If the winter camper likes he may provide himself with an Indian tent—a circular tent with a hole at the top. With such a tent the fire for cooking may [[95]]be made on the ground within the tent. The smoke will draw pretty well out of the hole at the top of the tent. The miner’s tent, which is conical in shape, with the pole in the middle, can with little difficulty be used in the same way as the Indian tent. If you are going to have any fire in the tent, other than in an oil or gasoline stove, it will be wise to fireproof the tent. To fireproof a tent all that is required is to get a few cents’ worth of alum at any drug store. Dissolve the alum in water and soak the tent fabric in the solution until it is thoroughly wetted, after which dry it out.
Whether you sleep in your car or sleep out in a tent, you will find in cold weather that a good sleeping bag is a great source of comfort. They come in many varieties and are fully described elsewhere in the book. Here suffice it to say that a mighty comfortable and inexpensive home-made sleeping bag may be constructed by taking flexible, enameled oilcloth, a high-grade horse blanket or a pure wool house blanket. Continue the bag back of the head and neck so as to form a hood over the head. This bag can be improvised with large safety pins to hold it together. Have the flexible oilcloth in two pieces. Pin the pieces together, roll in the blanket and slide in. Change your stockings if you would avoid cold feet. [[96]]
CHAPTER VIII
FIRE AND FOOD FOR THE CAMPER
Raw Foods—Hotels—Various Fuels Compared—Fireplaces Provided at Most Camp Sites—Wet Weather Fire-making—Primitive Cooking Methods—Prepared Foods—Corrective Foods—Camp-fire Cooking—The Dingle Stick—Forestry Regulations Concerning Camp Fires—Coffee and Flapjack Making—Wayside Markets—Men Cooks—How to Cook a Quick Meal—Improvised Fireplaces—A Varied Dietary—An Ideal Meal—A Balanced Menu—Recipes for Camp Cooking—A List—Biscuits, Flapjacks, Corn Bread, Corn Meal Mush, Fish, Rabbits, Squirrel, Game Birds, How to Boil Potatoes, Baking in Clay, etc.
The motor camper will always require fire because food and drink cannot be properly or palatably prepared without the assistance of fire. It may be thought that this rule like others admits of exceptions, and perhaps this is so. There are some people who do not seem to believe in fire, at least in connection with the preparation of food. Their religion seems about the opposite of that professed by the “Fire Worshipers.” As the Brahmins of India will not eat anything that has ever been alive, so these people will not eat anything that has been cooked. We might term those we have in mind the “Raw Food Worshipers.” They are not very numerous, still there are enough of them to make it worth the while for grocers to carry the products [[97]]they demand in the way of raw wheat crackers, raw oat biscuit and the like. We have met these people on the road, and it must be confessed that they appear to be a well-fed, well-fleshed folk, whether made so because of a diet of raw food or not is somewhat uncertain as sequence is not always consequence. These people, naturally, will not need instruction concerning camp fires.
There are still others met with along the road who are not interested in the subject of fire and the preparation of food. We refer to those motor tourists who tour but do not camp—those who always travel on until a hotel is found where they may eat and lodge. This is an easy and from some standpoints an attractive way of traveling, but very much more expensive than motor camping.
In some circumstances it may be the wise way of procedure. We have known of many bridal couples that have spent their honeymoons motor touring. We would not advise a newly married couple to try motor camping. While motor camping may offer more adventure and real enjoyment than motor touring with its eating and sleeping at hotels en route, it is more perilous in its effects upon the disposition. The infinite variety of experience that motor camping offers is likely to bring some things that will tend to cloud the honeymoon, and the young couple had best have a year or two of experience in trying out the problem of living together before undertaking camping. It may here be remarked that where a camping party includes more [[98]]than the family it would be well to be sure in advance that all composing the party are congenial and ready to work together in harmony.
Coming to the question of fire, it may be said that the easiest thing to do is to take along a stove of some sort.