I've decided that as much as I as I love nature and the forest, I decidedly don't like:

* sleeping on the ground

* sweating profusely for indeterminate, endless, periods of time

* getting eaten by ticks, mosquitos, and biting flies who apparently think I'm sweet and delicious

* sharing the bathroom facilities with 5 species of moths, 2 species of spiders including 1 as large as my thumb, and innumerable various tiny, fluttery and creeping arthopods, almost so many that the cinderblock walls seem to be moving

Not that I mind bugs in general.... I'm not squeamish. But everyone has a limit. And my limit is getting eaten alive through a layer 40% DEET and being afraid to set my little bottle of soap on the shelf above the sink for fear of disturbing the native wildlife.

I have a dream.... a dream of owning a small, air-conditioned RV, like a... I don't know.... a Jayco Flight 19RD... not that I've been studying the choices or anything. Which also means I'd have to trade-in my little Focus (~21 mpg) for big honking Expedition (~13 mpg). And I'd have to rent storage for the RV because the HOA has rules against parking one's own vacation property in one's own driveway.

I'm good at impulse 'getting-in-over-my-head' (also known as 'instant gratification'), but I'm not so good at 'saving-up-for-future-enjoyment' (since it usually means 'delayed gratification'). Which is why my RV is still an expensive dream I can't bring myself to indulge in.

But I'm thinking of socking away part of the paycheck from my new job (which starts on Monday, btw - ye-gads) toward the RV and SUV.