gearing up

for a camping trip.  nick and i are headed to lassen state park in the morning.  we'll be out in the boonies till the middle of next week.  okay, now, when i was a wee lad way back when my family would often go for extended camping vacations.  back then they were totally exciting.  i especially loved the gear that is needed for camping. 

i totally forgot about needing all that gear.  i've not camped since i was, oh, about 12.  so we had to buy much of that gear and then pack it up.  man oh man!  that alone is exhausting work.  we went to REI, an outdoors sporting good store, hoping to pick up a few things, including a hat for me and some clothing and a couple of air mattresses.  the prices for just ordinary stuff -- what i thought was ordinary stuff -- was outta this world!  i mean, c'mon, really?!  $75.00 for a pair of shorts!  fuck that shit.  so we went to COSTCO where i bought two pairs of shorts and a pair of trousers for half that amount.  then we stopped at TARGET where we found all the gear we needed for very very very reasonable prices.

and it was still a lot of gear!  i wanted the hat not only to keep the sun out of my eyes but to not worry about what the fuck my hair looks like.  i plan on going caveman and not shave too!  just watch me.  pure atavism.

i promise NOT to take pictures of neanderthal lopez.