Growing up North of Hwy 8 I came to like the outdoors. I liked to go hunting, fishing, trapping, and camping whenever I’m able to. Of all of these actives, camping is what I like to do the most. Of all the times I have gone camping, one time always comes to mind. It was July 5th and my dad and I were getting ready to go camping. Living on a farm meant that we had to do a lot of things before we could leave. It was my job to pack the truck with everything we needed for our trip. I put in the food, clothes, bikes, and fishing gear. I could not wait to get going. When my dad got done milking, he came up to the house and got ready. Before we left, my dad asked me if I packed everything. He asked if I had the food, fishing poles, and the tent in the truck. When he said tent, I stopped and thought. Then I remembered that the tent was still in the garage. Embarrassed, I went and got the tent and put it in the truck. When my dad saw this he laughed, and he started listing off other things to see if I had them. I got mad at my dad and got into the truck and waited until we left.
When we were ready to leave, we said goodbye to my mom, and we hit the road. It was a six hour drive to where we were going camping. I had a bag of sunflower seeds to eat on the way up. Part way up, we drove into a down pour. I couldn’t see anything. My dad had to pull over because it was raining so hard. The rain stopped as soon as it started, and we were on our way again. We stopped at McDonalds to eat. When we were done eating, we drove the rest of the way to the campgrounds.

When we got to our site, we set up the tent and got a fire going. We ate supper and sat around the fire and talked until bedtime. At bedtime, we put all the food in the cab of the truck, so the animals didn’t get into the food. Then we went into the tent and got ready to sleep. I rolled out my sleeping bag and crawled in. It was hard to fall asleep because I wasn’t use to sleeping on the ground.

Just as I was falling asleep, I heard a scream and some rustling sounds from the campsite next to us. I quickly got out of our tent and ran over to see what was going on. When I got there I saw a woman running with marshmallows in her hand, and a raccoon was chasing after her. I grabbed a hotdog fork and went after the raccoon. When the raccoon saw me he took off running into the woods. Then the woman came running up to me and thanked me for getting rid of the raccoon. Out of the darkness came a man as white as a ghost. Then the woman turned and glared at him. Next she asked him why he didn’t help her when the raccoon was chasing after her. The man said that he was scared and didn’t know what to do. The woman turned back to me and asked me what my name was. I told her my name was Corbett, James Corbett.
Then a man and a woman came out of the tent. Sleepily, they asked what was going on. The woman with the marshmallows told then what happened. When she was done talking, I asked them what their names were. The woman with the marshmallows said that her name was Karissa. Then she pointed to the scared man and said that his name was Luke. The man and the woman standing next to the tent said that their names were Joe and Ashley. When I heard the names, it rang a bell. I asked them if they lived around the Amery, Wisconsin area. They said yes, and that they lived in Turtle Lake. I couldn’t believe that someone that lives in the same area as me was camping next to me. Then I said that I had enough excitement for the night, and I needed to go to bed.

The next morning I woke up and went to the bathroom. At the bathroom, I ran into Joe and Luke. They asked me if I wanted to go fishing with them. I said that I would have to ask my dad first. Joe said that he didn’t know I was up here with my dad. Also, he asked why I was the only one that came over to their campsite the night before. I told them that my dad slept through it all, and he doesn’t even know it happened. Then Luke said that my dad must be a very heavy sleeper. I told them that I would see if I could go with them. They said okay, and then I went back to my campsite. I told my dad what had happened the night before, and I asked him if I could go fishing with Joe, Luke, Karissa, and Ashley. My dad said it would be okay. We didn’t catch many fish, but in our time fishing together, we found out that we had a lot in common. Over the rest of the vacation, I became very good friends with Karissa, Luke, Joe, and Ashley. Before we left, we exchanged phone numbers. This way we could get in touch with each other back home. This is why I love camping so much. Camping made it possible for me to make four friends of a lifetime. It is funny how you find friends in the oddest places. Now, wherever I go I talk to everyone I can because I never know if I’ll find a new friend.