“What I like about camping is you can get really dirty.

Either you're all by yourself, so no one else sees you,

Or everyone you're with is just as dirty as you are,

So nobody cares.”

An Anonymous Former Boy Scout

Music:  A Whole New World

As The Great American Backyard Campout now approaches

I’ve now been busy, gathering my treasured old camping gear

And each camping item that I fondly find in my storage shed

Brings memories of so many camping trips, through the years

I soon recall my very first camping trip, with the Cub Scouts

As a Big City kid, it was my introduction to nature’s paradise

I met many other city kids just as interested in nature as I was

We all sat around the blazing campfire, so magical, in our eyes

I soon progressed to the Boy Scouts, and many marvelous trips

With their interstate Camping Jamborees, in our national parks

And no matter how many trips I went on, I always wanted more

And no matter how old that I got, I loved every campfire, at dark

After I outgrew Scouting, I soon began going camping, on my own

To national parks, remote wild lakes, and sandy dunes, at the seashore

My love of camping was now inherently entrenched in my heart and soul

At the end of each and every camping trip, I still always yearned for more

I also quickly discovered that my canines were great camping partners

They never cared how dirty we got, or how simple camp meals might be

They, too, always delighted, in sleeping out under the stars, by a campfire

No matter where we wandered to camp, they, like me, were filled with glee

My spouse, however, even though she’s a Native American, is now spoiled

She craves fancy resorts, heated swimming pools, and indoor toilet facilities

But she does look forward to the annual Great American Backyard Campout

This evening, she’ll be joining me and the dogs, under our old backyard tree

Why not join thousands of Americans getting back to nature,

For The Great American Backyard Campout, which is today;

Introduce your kids and/or grandkids, to a whole new world,

Who knows, they just might thank you for it, one future day.

©2010, Old Camping Enthusiast Mr. Ed