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The Arsenal Files 8
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The Arsenal Files Collection #8 (Arsenal Computer) (1996).ISO
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RUBY61-6
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1996-09-30
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Copyright (c) 1996
THE WEST WAS NOT WON, WE MERELY SURVIVED
by
Randall A. Hahn
If you ever sit down to check out an old western movie or
perhaps a western novel, at some point you will read about
cowboys sitting around a campfire, consuming some "grub",
telling stories about past adventures and plotting their
exciting activities for the following day. I believe that this
is the common cause of our infatuation with the concept of
"camping".
As a younger person, often I and some friends would engage
in a weekend activity we referred to not as camping, but as
"naturing". The required packing list for such trips was as
follows, and generally restricted to: fishing equipment, a tent,
munchies, a "ghetto blaster" and beer. Sometimes it was necessary
to add a couple of items - generally both were beer. Though I
have gotten older and given in to the pressure to call it camping,
my version of the packing list has not changed much. This is not
an opinion shared by my spouse, whom I think never read a Western
novel OR saw such a movie.
At the suggestion of a camping trip she expressed excitement. At the
mention of my "packing list" she implored me to join the '90s. I
thought I was being very modern. Cowboys didn't have ghetto
blasters. Or six-packs. Or fans, electrical hook-ups, coffee makers,
electric grills, toilet paper, toilet seat covers, dog leashes,
anchors, etc. Not to mention the Ryder truck it will take to move
all of this stuff to the camp site. Silly me.
I suppose I should consider myself lucky that my family is "low
maintenance" and not demanding the purchase of a pop-up camper
or Winnebago. After all, this could be considered "bare
essentials" too. No A/C? No indoor plumbing?
I haven't seen anyone "naturing" or legitimately camping during
the search for an acceptable campsite (which must, of course,
provide shower facilities). I guess real camping joins the list of lost
arts.
The only real cowboys, these days, are found in Dallas.
-end-