FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for August 25, 2023

Yeah, after a few years in the army in Germany in the mid 60’s, camping in the winter with heavy cold rain just about broke me for camping.

He got to take what victories he can. You shouldn’t deprive him of that.

the difference is thicker than that skull of yours, Rogie.

It will come to Roger about the hug in three or four days. Maybe.

Grizzly Adams. Now that was some good TV. For some reason, I think of Yule Gibbons. Ever eat a pine tree ? Most parts ARE edible.

I never went camping until I joined the Marines.

I grew up in Brooklyn. For the first 20 years of my life, I believed that the world was one contiguous piece of concrete. I had never been on so much as an overnight campout with the boy scouts. My first experience with camping was Air Force Survival School.

I joined the Air Force to fly airplanes. I had never been in one until my Sophomore year in college. It was the back seat of a jet trainer and we did acrobatics.

A lot of my life has been jumping into the deep end first.

So my first assignment was as a Forward Air Controller where I spent a lot of time camping out with the 82nd Airborne Division.

I also had a number of other “ground pounding” jobs where I lived in tents.

All I wanted to do is fly airplanes, and the Air Force thought that meant living in the woods.

Camping or glamping for us was finally buying a “propane” Colman stove. Light a match, turn on gas, coffee and start the day. Previous to this I would use the remaining hot coals from the previous fire to start the new one in the morning. My wife’s cooking is no longer burnt on one-side and raw on the other.

I got to camp “free” in the Army. Never have wanted to camp-out again.

I just noticed the angry eyes on Roger in the last panel…

I really miss camping with my family. I laugh along with these strips, but the annual camping trip was always good fun and much loved. We were an outdoorsy family. The best part was it was cheap fun, and we could do it at the drop of a hat. Load up the tent and the sleeping bags and drive up to the Superior National Forest; there was always a campground with vacancy, since those are primitive campsites and you can’t reserve them in advance — it’s all first come, first served, and payment is on the honor system. Back then it was $5 a night. Cook over a wood fire, fall asleep to loon calls. The main downside is having to lug water from the manual pump, and of course the outhouse and lack of shower facilities. But you can really feel the woods, and smell them, and it’s magic. We’d often end up hitting the woods about the same time the chanterelles came into season, too — made the breakfasts extra nice!

Ah, Roger. #clueless

My mom was into fly fishing, and Dad happily went along when he could. So, as kids, we did a lot of camping— almost every weekend from opening day of trout season in Virginia (it used to be April 1) until sometime in late fall. We also did camping vacations, traveling around to different National Forests.

After my husband and I married, I suggested we go camping. His answer was short. “I had my fill of that in Viet Nam.”

When my son was about 10, I took him on a fishing trip with my brother’s family. He claimed to have a good time (even had an encounter with a young black bear while hiking with his cousin) but when I asked my son if he wanted to go camping again, his answer as short as my husband’s. “Mom, I’ve done that already.”

Let’s all take a guess on that one…

Actually, they will remember and retell that camping adventure many times over the rest of their lives……

Come to think of it, with that fishing hat, Roger looks like Henry Blake.

Roger might be clueless, but then Andie thinks she had good bonding time with Paige.

The best part of a bad camping trip is the end.

A handshake instead of a kiss? Try Scope mouthwash.