Kickin' it old skool

We were feeling adventurous and decided to go camping without a tent or air mattress last weekend.

Yeah, not a good idea.
1) ow
2) dirty
3) wet

To expand on these points, unnecessarily:
1) Tossing and turning to try to get that tree root out of my ribs or to find a new place in my hip for that rock to poke. Keith fared even worse. Because he's older. There, I said it. Old people can't sleep on the ground. How did cowboys do it? Ride in a saddle all day and sleep on the ground at night?!
2) Dogs. That's all. Dogs are dirty animals. Lazlo went swimming and then shook off while STANDING ON OUR BED!! I gave Mia a bath before we left and she proceeded to roll herself in a dirt hole like a chicken strip in cornmeal. So I took her to the creek for a cold bath and she turned into a mud pie. But, camping's dirty, we know.
3) As romantic as it sounds to sleep under the stars and without any kind of barrier at all between you and the natural world all night long, the other thing a tent does for you is: condensation barrier. The second night we got a little smarter and put a tarp over the top of us (we had a spare because Keith's handy like that).

It was blistering hot, so a campsite near water was essential and we were lucky to find an undeveloped spot (FREE!, most important to Keith) right by the creek.

our campsite was across the bridge

under the bridge

Lazlo went swimming, Keith and I sat in the creek and Mia waded in up to her chest. She so wanted to join us, but she just couldn't make herself go all the way.

Early mornings and evenings were sweatshirt weather.

Swimming wears a boy out.

You can call me flower if you want to.

So, camping for a couple of nights and going floating on the Clearwater about 5 times in the last 10 days kept us sane during this crazy heat.

Last night it was over 95° in the tiny house well after dark. The dogs and I went out on the deck just before midnight to get some air. The wind was blowing, but it was hot. Mia sat on my lap and we listened and watched and it was a good summer night, even if it was hot.