Mike, Chris, and I pack up the necessary
gear for a camping expedition.  Most
kids had a father or uncle who has
served in WWII or Korea.  There was
a lot of military surplus gear available
to us.  We took two pup tents,
mess kits, and canteens.  We raided
the refrigerators and pantries for provisions.
Dads were at work, but we told
the moms that we were going to camp out for a couple of nights –
it was no big deal.

We traveled out of town and into
the country with our boy scout packs.
There were woods a couple of miles
out of town, but I don’t know who
owned them and we never had a 
thought about asking permission to
use them.  We were only going to camp
and then were done and gone there
would only be the remnant of our
camp fire and a slight disturbance of
the brush and ground.  This was years
before beer and other teenage pursuits
and still a very innocent time. 

We made our camp and stayed up 
late just talking – school, and girls, and
what we were going to do when we grew up.

The next day, we fished in a nearby
pond and fried fish to eat. A balance
diet was never thought about.  There
would have been beans and Vienna
sausages as a plan B.