While I was home here in Seymour taking a nap, Gary was moving the camper and all his gear to our next destination, Lake Ottawa in the Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
I loved Stevens Lake but Gary prefers Lake Ottawa. What is the difference?
I like simplicity in my campsites. I want them private, surrounded as much as possible by shrubs and trees. I want quiet. I want scenery. The Stevens Lake campsite was perfect to my way of thinking, but then I like camping in a tent.
Gary likes scads of camping gear. Our camper fit perfectly on site 1 at Stevens Lake but there there was no room for the cook tent, the extra gear that Gary brings along. There was also no room for twelve chairs.
Why does Gary have twelve folding chairs of varying kinds? Because we are a throwaway society and Gary is a dumpster diver. He always checks the national forest dumpsters and what he finds are chairs. Many chairs. People come to campgrounds with folding chairs. Like women in shoe storms, they hate to admit that they are not bringing chairs commensurate with their sizes. Sooner or later those chairs collapse.
Usually, all it takes to repair the chairs is a screw. Gary stops at Bigari's Ace Hardware in Iron River, find the correct screws and repairs the chairs. He has found some really nice chairs. The Cabeleas lounger sells for around $60 and it was ours for the cost of a $1 screw.
I particularly like his latest find, a Swiss Gear heavy duty canvas chair worth $40. It is large and comfortable and can take 300 lbs of weight. Apparently that was not enough. It comes with a pocket cooler that I don't use for beer but for books.
What I don't understand is why we need every chair when we camp. There are two down at the lake shore, two at the fireplace, two under the awning, and perhaps two in the cook tent. That's eight chairs. Why the other four? For all the visitors we might have? So far, we haven't had twelve visitors at any given time.
But Gary is a pack rat and a dumpster diver. He can't help himself.
It really would help if people took those chairs home and did their own repairs.
I loved Stevens Lake but Gary prefers Lake Ottawa. What is the difference?
I like simplicity in my campsites. I want them private, surrounded as much as possible by shrubs and trees. I want quiet. I want scenery. The Stevens Lake campsite was perfect to my way of thinking, but then I like camping in a tent.
Gary likes scads of camping gear. Our camper fit perfectly on site 1 at Stevens Lake but there there was no room for the cook tent, the extra gear that Gary brings along. There was also no room for twelve chairs.
Why does Gary have twelve folding chairs of varying kinds? Because we are a throwaway society and Gary is a dumpster diver. He always checks the national forest dumpsters and what he finds are chairs. Many chairs. People come to campgrounds with folding chairs. Like women in shoe storms, they hate to admit that they are not bringing chairs commensurate with their sizes. Sooner or later those chairs collapse.
Usually, all it takes to repair the chairs is a screw. Gary stops at Bigari's Ace Hardware in Iron River, find the correct screws and repairs the chairs. He has found some really nice chairs. The Cabeleas lounger sells for around $60 and it was ours for the cost of a $1 screw.
I particularly like his latest find, a Swiss Gear heavy duty canvas chair worth $40. It is large and comfortable and can take 300 lbs of weight. Apparently that was not enough. It comes with a pocket cooler that I don't use for beer but for books.
What I don't understand is why we need every chair when we camp. There are two down at the lake shore, two at the fireplace, two under the awning, and perhaps two in the cook tent. That's eight chairs. Why the other four? For all the visitors we might have? So far, we haven't had twelve visitors at any given time.
But Gary is a pack rat and a dumpster diver. He can't help himself.
It really would help if people took those chairs home and did their own repairs.
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