Well, you can call me crazy. Cause I am. Really. I mean, why would I want to do this in the first place? That's insane!
We may be insane...but we are nowhere near as classy as this man.
At least, that's what everybody was telling me. And the couple of others that were coming with me. Why would you want to? But, you just may be surprised that I'm saying that every person should do this every five years. Of course, most won't, but it should be done so that we can appreciate the life we have.
This came up with a search for 'appreciate life'. Yeah, now I do appreciate life.
What you enjoy most, are those what seem like simple inventions. Indoor plumbing. Toilet paper. Toilets. Running (purified) water. Couches. Beds. Relatively bug-free house. Electronics.
So, you have probably guessed by now, I went on a Wilderness Survival trip. We went way up north in Michigan to where it's just miles and miles of forest, and survived. We drove to the middle of the forest, and then ditched our cars for three days.
We also planned where we were going to do it, cause we don't wanna be breaking any laws. We probably did break a few laws by accident, but we didn't do so knowingly.
We brought pretty much nothing. We brought the clothes that were on us (one pair of socks, one shirt, one pair of some type of jeans/pants, and a hat), and just a few other things. Such as bug spray - deet content at 98.11% or higher, a belt, a survival bracelet (we made that could be taken apart and used as rope), and we each got a water bottle.
We also had a few 'extra' items that we could bring. They ended up being an axe, a tin can, a BB gun, mosquito netting, and fishing hooks.
Suffice to say, we ended up hating every minute of it. Here is a list of reasons why...
1. There were more animals in one aquarium at a grocery store than there were in the miles of forest we were in.
2. The water we drank (after we boiled it), was either black or yellow.
3. Birds are very very annoying at four a.m.
4. Fifty degree weather at night
When we arrived, we built lean-to's. We used sticks big and small, to make huts or at least a space that protected you from the elements. A common one is two "y" sticks put together, with a straight stick between the middle.
However, we ended up not using the lean-to's as it was forty degrees outside! Very very cold when your trying to sleep. How did we solve the cold dilemma? We all slept around the fire, being subject to all the mosquito's that were attracted to us and the light. And yes, there were quite a lot of mosquito's even though it was forty degrees outside. Deet barely works anymore FYI, the human race has created super-mosquito's. I'm quite sure of it. Somehow the US Government is involved (just kidding).
I wasn't kidding about super-mosquito's though...
Remember those old commercials where 5% deet protected you from mosquito's...not these days.
Hunting didn't turn out very well. Neither did fishing. Here is a list of everything we ate:
1. One single bird. The meat on this bird, is what I imagine crap to taste like.
2. Blueberries. We deprived the area of blueberries. For miles. And still, we only had about two little packages you would find at a grocery store. And these blueberries were about half the size of those at grocery stores.
3. Frogs. We caught four frogs. The thigh on the legs was okay. But the feet and fingers and everything else? Disgusting. How people eat that I'll never know.
In total, we starved ourselves for three days. We did a TON of work getting firewood and chopping it up (we didn't want to have to fetch firewood at night because it was near pitch-black and if you want bigger pieces of wood that will last, you have to chop it; we collected all the wood we'd need for night during the day).
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Great and fantastic book. Want to see the movie :)
On our way home, we stopped at Speedway gas station and we each got a $1.00 44 oz soft-drink. Some of us two (like me). Then we dropped by Wendy's.
Of course we smelled delicious. And we looked even better. After all, we were in the wilderness for nearly four days! The one given thing we all ordered was a frosty. I personally like the classic chocolate frosty. Mmm mmm good. Burger wise we all got different things. Let me tell you... that was some of the best food I have ever eaten. I love you Wendy. Thank you for making burgers.
All in all, it was a HUGE learning experience. I plan on doing it every five years of my life, so that I don't take anything I have for granted. I didn't realize just how cushy our lives here in America are. Very much so. We are incredibly lucky.
