The every day monotony had really gotten to me. So I had a brainstorm. I would go camping. It had been a long time since I had been camping, and getting away from the house and the city seemed appropriate for curing what was ailing me. I found and put on my camouflage shirt and pants, and then my rugged brown boots. Then I began to pile necessary gear onto my bed to be taken outside and loaded in the truck.

Once dressed, I grabbed some of my necessary gear, the flashlight, the sleeping bag, matches, and lantern. I made my way through all the new home decor accents that were freshly added only days ago, and out through the front door to my trusty truck. I threw the gear into the bed of the truck and went ahead and started it up. Then I went back inside for the rest.

While returning for the second load, It came to me I had stored the small little tent in its box in the basement. I thought I might take it along to keep out the mosquitos. The bulb was burned out in the light, but there was enough seeping through the single window for me to see and retrieve my tent. With tent in hand, I attempted to climb back up the fifteen stairs, and resume packing. But in my haste, I tripped over the dyson upright vacuum cleaner that was right off to my side. I dropped the tent onto the blade of an old sickly that was supported upwards by an old paint can.

I took the tent out to examine it, and it was punctured through in several places. Too raggedy for me to really use. So I decided I would just sleep on the ground, close to the camp fire, and rough it, like I did when I was young. I would brave the mosquitos and other bugs that came with camping out Hillbilly style.

I put down the tent over in a near corner, but the side of the box just caught the edge of a paint thinner can and turned it over. Naturally, the lid was not on it very good, so immediately I was met with the fumes of paint thinner everywhere. I quickly grabbed for the can, sat it upright, adjusted the lid, and went to find rags to soak up the thinner. I found an old rag box and got as much as I could up. I knew what was left needed to be diluted with water. I opened the window and headed outside to put the garden hose through and water down the spill.

Soon the rags were out in the back yard, and the basement floor was adequately doused with water enough to dilute the thinner and keep the basement from going up in flames. The window was slightly cracked to help with ventilation for a while. Then I noticed that my vision was almost next to nothing. It had become dark as I had been working on cleaning up my mistakes. So it was too late for me to go camping anyway.

It was dark before I got the gear out of the truck and returned into the house. In spite of all my efforts, I was not able to pull off this camping trip. It was just too late to head out. I had to laugh at myself when I thought about the events of the day. But one thing about it, this camping trip was anything but monotonous.