I gotta tell you, it's been nice to sleep in my own bed all week! While I enjoy camping, living out of a tent is really not living.

My 3 person tent is good for only one person--even a little guy like me. I mean, after you store all your gear in it, saving room for sleeping space, there's little left over. 3 person?--maybe, if you have no gear and are under 5'9".

The ground is never perfectly flat--usually tilted. And never smooth. Inevitably, there's a stone or stick or hump, right under where you feel it the most. An air mattress helps, but only if it's 3-4" thick. Then your sleeping bag slides off of it, and you wake up in the middle of the night thinking "what the hell?" (or "Where am I?")

Camping noises: animals don't really bother me--frogs, birds and such. Mosquitoes in the tent, yes. But we had raccoons prowling about, with them fighting several nights. We all thought they were mountain lions! It was terrifying.
But animal noises aren't as bad as people noises.

Slamming car doors, locking doors with their remote which honks the horn (Oh, how I hate that!). Zipping and unzipping tents, walking about, perhaps to the bathroom (and allowing the door to slam shut). And snoring. THAT really bothers me! Earplugs don't help in shutting out loud snoring. Luckily, for once, this trip didn't have any snorers.

It's cold at night. I'm snuggled in my sleeping bag, and I have to pee. NOOOOOOOOOO! At home, no problem. Camping, I have to get out of the bag and tent, put on shoes (and maybe clothes), and traipse to the potty (often foul smelling). Or the bushes, if available. What a hassle.

I never sleep well when tenting. When I finally fall into a rare deep sleep, it's time to "rise and shine". Breakfast duty awaits. Crap. It's 35 degrees at 6 AM, and I don't want to get dressed and leave my sleeping bag. Double crap.

Did I mention rain? Yep, it did, and yep, my tent insides and sleeping bag got wet. No matter how hard one prepares to stay dry, it's never enough.

And every time I go camping, I say, "This is the last time". But, for some unexplainable reason, I'm a glutton for punishment. I guess it makes me appreciate my queen size bed all the more!