Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 16, 2019

at least they’re ALL enjoying the campout

Just imagine the fun they could have with a laser pointer. ✨❤️✨

At last Bernice has stopped dictating into that infernal handheld.

Unplugged from electronics; plugged into nature! Woohoo!!

They are all finally sharing an adventure…

Meteorite, Bernice.

Yes, laying out under a perfectly dark sky. You can truly see the wonders of the Universe! I remember on my visits to a late friend. At his home in the mountains of Western Maryland. Lying out at night and seeing all the meteors and the Zodiacal Belt and the Milky Way. I felt so very puny!!!

Nice, but by morning they’ll be soaking with dew.

https://www.wikiart.org/en/nicholas-roerich/star-of-the-hero-1936

Ok i’m eating my words. I know when to admit when i’m wrong. I thought Luann and Bernice were so attached to their devices and their love of boys that they’d be having panic attacks. But they’re all loving the time they’re having.

here in the high desert of Arizona, we see stars that we never saw living in a large metropolitan area. Except of course, when there’s a full moon like we have tonight. In Prescott wear over a mile high and the air is very clear. A full moon is brighter here than I ever saw in California.

Bernice has redeemed herself.

say what you will, summer nights do get chilly, especially when laying on the ground; I predict cold, achy and cranky before the night’s over. And no coffee in the a.m.? Now that’s a disaster.

I used to lay on the grass to star gaze and study the clouds to find shapes such as a dog or whatever. I often fell asleep. But I tell you, sleeping overnight on the ground truly sucks – you will be sore all over and cranky all day the next day. I wonder if Dez has ever slept on the ground before? Is she just being dreamy wanting to interact with nature. To sleep on the ground, you need to be born to it – born in a tepee or something similar where there is no floor or any furniture so the occupants sleep on the ground. The infant assimilates its body to sleeping on the hard and cold ground and grows up quite comfortable sleeping down there. For folks like us who were born to sleeping in our cribs or parents’ beds, good luck. I’ve slept on the hard ground in a sleeping bag and I always was sore and cranky the next day. Thank God for the invention of air mattresses.

Eh this getting kinda boring now

Ohhh we get to a good point, another separation from phones, I-Phone or Samsung, or tablets, and appreciate in nature, nature. Yes Bernice put down her phone and silly survey, although I bet she still makes electronic notes. The new diary. I love the picture of the sky, and them laying there seeing the universe we are a infinitesimal part of, although I wonder if trying to draw a reasonable facsimile of the Milky Way would be too hard. Jack, NIl, and Tara may still come, but that is not the point really.

Mosquitoes, creepy crawly’s, little—or big—critters, dew. Anyone want to bet the three are in the car before sunrise?

This could be a nice ending to the camping arc. BTW – Luann’s outdoorsey outfit is super cute.

In the middle panel, you can see Luann is wearing her old ’Scout shirt. She was in the “Greg” patrol, Troop 716.

At last, a little redemption for our city slickers!

I love today’s strip. Nature is beautiful.

Dez wins.

This could be a fun end to this camping trip.

Thankfully, they are not too far gone. No electronic devices in sight, and no one is going through withdrawal.

Another daily strip with very nice artwork and coloration. It’s almost as if this arc is as much about new adventures for Greg (and Sheriff Mordecai) as it is about new adventures for his main characters!

Dez has the girls brainwashed, I see. More’s the pity!!!!

You, too, can experience this natural wonder twice over the next several weeks. The Delta Aquariids are at the end of July with a peak on the 29th. Best viewed by readers in the southern hemisphere (keep warm!) they can still be seen from the U.S. low in the southern sky in the hours before and after midnight. The famous Perseid meteor shower around August 12-13 will be hindered by moonlight but the brightest ones will still be visible. Enjoy!

No bug issues? Not realistic then. You’ll meet much more micro-wildlife out there than larger ones.

What I enjoyed the most at a camp-out was looking up at a canopy of stars, the silence, and a breeze barely wafting through the trees!!

Ah, yes. Looking up at the Stars. It was always fulfilling, looking up at the night sky back in the late 50s and early 60s, thru “young” eyes. Before the city put “street lights” up everywhere.

In addition to meteors, the stars, a full moon, even the occasional prop driven airliner, offered hours of endless amazement to a kid sitting on the wooden roof of an old tool shed. Back in the early 60s, the Wallops Island launch facility launch small rockets that covered the heavens with different colors.

Yes, the good old days. ;)

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen the back of Bernice’s head.

What if, over the next day or so, they were shown dreaming—and we see what each of them is dreaming about?

Too bad Dez didn’t have the good sense to bring some 420.

Scorpion!

Nice. Good to see the girls (other than Dez – she’s a “natural”) make it past their inhibitions / apprehensions to actually enjoy the experience.

I’m ….. I’m so happy to see that finally Bernice has let fall out her facade… Finally she’s speechless, looking at something too incredible to be rationalized. Lying with her friends looking at the stars, completely forgetting about her studies. Watching the stars is probably the things I love most about camping. Greg Evans, Karen… thank you…. I…I’M..NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING!!!!

“Nature,red in tooth and claw…”

And then the bugs found them….

A time of happiness.

That last panel is impressive. That perspective is tough to pull off.

I’ve seen the entire Milky Way in places like the woods of East Texas, Copano Bay outside of Corpus Christie, and the top of Kilauea in Hawai’i, mainly because of little light pollution, but the most amazing meteor shower I ever observed was sitting in my driveway one morning after I got off night shift. I just lay down in the bed of my truck and watched the light show until the sun came up.

The alpha Capricornids are active now. Not many per hour but capable of producing some spectacular ones.

If you are interested in the Perseid Meteor Shower. Here is a link for Space.Com for tips on viewing the shower. https://www.space.com/32868-perseid-meteor-shower-guide.html

My husband’s and my favorite PBS advertisement of all time:

Two cowboys are sitting by a campfire in the desert, under the stars. Coyotes are howling in the distance.

First cowboy: “Boy, boy! It’s amazin’ how many stars there are.”

Second cowboy: “You know, what’s really amazin’, Klell, is that recent discoveries within the Orion nebula lend credence to the theory of a whole other solar system, pre-datin’ our own of course, thus increasin’ the chances of our (pregnant pause) not bein’ alone.”

First cowboy: (looking around nervously) “I see.”

PBS—What do you get out of it?

Either this is, Realist gives up on the technology and kicks back or Realist’s pad battery finally dies and she has to join the others.

This is only Tuesday. Plenty of time for Greg’s terrors of darkness to send these ladies back to civilization.

At last! All three of our girls are on the same page. I’m just happy to not see the buzzards circling or pairs of glowing eyes in the distance. We’ve had calamity and hilarity. Can we now end this arc without drama and trauma?

Chiggers !

Seems like, to Bernice, “meteor!” is the night sky version of “Squirrel!”.

Either way looks like The Realist is finally having a good time!

I remember one time doing something similar, but I was looking for satelites.

What are the white things on the ground? Doobs?

?

Mosquito!

Isn’t it great that these women are getting to enjoy looking at the stars at the same time that we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon walk? Coincidence? Maybe not…

I guess it’s not about camping per say, but getting away from the city. Which is always nice.

Lying on the ground with no blanket for any extended period, let alone all night? Chiggers, bugs (which means bug bites) plus lots of critters bigger than insects. The realist, materialist, and naturalist will all be miserable in the morning.

Or the drugs Dez slipped into the stew have kicked in. Either way, OOOOOO!

I just like Dez more and more as this story plays out.

The question to ask, what’s for breakfast?!? As I recall G&K only gave them three cans of stew. Then again, “comic-verse”.

I wonder if the dinosaurs went “ooooo”…

Yes, watching meteors – or meteoroids – is fun. But make sure you put on plenty of bug juice.

This is the Bernice I like, (though I have always liked her), now finally in awe of a natural/physical-chemical phenomenon. The sheer number of stars one can see when the sky is clear will steal your attention (and sense of awe) from just about anything. I always wished that Bernice would have majored in a pure science as opposed to psychology.

Spooky Owls begin Hooting in 7, 6, 5, 4, …

7

Very nice! I still worry a bit about no tent…. but this is a very nice turn.

I keep hoping an astronaut will suddenly show up to explain the constellations…

Awww, very nice. Yeah, I know all about the reality of bugs and critters, but this is very nice indeed.

Panel 3 reminds me of what friends and I did in a region overseas not tainted by light pollution—except that we did it sitting in chairs outdoors and with gin & tonics….

Peanuts smile on Dez

There are nine official dark sky parks here in Utah. Come pay us a visit.https://www.darksky.org/utah-leads-the-world-with-nine-international-dark-sky-parks/

Been there; done that. And the aurora at the same time.

Who needs sleep?