Companionship, helping out matter

By Ben A. Ewell, Jr.: On a recent summer weekend, about 12 guys with their kids camped in the High Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. I was asked to join them and did along with my three sons.

For what is a fairly normal summertime experience, there were a few things different this time. This was a large group, some of whom I had never met.

While I have camped with my sons over the years, it took a while. Maybe it was the fact that growing up on our farm on an unpaved road west of Brighton, Ohio, we didn't have a bathroom or indoor plumbing until I was in college. I am sure this had something to do with it.

I can still see the look on the faces of my college classmates from New York and Chicago when they learned of folks like us having only an outside privy.

No one needs six bathrooms as I now have but at least one, like we eventually got back on the farm, is a good thing.

This recent weekend reminded me that personal relationships and time together with others in a very impersonal world is a good thing. So is seeing the sky full of stars on a clear night and the sounds of a lake lapping against the shore, and birds and animals of the outdoors.

With no television, e-mail or cell phones, people are friendlier and more willing to help each other cook the meals, clean-up, to help Jack who got a severe cut hiking and Tanner who organized the outing. There were also Neil, Tim and a couple of Mikes, along with John, Wes, Rob and Rod.

Rod helped by finding the running board that fell off my truck on the very rough road into the camp. Chris liked the companionship of the adventure as much as he disliked the lack of a bathroom.

Yes, there's more to camping. It got me thinking that life years ago and thousands of miles away on our farm had many of the same things -- helping each other, enjoying and respecting the outdoors, seeing the stars on a clear summer night and the sights and sounds of all things in nature.

Just like the farm, there was all of this, and no bathroom. If asked, I plan on going again next year.