Grace Points: Camping Theatrics:

"A man's got to know his limitations." Well spoke Clint Eastwood in the movie 'Magnum Force.' I should heed those words more often and perhaps I wouldn't humiliate myself whenever I go camping. There is, you see, something about a camping trip that compels me to risk my safety. I don't know why it is, but when I am camping, I throw caution to the wind.

I drove down to Kentucky with two friends for a week long trip. It was about an 8 hour drive, so when we finally arrived at the campgrounds we were all desperate to get out and hike. So we did. We quickly set up camp, grabbed a bite to eat, and then set out for adventure.

Since we still had not found any adventure after nearly 15 minutes, I decided to create my own. We happened upon a small, very shallow stream about 10' wide. My companions immediately ambled through the water, beckoning me to follow. Ignoring them, I decided to walk up stream a bit in the hopes that it would narrow enough for me to leap across it. It did. There were a few problems, however. For one thing I was loaded down with "stuff". I had a small pack, a canteen, and I was wearing really heavy (steel toe, steel shank, each one weighs about 10 pounds) boots. Oh, I also had a big camera bag slung over one shoulder. The next problem was that I had no room to get a running start. I had about one step to get up to speed. Finally, I had to contend with "The Branch". "The Branch" stuck up in the air about 5 feet and was connected to a larger, fallen limb that lay in the water. But did any of this deter me? Never! I had a plan. Plan A: take my one step, launch myself over "The Branch," across the stream, and safely onto dry ground. I would, in essence, do what is probably humanly impossible. If plan A failed plan B, by default, would immediately be implemented. Plan B: crash through "The Branch" and plod through the stream.

As you may well imagine, plan A failed miserably.

The next thing I remember was lying on my back, in the stream, staring up at "The Branch". Plan B also had failed miserably.

All was not in vain though. We all learned lessons that day. I learned that I should always get a running start of at least three steps, and my friends learned that they should always have their cameras ready.