Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409150002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By WENDI RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
My husband, Curt, and I flew from Roanoke to Seattle for a week of hiking and camping out of the trunk of a rental car. I figured the trip was as good as any to test the merits of this "all-in-one bible of camping and outdoor fun." The book, after all, has sold more than 1 million copies since 1974 and was revised and updated just this year. Instead, by the time I was through checking out its ideas, I was too exhausted to even consider them.
Brimming with tips for easy outdoor living, the book says it is meant for both the novice (that would be me) and the experienced (that would be Curt, the Eagle Scout). But, at close inspection, it lacked anything useful to either of us. What this book does offer, though, is a running list of cheap (read: tightwad) alternatives to conventional camping equipment. And if you've got the time to make them, the space to pack them, and the will to endure the goofy stares you're sure to provoke, then this book is for you.
It didn't take long for my husband to declare "Roughing It Easy" a bust. "Even if you use all this stuff," he told me, "you'd have to have a semi to put it in."
Conflict No. 1: We didn't have a semi. In fact, everything we would need for a week of cool-weather camping would have to be crammed into our limit of carry-on and checked-in luggage. No room for homemade and bulky alternative camping gear here.
Which brings us to Conflict No. 2: This book is stuffed with homemade and bulky alternative camping gear. And you have to build most of it from scratch. Thomas suggests umpteen ways to rig up an outdoor oven in which, of course, you can bake a cake or a loaf of bread. Our campstove, a can opener and box of matches worked fine, took up little space and left more room for bakery-fresh bread and bagels.
Thomas also tells how to fry eggs and bacon in a paper bag. She suggests we cook a whole chicken in a can covered with hot coals. If that's not enough, there are recipes for deep-pan pizza, dutch oven roast beef, dump cake, pineapple upside-down cake, hush puppies and rice pudding.
Conflict No. 3: We don't make half of this stuff at home in our real oven. And we certainly weren't about to spend our vacation bent over hot coals, or the focal point of Thomas' solar reflector cooker, which we didn't have time to make anyway.
Nope, vacation time is the one time of year when we permit ourselves to eat bags of Chips Ahoy cookies, O'Boisies potato chips and S'mores with extra chocolate. And Curt can make a mean dish of spaghetti on a single flame. Besides, we had a thousand miles to cover in Washington, which left little time for cooking.
Conflict No. 4: Most of "Roughing It Easy," it seems, is devoted to cooking. You can fry your eggs and bacon on a dirty rock in addition to the paper bag. If this is how the 1 million folks who have purchased this book choose to spend their vacations, fine. We, however, would rather count the wildflowers, read a book, or, now that I think about it, sleep.
Conflict No. 5: There's little time for sleep, though, by the time you set up camp, "Roughing It Easy" style. Thomas gives more than a few pointers on everything from tent selection to packing up. For example, once you pick your camping spot, she suggests setting up the sleeping area, kitchen area, cooking area, food storage area, food preparation area, eating area, cleanup area, equipment area and bathroom area. We, however, prefer our areas pre-made, and had little trouble finding great campgrounds in state and national parks with private, level tent sites, picnic tables and nearby rest rooms - with hot showers.
Call us spoiled, if you will, but who has time to Rough It Easy these days? Give us a dry spot for the tent, fresh water and a box of mac and cheese, a toilet and a quarter for the shower, and we'll rough it any day.
Oh, did I mention that I need an outlet for my hair dryer?
by CNB