Store bought tents only
I have done a lot of camping in my life. As a child our family would visit the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in a homemade camper. It was built in Zeno Windsor’s shop and was covered by a heavy canvas top. The two double mattresses were custom made and filled with cotton. When our baby sister came along there was an added cot placed in the middle of the camper to accommodate our family of five.
By the time I was in Junior high school I was camping in Utah with my childhood friend, Keith Granger. On overnight camping trips while spending three weeks at a working horse ranch, we slept under the stars. You could hear the wind rustling the cottonwood trees along creek banks while you gazed at millions of stars above. No tent was wanted or needed.
I slept under tarps a few times, tied to trees in four directions. They were only marginally helpful when there was rain.
Twenty-five years later, I spent six weeks in a tent while backpacking alone on the Appalachian Trail, followed by four weeks on the trail the next year. I slept most nights in a two-man tent, necessary because it would barely accommodate one man my size. It was my first store bought tent.
Prior to the IBOB, also known as the “Iron Bowl of Basketball” when Alabama came to Auburn this past weekend, several thousand students camped out just for the opportunity to sit in the Jungle. The Jungle is Auburn student section in Neville Arena.
The students started pitching tents on Thursday for Saturday’s game. It takes a faithful fan to spend the night in a tent when the temperatures are predicted to be below or near freezing. It is much easier if you are the age of a college student. If you are as old as I am, your feet stay cold for three straight months during the Winter.
It is quite a spectacle to see enthusiastic college kids fighting the elements for a good seat in an upcoming game. The rules have changed dramatically as these types of events have become more commonplace.
For instance, you must now be a student enrolled in Auburn. Seems reasonable to me. The largest tent size allowed is for four people. Any items you bring to the site must be able to fit inside the four-person tent. That eliminates the popular beer pong tables.
No fire pits or grills. Generators are prohibited and you cannot run extension cords to the adjacent residence halls. No camping allowed below 32 degrees or with winds above 20 miles per hour. In the most unusual requirement from the viewpoint of a person my age, all tents must be store bought.
There was not much need to spend the night waiting in line for basketball tickets when I was a student some fifty years ago. If there had been, I can almost guarantee that no one would have been in a store bought tent.
How times do change.
o0o
Dan Ponder can be reached at [email protected]