Pilgrimage

Generations before I was born my great-grandfather first made a trek north into the Chippewa National Forest setting precedent for how future family recreational time would be spent. As a child this yearly pilgrimage was truly primitive experienced with a soggy sleeping bag in a saggy tent. As our family grew so did our number of tents. In the heyday we had 3 tents for sleeping and 1 for eating. We would descend like a band of gypsies and the forest

would grow quiet all the animals having fled for their lives!

It was a time to hone survival skills. I recall the year we were required to daily learn to tie a knot. Lest we forget, before we could breakfast we repeated the old and added the a knot-of-the-day. Another year we were each issued our own pocket knife complete with our name engraved in the side. The first-aid kit was quickly depleted. Not sure if that was before or after Dad made us throwing knives. We would play "around the world" on propped up log ends or "splits". The latter being an ingenius game wherein you faced your opponent feet shoulder width apart and took turns throwing your knife into the ground. One would remove the knife from where the opposing player made it stick and place their foot in its spot. This went on until one player did the "splits. In our family this game was customarily played barefoot. So went the activities...

The last time I tented Madigan was an only child. That was 9 years and 5 kids ago. Matt likes a camper. I have to admit it is nice to pull your potty along behind when you are traveling with small children or pregnant women, something Matt knows quite a bit about. It does disrupt my delicate sensibilities thinking that my offspring don't know what "real" camping is. However, I'm getting used to not having to boil wash water for dishes or babies and not spending wakeful nights fretting about who will sleep in front of the tent door in case the black bears come calling.