> Oh yeah, sure.  But what about...shoes, socks, new cookstove, new tent for
> the extra kids I am now bringing.  Then there are the sleeping bags to
> replace, the air mattresses to replace, a bigger better porta potty.  How
> about a real camping lantern.....
I still use the same sleeping bag that my parents bought me when I was 10,
a tent left over from when I was in the Boy Scouts (I kid you not).  I
don't have a lantern, I stumble about in the dark (which I have plenty of
practice doing when I am at home, especially now that we are off daylight
savings time, as there are no lights at my place).  My dad bought me an
air mattress last year for Christmas, before then, I slept on the ground
(or in the bed of my truck). I pee behind a tree.  I eat cold turkey and
cheese for dinner (no need for a cook stove at all, I would probably just
burn the food anyway).  And I don't have any kids to bitch and complain
that we are roughing it. 
I also don't have a crew, so even if I did have all this stuff for
camping, etc.  I wouldn't have time to use them.  I'm too busy taking care
of the horse to worry about taking care of myself.  Of course, maybe if I 
had all this stuff, I would have a crew too (because crews as well as 
kids can bitch and complain about the roughing it).
If the weather gets really bad (like it did last week at Cuyamaca), I 
sleep in the cab of my truck.  Sometimes I sleep in the trailer too, if I 
am at a multi-day ride and it has been a while since the horse occupied it.
As, I added, maybe the cure is being broke.
kat
Orange County, Calif.