Camping: the other way to vacation

Only this year we have begun camping. It took us a very long time to do that. To go out and buy the tent, the sleeping bags, the gas burner, the air mattress, the hurricane lamp. As if we were scared to start out.

Camping in the wilderness is a new concept to me. Coming from India, where even living space is scarce, finding a bit of wilderness to set up the camping gear is not easy. Only sometimes we used to hear about people exploring the forests, or the mountains. The wildest one could go there is travel up the Himalayas. That is the definition od the remote and the exotic in India.

But here in the US, bits of forests and the wild seem to be everywhere. Especially in California, remoteness can be very nearby. Even adjacent to a city one could find a bit of forest. It is great to find pieces of what appeared like untouched nature.

And so, the camping sites are some of the bits of American wilderness to where people escape when the urban get on their nerves. When the fabulous beaches, the five star hotels and cruises do not hold any more fascination, when deserts do not surprise, when snowfall tires you.

Summer is the time when people get out in hordes, carrying their supplies, their food in ice boxes, their soaps and tissues handy, searching for that bit of nature that would touch their heart and cool their stressed out frayed nerves. The few sites we have invaded by now are El Capitan, Los Padres, and Big Sur. And we have not regretted for desiding to try out what camping is all about. Especially the fir at night! Isn't it romantic? Memorable?

Ah! The Rains after Sunshine

The drought in California is a known fact. The fire prone state has seen several major fires in its forests and populated areas last year. Early this year, we had to pack bags and run away from Santa Barbara to safer places. First to nearby Carpinteria where we spent one night. Afterwards, we sneaked closer to town, and passed two nights in a hotel closer to the watery ocean front, which, people said, would not be as much affected if the fire spread into the town.

So many houses had been gutted. The lovely green mountains had been scarred and left blackened by the devastation. A fear psychosis has become part of people who've lived here for long, now settled to the idea of the occasional fires as part of life. 

If it was not for my neighbour this year in May, when I saw for the firt time a forest fire's flaming tongues from the window of hour building, I'd have had an entirely different experience to talk about. She was kind enough to wait for me until I picked up my luggage, although I did not get time to change my clothes, and escorted me through the traffic jam and the blackening clouds that had shrouded the skyline that day.

This is the same neighbour who has been picking me up from my holiday job. And today, when I had an early morning shift, she dropped me too, in the midst of heavy rain. And when she arrived to escort me home after work, in the pouring rain, I hadrly had any words to thank her for all her help.

In both fire and rain, this neighbour has been with me. On the earlier occasion, my Equal Half was at work. And when he wanted to come to pick me up, he was caught up in the traffic jam like thousands of others. And today, in the rain, he is in Dallas for some work. If it was not for my neighbour, I would have had enormous inconvenience in this weather. Carrying my jacket, my umbrella, my water bottle, my googles in its case, my purse. etc etc.

It is like having a messiah come from heaven. Or a Good Samaritan.