal with banana and an organic bar.  For lunch, I ate salad on Friday and Cucumber on Saturday.  I had more energy by doing that.

We went on a pontoon ride on Saturday afternoon.

The weather was very nice.  The lake was calm.  It was very relaxing.

Even though I stayed in a rustic cabin this time; I had rough it when I was younger when I went camping then.  I remember going camping with my family up in Canada when I was a kid.  Back then, we didn’t need a passport.  We did a lot of camping and fishing up in Canada.  Canada is very beautiful.

As I mentioned in the last blog about 2 young men who got off the train in West Glacier to do some hiking.  I can also imagine that they did a little camping too.  That was very good to see.  So many young people would rather have their video or computer games, rather than get one with nature.

At Lake Geneva I saw more young people outside enjoying the beautiful weather and the lake for a change.  It was even good to see bonfires in the evening and roasting marshmallows and singing campfire songs.

That is what camping all about!

As Luke Bryan sang about in “Hunting, Fishing, Loving Everyday,”  if I could make a living hunting, fishing, loving everyday, I’d be happy.  I would rather be smelling the fresh country air than the dirty old city smog any day.

Awhile back I was talking with someone about the people were force to live off the land how many could actually do it.  This person said that he could.  I possibility could.  We actually believe that some of these young people probably couldn’t do it.  They would need their games, smart phones/I-pads, etc.  If they couldn’t get a signal, they would be up a creek and very upset.  Young women would needs their make-up, curling iron, etc.

It’s so very nice to get one with nature.  I knew a pastor, Pastor Lyle Bozarth, who would goes either up into the mountains or out in the wilderness just to get closer to God.  Believe me, you definitely can get close to God camping by the lake.

Even though I’m a people person, I can really enjoy being alone by the lake.

Actually, Ernest Hemingway wrote some of his best novels while alone on the beach.  I’m not really a Hemingway fan though, too complicated to follow.

I’m a country boy and as Hank William Jr sang, “Country Boy can survive.”

My advice to the young people out there:  Put away your video and computer games and smart phone/I-pad and get one with nature.  It is so very beautiful and relaxing.  There is no stress.

There is this one commercial on tv, that this young couple was camping out in the wilderness.  They said it was so nice and peaceful.  Then all of sudden, they heard an owl.  The moment they heard that owl, they turned on their smart phone; that they taped the city noise on just so they can sleep.  When I see that commercial I just laugh at how stupid they are.

A few years ago a friend and I went camping and fishing by Pelican Lake.  While camping overnight at the park near Pelican Rapids, (we had a tent) raccoons got into our campsite.  It was our own stupidity, but the raccoons got into some of our food.  One raccoon even was going to enter the tent where I was sleeping.  So it goes to show, if you don’t put your food up, you are going to have visit by wild animals.

I had experience bears and other animals near our campsite when I was a kid.

This doesn’t curb me from getting one with nature.  I’d rather be one with nature than with people.  You don’t have to deal with idiots.  You don’t have to smell the smog of city living.