Last week I began training in the processing of transfer student applications, which keeps me away from my desk and thus my computer, leaving me little chance to email or blog. Training has continued, but we quit a little early today, and I've just finished all the other work on my desk. I'd rather do this for a few minutes before searching out more work to keep me occupied.

I did attempt to go camping over the weekend. But with all the last-minute rush on Saturday afternoon to procure a tent, we perhaps neglected a few of the details of preparation. After driving down to the Wichita Mountains (we had decided to camp at the wildlife refuge there rather go to Turner Falls) and taking our pick of the campsites (we had the place to ourselves), we fought against the rising wind and rain and cold temperatures to lay the ground tarp and spread out the tent-- only to discover that we had no stakes or poles for said tent. A bit of a problem, especially given the weather, which hadn't been pleasant all day and was rapidly getting worse, and also the darkness which inevitably ensues shortly after six o'clock during January. Really, I thought we'd been lucky to have light as long as we did. So we got back in the car, drove back to Norman, rented some movies, and had a slumber party with our sleeping bags.

But, as I told Amy, one of the reasons I love to camp (in addition to the communing-with-nature-cooking-over-an-open-fire bits) is that it's the closest thing to traveling overseas that I've found within the U.S. The unexpected can, and usually does, happen at any moment, your belongings are pared down to only the essentials, and a change in the weather almost inevitably effects a significant change in your plans.

And we did have our road trip-- about six hours of it, all told-- which is the thing we were really wanting anyhow.