Camping Breakfast is a Heavenly Experience

During the week I usually grab a quick, easy breakfast; something like cereal, a bagel, or toast. Just as long as it gets me through to lunch time. On the weekends, since I have more time, I’ll often whip up something like pancakes or eggs. These breakfasts are good, but still are often just to get me through to lunch. I guess you could say I’m more of a lunch or dinner guy than a breakfast guy.

But something happens when I’m camping. When I’m camping I LOVE breakfast. I wake up to the crisp morning air, hop out of the blankets, and bound over to the camp stove. The breakfast this weekend was simple; Egg and cheese on an English muffin and hash browns. That simple meal is DELICIOUS when eating it in the woods. I really can’t give any logical reason for how absolutely wonderful it tastes.

I suppose it’s just a matter of perspective. Spending all day outdoors, setting up camp, exploring, driving some trails in the Jeep, then waking up the next morning ready to start a new day. Your body just knows that it needs fuel for another full day of fun. There are several activities on schedule for the day, but they don’t begin for a couple of hours. Plenty of time to fire up the camp stove. The cool morning air mixes with the warmth of a hot breakfast. It’s almost magical.

I had another case of perspective while I was driving some forest trails in my Jeep this weekend. This section of forest had pine trees planted for lumber. When looking at from almost every angle, it just looked like a bunch of randomly placed trees. But when looking from one certain angle, they formed nice straight rows. It was interesting to see, I wish I would have taken a picture.

I didn’t get a picture of the trees, but I did capture a few pictures of our camping experience. We camped in the Osceola National Forest, which is in north Florida near I-10. This is the first time our Jeep club has been to this area, so it was a completely new experience for all of us. It is fun exploring new areas, especially with such a great group of friends. We arrived Friday morning and setup camp. We got there early hoping to get a site with electric. Nope, all the electric sites were full. The ranger said most of those folks had been there all week. So, we picked out a spot near the bathrooms and playground instead. We unloaded the camping gear, setup the tent, and waited for others to arrive.

I want to backtrack for just a second here. I was in Walmart the day before picking up camping supplies. We usually bring a small electric heater to keep our tent warm. I wanted to grab a splitter for the electric cord, in case we shared a campsite with another club member as we often do. Well, I had a spark of intuition that I should buy an extra electric cord. I already had two cords at home that I was planning on bringing. I couldn’t really see a need to have another one, but I grabbed it anyway and threw it in the cart. Well, after we setup camp near the bathrooms, I noticed an electrical outlet on the outside of the building. With the extra cord I bought, I was able to reach that outlet and kept us toasty warm in that 40 degree weather. It really feels good to listen to intuition, especially when it really works in my favor.

Anyway, back to the story. After some more club members arrived and setup camp, we headed out to scout some trails. These trails were wet, not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting dry sandy trails like the Ocala National Forest which is about 2 hours south. Instead, the trails were full of water. A funny side note here, while the trails were full of water, most of the surrounding land was dry. For some reason, most of the trails sat a little lower than the surrounding area, and all the water ran down to the trail. The entire area we were riding in had been under controlled burns recently to clean up the underbrush. Much of the area was still smoldering with little fires here and there. The fire and water mix made a very cool dynamic, and riding through the area was really a great experience. I even drove over my first flaming log. Well, the part I drove over wasn’t actually on fire, but the ends of the log were. (Us Jeep guys like to drive over things, it’s part of the unique capabilities of these amazing vehicles.)


It was getting dark by the time we got back. We got a campfire started and warmed ourselves as the temperature began to drop. There is something special about a campfire. The warmth of the fire pushing back the cold, the hypnotic flames leaping about, the friends gathered around with good stories and good conversation, and marshmallows on stick all combine for a cheerful and relaxing evening.

The next morning we ate that amazing breakfast, and hit the trails again. We headed down the trails we scouted on Friday, this time with all the members that arrived late on Friday evening. More water and fire and smoke, and great trails with great friends. About half way through the ride, my daughter was getting a little antsy. About that time John, in the Jeep in front of us, lifted his camera on a monopod up over the top of the Jeep. All we could see extending out of the Jeep was a camera on a stick, and to me it looked a little like a robot peeking his head out. I told my daughter, “Look at the robot,” and we both laughed and laughed. Then the camera spun around to our direction, and she said, “It’s looking at us!” And we laughed some more… good times.

The Robot, looking right at us.

After the morning ride, we headed back to camp for some lunch. Brian, our Trail Ride Director, put on a class on how to use a Hi-Lift jack, while we started packing up our gear. We had to get back home so my daughter could attend her cousin’s birthday party on Sunday. We had a great time camping and playing, what a great way to spend a weekend.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Tagged as: Happiness, Intuition, Mish Mash Free for All, Vacation