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Two different people said we should go out and buy another air mattress:  The very next day, after spending a miserable night on the ground, we rode to Rogersville.  While we were there, we did spend $30 on a new air mattress.  I took the money out of our Dave Ramsey clothing envelope.  Hey, you could wear a mattress if you had to!  Even counting that expense, we still saved lots of money by camping and not eating out.  


Lindi had this to say:  "Sandwiches and cold cereal!  My favorite part of camping was my Coleman stove or cooking over a campfire.  That's the only time I liked hot dogs and s'mores.  Long time ago."
Cliff and I had a great laugh at this one.  Long time ago indeed!  Lindie, we took the Coleman stove, and we used it to make coffee.  I also took a skillet and a pan in case I wanted to cook.  However, I want you to imagine riding a motorcycle for five or six hours at age 67.  A lot of the allure of riding a motorcycle is feeling the wind in your face, but fighting that wind in your face wears you out after several hours.  Now imagine your tired self getting off the motorcycle, putting up a tent, and pumping a little plastic bellows for fifteen minutes to blow up an air mattress.  Honey, if you feel like cooking supper after that, you are a better woman than I.  Then after all this, imagine living in a 67-year-old body, sleeping on rocks all night, and getting very little sleep.  Would you seriously want to cook something that would dirty up a pan that you are going to have to wash?  Seriously?  I was doing well to make coffee, and the only reason I got that done was my addiction to caffeine.  The second morning there we found out Randall makes coffee in the office every morning before 6 A.M., and I didn't bother making my own.  We left an extra $5 when we settled up, in gratitude for the coffee, clean rest room, and shower.     


We intend to lighten our load next time.  I'm taking fewer groceries that need to be cooked, since I wound up cooking nothing, not even the can of Campbell's tomato soup.  We'd also like a one-burner Coleman stove.  The two-burner one we have is pretty heavy and takes up precious room.  Even with a trailer, by the time you pack sleeping bags and luggage and a tent, and leather coats and chaps, it gets pretty crowded.  We love to stay at Hub resort because, for one thing, bikers look out for one another.  Also, if torrential rains came and we wanted to abandon the tent, we could quickly rent a motel room for $55 plus tax.   


There was one thing that helped me make it through part of my miserable, sleepless night:  A group of BMW bikers from Wisconsin sat around a campfire just a few yards from our tent and talked.  I couldn't make out much of their conversation, just bits and pieces.... just enough to keep me tuned to what they were saying and get my mind off my troubles.  I was fairly sure they were from Wisconsin, judging by their accent.  Then I'd hear phrases like "when I worked up in Minnesota" or "when we were fishing in Canada", and I was positive Wisconsin was home to them.  I verified this the next morning by looking at their license plates.  
The group was made up of about ten guys.  They were drinking beer and passing around a bottle of moonshine.  Every once in a while I'd hear somebody say, "Here, take a pull."  And they'd start talking about their 'shine again.  
There was, of course, some colorful language.  What really cracked me up was when a couple of them came fairly close to our tent to take a leak (I could hear the splashing).  I made out their conversation quite well, but what cracked me up was the loudest guy back at the campfire (isn't there always one loudmouth in every group?) called out, "What are you guys doin', comparing?"  
And then, "Hey, are you guys hookin' up, or what?"  
By the way, we were in a dry county.  But then, who's going to bother people on private property?  
Personally, I think the whole idea of a dry county is ridiculous.  Just think how much money they could be making from liquor tax.  Surely they don't think they are stopping anybody from drinking?