Going off on a camping trip? Does your camping pillow pass muster?
Among all of your camping gear, a good camping pillow is an essential item for maximum enjoyment of your trip. Yes, you've got to have stuff to cook with, a fishing pole, a good sleeping bag and so on. I'll never forget the year, way back in the day, when my sister invited me on a camping trip to Yosemite with she and her DH. Just bring your sleeping bag! I'll bring everything else! Hey, sounds great. Now I must tell you that my sister is absolutely not the outdoors type, although she fancies herself to be a Master camper. I bit.
When we arrived at the campground, she began to unpack the car, which contained everything but the kitchen sink in the way of camping equipment, and more food than could be consumed in a couple of weeks, with two noticeable exceptions. One, there was not a fishing pole to be found. Two, there was nothing to serve as a camping pillow. I figured they hadn't planned on any fishing, duh. But, no pillow?? When I inquired about this, she brightly said, Oh! You don't need a camping pillow! We're roughing it! You can roll up a towel and lay it over a rock. I couldn't believe my ears. OK. I should have known. With her, any type of outdoor activity had to have that element of 'roughing it' to make it real.
She had every other convenience one could hope for, but no camping pillow or even a reasonable facsimile. So, after unloading the car, she and her husband set up their tent and I spread out my bag on a nice soft bed of pine needles. Then I looked for a suitable rock. To my mind, there's no such thing. However, I made do with a large flat rock, over which I placed a thick, folded towel. I lay there, thinking of a proper camping pillow I now wished I'd brought. A large square of waterproof canvas, filled with foam. Easy. Comfortable. Oh well.
It was difficult to even toss and turn with my rock arrangement. Didn't get much of a night's sleep. Along in to the middle of the night, here comes my sister to 'check' on me. She'd heard bears rousting around. Her rock couldn't have been any more comfortable than mine.
Well, the story of camping without a real pillow doesn't end here. My sister took it into her mind that the reason the bears were coming around was because there I was, outside, and was probably about to get my period! Although I wasn't, she then decided that, for safety's sake for all concerned, (the bloodthirsty bears would smell blood), I must scrunch up in the car and sleep! Oh, I was mad! But there's no arguing with this woman. Besides, without a camping pillow, the seat of the car was considerably more comfortable than the rock. I went to sleep.
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