Pulled my tent outside today. It hasn't seen the sun in five years. I considered slathering it in sunscreen but couldn't find any. All told the Eureka! is fourteen years old. Old enough to be suffering signs of old age, holes, mold, rot and arthritis. But she was just fine. Even the patch I'd put on the fly a decade ago was pristine. Well, as pristine as a repair job can be.
It erected easily and brought back memories just as easily. Setting it up on the last day of our fourteen day 2002 trip was a challenge. We'd spent most of the day paddling into a stiff headwind. Finally bagged it after seeing what was ahead, eight or more miles of roaring three footers. While Allan cooked the last of our food I set up the tent. The two of us couldn't have handled any more. We crawled into the bags around six o'clock that evening and slept for nearly eleven hours.
Inside I was overcome by the stale tent smell that means wilderness to me as much as sun on spruce. Made me want to curl up and close my eyes for a couple of minutes. Top that with finding a Canadian one dollar Looney on the floor along with four rubber bans. Oh yeah.
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