Sacrifices
When we got serious about kayaking, DW warned me that to paddle some of the most beautiful parts of our country, I'd have to consider overnight camping. And I hated camping. Stratton Lake , 2022. I didn't always hate camping. In fact, I used to love being in the great outdoors. From the time that I first slept in a tent, in Algonquin Provincial Park, as a kid, I looked forward to the smell of a campfire and toasting marshmallows. I was calmed at night by the sound of hooting owls and the calls of loons out on the tranquil lakes. When DW and I first started dating, we camped all the time. She was an avid outdoorsy person and loved to curl up in our tent. The first tent that I bought was with her and we started amassing our own equipment when we moved in together. It wasn't until we had kids and took them camping that my love of sleeping in a tent quickly waned. The kids would awake at the slightest sound and would, in turn, wake DW and me up. They would toss and turn, and as...
