Day 1

Tuesday 5/31/22

I spent weeks gathering equipment and supplies that I thought, guessed, we would need. I worried that there would be something important that I would miss packing. Two days before we left, I packed snack packs made of almonds, dried fruits, and a beef jerky stick. I made enough for two of these a day each. I also packed Cliff Bars, Kind bars, a bag of brown beans, Kind chocolate granola for me and Chex Mix for Ian. The last two would be our desert. The plan was to eat a Cliff Bar for breakfast (with coffee, of course), a snack pack mid-morning, a Kind bar for lunch, another snack pack mid-afternoon, beans and fish for dinner, and granola and Chex Mix for a late-night campfire snack. We brought a Sawyer water filter with a one-gallon pouch and two 1-liter pouches. We would scoop up river water in the large pouch, filter into the 1-liter pouches, then boil the water in the coffee pot. The boiled water would then be poured into 16.9 oz water bottles that we carried in with us, three each, and reused throughout the trip. Our water would be filtered and purified.

Ian and I left Pryor Creek, Oklahoma around 1:00 pm. This was after we met Leslie and Zane to have a burger for lunch and say goodbye for a few days. Ayden was at football camp. Ian slept at least half of the drive. School had just ended, and he had a very exhausting last few months, turning sixteen, starting a new job, healed from a collarbone injury, a back injury, a recent head injury and broken finger, a car accident, hanging with friends, now dating, and all of the other end of the school year and spring football events. I had told him the last couple of weeks that he really needed to rest as I could see how tired he was. I was worried about him. I was excited for this road trip with him, but I knew he needed to sleep, and this drive may have provided him with his first chance to do just that.

We arrived in Ponca, Arkansas around 3:30 pm. We lost cell service about fifteen minutes before we reached our destination. The only plan that I had was to drive to the Buffalo River Outdoor Center and ask if someone could point us in a good direction. The girl working inside was very helpful. She showed us on a map of place to enter a trail. She told me we could leave the Jeep in their parking lot if we wished. I wrote on the map and took a picture to send to Leslie so she would know where we were in case something happened to us. We drove back on our original route to try to pick up cell service to send our approximate location to Leslie. After about fifteen minutes, I told Ian, we can’t go any further. We have to get started so we can find a camping spot before dark. “Mom knows me and knows that I will survive and will definitely find a way to keep her baby boy alive.” We drove to the low water bridge area where the trail started and unloaded our gear. Ian drove the Jeep back the outdoor center, gave our key to the attendant inside (I guess in case something happened to us and Leslie could get the Jeep) and walked about one mile back to me. While he was gone, I secured everything to our 80-liter back packs so we could carry everything in at once.

We trekked in about a mile or less and found a spot on top of a bluff. It had a beautiful view of the river but no quick access to get down to it. We dropped our gear and explored for a better spot. Ian found somewhat of a trail leading down a ways away. When we made it down to the river we walked up and down the beach looking for a spot that had higher elevation. There were storms coming the next day and the river had flooded and rose substantially just the week before. The higher elevation areas looked like a jungle with no good places to set up camp. Finally, I came across a small trail going up the bank. Once we got up there, it opened up into a perfect place to set up camp. And there was even an existing rock fire ring that someone had made in the past. Ian and I fist bumped and then hiked back to get our gear. I was proud of us because we dropped our packs at camp at 5:30 pm and by 6:30 pm we were standing in the river fishing. This means that we had the tent set up, the water filtration system hanging in a tree with 2 liters of water already filtered, and a fire going from using flint and magnesium. Only one hour! The hardest part was getting the fire going, but Ian did not give up and finally got it going. We scraped the bark from cedar trees to make a tinder bundle. This would normally be great fuel but there was a lot of moisture in the air. Also, I am no dummy. I brought a lighter as a backup. When I became worried that first night of us not having fire, I pulled the lighter out just in case. Ian abruptly said, “Dad! Put that thing away. I got this!” I put it back in the bag.

We fished a little that evening, swam in the freezing river, then walked on the banks exploring. We saw fresh tracks from deer, racoon, bobcat, and a (gulp!) mountain lion. The last one made it a little harder to fall asleep that night. We ate a snack pack for dinner and then sat at the campfire talking for hours. I made coffee and we ate our granola and Chex Mix for a snack. We went to bed around 11:30 pm.

Campfire Conversation Topics: Friends, Journey to Manhood, Foundations and Importance of Father/Son Relationships, and Lack of Father/Son Communication Issues.

Day 2

Wednesday 6/1/22

I woke up at 6:00 am. I got the fire going. It took a little while because there were no embers left from the night before. I was surprised by that but there was a lot of moisture in the air. The wind blew in a storm, but it only sprinkled for a couple of minutes and then blew on out. I made coffee and ate a Cliff Bar. I read chapter one of Proverbs. I decided Proverbs was an appropriate choice of Bible reading for the trip as Solomon is speaking wisdom into his son. I also read a chapter of Wild At Heart by John Eldredge. This is my third or fourth time to read this book and Ian and I were already working through the book together. We decided that we would bring it with us and read a chapter a day and then discuss the chapter at the campfire each night. I went to get water from the river and saw that an Elk had walked in between us and the river at some point that morning. Ian got up around 9:00 am. After we boiled drinking water, we went down to the river and fished. As I was standing in the middle of the river fishing, a doe crossed the river about 100’ from me. She did not care about me at all. The water came up about three-fourths to the top of her back as she walked slowly through the current. When she got to the other side, she looked at me and then grazed for a bit. Ian could not get the camera ready in time to take a picture, but it would have been a good one with me and the deer both standing in the river.

Ian caught the first fish of the trip, a small-mouth bass. It was about a pound and a half. He wanted to filet it to see how much meat we could get. Even a little to go with our beans that evening would be great. The fish had a lot of worms in the little meat that he could get so we decided to instead use its meat and organs as bait to catch a larger fish, hopefully a catfish. No luck. The smaller fish just nibbled on it as soon as it hit the bottom each time we put new bait out. Ian then went in search of a crawdad. He quickly came back with one and put a hook in between his tail and torso. He cast it out and let it sit but no bites. We sat back at camp as a storm suddenly appeared. We got everything in the tent that we wanted to keep dry and then sat at the fire while it drizzled on us. Quickly the drizzle turned into a violent thunderstorm with thunder and lightning hitting at the exact same time and dumping a large amount of rain. I threw a bunch of logs on the fire in the hopes of saving it and not having to restart a fire with wet logs. I also put the pot of beans on the grate in the fire. We got in the tent and went to sleep while it stormed. About an hour later I woke up and could still hear the rain coming down. I laid there for about twenty minutes until I heard a crow caw and then fly over us. I opened the tent and saw that the rain was gone. In the tent it sounded like it was still raining but it was just the drops falling from the tree branches and leaves above. Remarkably, the fire was still blazing, and the beans were cooking nicely. I went down to the river and saw that in our urgency before the storm, Ian left his pole by the river. I started to reel it in and saw the crawdad still on the hook. He was alive and well, unharmed by any fish. I cast him back out and then saw Ian was making his way down. Ian went exploring down the river for a while. I happened to see a limb coming off a tree that I thought would make a great walking stick. I had pre-planned that Ian and I would make our own walking sticks on this trip. The limb was dead, but the tree was alive. I took the hatchet and chopped off the dead limb. I then whittled it down into the shape I wanted. When Ian came back and saw my walking stick, he said, “I want to make one.” I told him that was the plan all along and he went off and found a small cedar tree, chopped it down, and spent a lot of time and effort into making an amazing walking stick. It blew mine away.

That night, we ate beans and crackers. They were wonderful campfire beans! We sat at the campfire until 12:30 am talking. I made coffee and we ate our granola and Chex Mix. We talked about our Wild At Heart chapter and then Ian asked about me and Mom’s first date. I went way back in history talking to him about my first date ever, then my junior high, high school, and college relationships, before I ever answered his real question about our first date. I wanted him to see the big picture of how and why I ended up with his mother. “Campfire Conversations,” as Ian would later refer to them, are different than any other kinds of conversations. There are no distractions and little boundaries. They are raw, man-to-man communication. The fire draws things out of a man and gives him the freedom, the time, and attentive platform to speak and listen. Campfires have given me some of my greatest memories with my grandpa, my dad, my brother, and my own sons. Ian shared some things with me about his thoughts and feelings toward a young lady he has been talking to. The campfire gave him an opportunity to share some things with me that he normally may want to keep to himself. A tighter bond and trust was formed around the fire that night.

Campfire Conversation Topics: Relationships, Sex, Pornography, Every Man’s Question; “Do I Have What It Takes?”

Day 3

Thursday 6/2/22

It took me a while to fall asleep last night. I kept thinking a bear was going to come into our camp and attack us while we slept. It did not help that I could hear something walking around our tent. I was careful the night before to dispose of the beans away from camp and clean the pot after dinner. I was so caught up in our conversation that I did not think about tying our food up in a tree outside of camp. I would not forget again. I woke up around 8:00 am. Ian slept until 9:30 (teenagers…). While I waited on Ian to wake up, I read Proverbs chapter 2, made coffee, ate my Cliff Bar, boiled drinking water, and put the beans in the pot to soak. I had a little trouble getting the fire going again as there were no embers left from the night before, again.

When Ian got up, he said that he wanted to go on a hike. We grabbed our walking sticks, loaded a snack pack and a Kind bar in our small tactical sling bags, and refilled our water bottles. We hiked the Steel Creek trail and back which was around a total of three and half miles. We had some great conversation as we hiked. We talked about high school football and some of his upcoming goals. We saw a dead wild hog on the trail, a sow. She looked like she had washed down the rocks the previous week during the major rain and flooding that occurred. We passed a few people along the trail. We stopped about a quarter of the way in and sat on a log and ate our snack pack. Ian took out his hatchet and worked on his walking stick a bit more. He found some places on it as we walked that he didn’t like. He is very particular about things much like his dad, borderline perfectionist.

I told Ian that I wanted to talk more about goals tonight at the campfire and then asked him what he wanted to talk about now. He said, “Ok Dad. So, there is this snail. His one mission in life is the kill you. If he touches you, you are dead. He never stops moving but consistently travels at his normal snail speed and he always takes the fasted direction towards you. Oh, and did I mention he is immortal? What would you do?” Oh my gosh, we talked about this for an hour. This blew my mind. Trying to escape this snail for the rest of your life not knowing where he is and when he might catch up to you…yikes! We discussed several scenarios, but the fear of this dang snail would always haunt you. All our scenarios led to dead ends and still having the anxiety of where he is on his mission to kill you. This was a fun conversation!

On the way back, we stopped and sat on a cliff over-looking the river. We ate another snack while we watched people below maneuver their canoes past some rapids at the bend of a river. We sat in silence just taking in the peacefulness. I finally broke the silence to tell him that he is a lot like me. We are not afraid to be alone with our thoughts. I told him that my mind is always thinking about things, usually deep things. I explained to him that it is hard for me sometimes to hang out with men who just want to tell stories one after another. When I am in a group of men, or couples, I can go about twenty minutes of “talking about the weather” before I’m out. I told him that by “talking about the weather,” I am referring to surface level topics or guys who have perfected their story telling of past experiences. I explained that there is nothing wrong with these things, but my mind is moving onto deeper things and if no one wants to go there with me, then I feel like I am wasting my time and can be more productive alone. I shared with him that when his mom and I are at a social gathering where the men and women split off. I am usually coming to get her after 20-30 minutes because I have heard enough of one or two guys controlling the conversation with their past stories that are meant not to help anyone else, but only to boast. I go in to find your mom, and the women are all talking about deep things that are productive that have intentions rooted in helping each other be better wives and mothers. I told him that I have had to work at being a little more patient with people socially and that I see a lot of these same traits in him. It is a good quality, I told him, but we have to have balance because relationships with others are vital, especially with other men.

When we got back to camp, I jumped in the river and fished while Ian read for a while. He then started on a walking stick for Zane. Ayden would be coming on this trip in two years, and he could look forward to making his own walking stick with dad then. I diced up a Slim Jim beef jerky and put it in the beans while it was cooking. It gave it a little extra flavor. We ate the beans and crackers and then walked down around the bend of the river. The storm the day before and the runoff from the surrounding hills and bluffs had significantly raised the water level. On the back side of the bend a large pool of still water formed. I fished it for about ten minutes and caught two perch. The river was wide in this area and the bend, more of a snake, and the river caused some large rapids. This was a beautiful scenic view. I did not have the camera with me so I will go back tomorrow and take some pictures.

We had another amazing night at the campfire. While I worked on making my coffee, Ian practiced his ax throwing on a tree right before dark. Then, we played a couple rounds of UNO and Blackjack. We discussed some of Ian’s goals for football and how to take steps in achieving them. His main goal is to start the first varsity game in Florida. I told him I was going to ask him the next night to tell me his first step that he will take this coming Monday to work towards that goal. I also told him that the two best things he can always do and have control of is: 1. Fly to the football, and 2. Hit hard. Then we talked about Wild At Heart. We discussed, from the book, the ways men can be emasculated by women, school, and even the church. We then talked about “the wound.” I shared with him what I believe my dad’s wound is and then what mine is. I was very open and honest with him. I shared how I had used alcohol at times to deal with my wound and how wrong that was. I told him that I now used writing to deal with it and have found a great deal of healing through that. I asked him if I had wounded him. He said no. I then asked him to make a deal with me. If I ever did wound him, then he would come to me and talk about it so we can work through it. I explained that there is no conversation that I am afraid to have with my sons. We went to bed about 11:30 pm.

Campfire Conversation Topics: Goals, High School Football, Emasculation from Society, and The Wound (how and why every man has one).

Day 4

Friday 6/3/22

I woke up about 7:00 am. It took a long time to get a good fire going. Once again, there were no remaining embers and I had even put a huge trunk of a tree on the fire in hopes of keeping it going all night. The scrapings from the cedar trees were not igniting because they were just holding too much moisture. It took two hours before my coffee was ready. I read Proverbs chapter 3, then walked and fished while I prayed. I came back and read a chapter of Wild At Heart waiting on Ian to wake up. Irritated with fighting the fire starting every morning, I had an idea. I shaved a bunch of bark from a cedar tree and spread it out on the rocks by the fire. I let the heat get all the moisture out of the bark then put it in an airtight plastic bag in hopes of this igniting the next time I needed to start a fire. This worked!

I dried our shoes and socks by the fire while I watched some canoes and rafts go by. There was one thing that I observed watching these floaters that I loved. Every time they reached the bend, I would hear the dad yell out a warning about the upcoming rapids to his young son. He would loudly instruct him on how to get prepared and what to do once they hit. The boy would perk up and answer back with excitement. This was his time for adventure, his time to do something dangerous. Facing danger is inherently a part of a boy’s journey, whether parents like it or not. He’ll be just fine.

Ian woke up around 10:00 am. At 11:11 am we grabbed our walking sticks and tactical bags with food and water and headed out for a trail. We first hiked a trail that led to a historic cabin and farm established in the 1800s by a man called Beaver Jim. We enjoyed seeing his cabin, barns, outhouse, corn crib, smokehouse, and cellar. It was amazing that all of this was still intact, I love seeing the willingness of these men of old to work so hard with their hands to provide safety and a way of life for their families. We then headed up the Boxley Trail for a while. We walked about a mile or so in and then sat and ate and talked. At the start of the trail, Ian asked me how come I did not talk much about my cousins. This led into a great conversation about my, his, family history. We spent an hour or two diving deep into the people that make up who we are and how we got here. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I feel it is very important as a boy reaches the stage Ian is that he knows the foundation he is standing on as he launches forward. I told him that most men, at some point in life, search out answers from their past to know who they are. I told him that he will still do his own searching one day, but that I am giving him a solid place to start. He needs to know these things as they answer questions that he now has or one day will about the who, what, and why of his family history. I gave him great detail about my grandparents, my cousins, and my mom and dad. I shared with him how my parents, his grandparents, made the most mature and adult decision that they would ever make when they were teenagers. With a teen pregnancy, they decided that my life was more valuable than their own and chose to trade their dreams and goals for a new one; to be the best parents they could be for me. I said, “If they had not chose to do that, then I wouldn’t be here, nor would you.”

We arrived back at camp around 1:30 pm. I boiled more water and Ian worked some more on Zane’s walking stick. He was really excited about doing this for his little brother. The beans were almost done when we got back so we ended up having an early dinner. After we ate, Ian wanted to fish again. He caught a little bluegill, a beautiful orange and turquoise speckled fish. We had some really fun conversation while we fished, mostly about movies (something Ian and I both love). He asked me what movies from my childhood should they have made sequels to. I said, “Goonies!” This led to some creative conversation for about two hours!

A cottonmouth came up out of the water at Ian as he was walking. It opened his mouth and came at him. Thankfully, Ian saw it and stuck his pole its face as he methodically moved away. Ian had walked right through his tadpole eating spot. A few minutes later, I looked to my left and it was coming at me just a few feet away. I turn to it and it ducked under water. It then reappeared on my right and started coming at me again. He stopped, then went under and swam to the other side of the river. Soon after, I saw him sunbathing on a rock so, of course, I tried to hit him with some rocks and almost nailed him, twice! We moved on and gave him his space after that.

Back at camp, we ate a snack pack and talked some more, mainly about his friends. Ian read a chapter of Wild At Heart because he wanted to discuss it later. He was really enjoying talking about the book. I fished some more while he read. Later, as we began our campfire conversation, Ian said something that I had to immediately write down. He said, “All the nights are blurring together into one big campfire conversation.” That statement meant the world to me. I could not have expected anything greater from our nightly talks. We both were getting so much out of them, and he was right, they really did just flow from one to the next as if scripted that way. We talked about Wild At Heart, specifically, a father’s voice and about knowing your name, who you are. This is something that I have spoken to them, literally, since they were in the womb. We talked about how a father can only take a boy so far on his journey and then he has to travel the rest alone (in a sense). We discussed sex, inside of marriage. He asked some BIG questions, and I gave his some BIG answers. This led into talking about a book that I read right before I graduated college called, One Flesh, and then onto our spiritual life, our relationship with God, reading the Bible, praying, and leading and serving others.

Just as we were winding down, around 10:30 pm, we heard some voices, then the sounds of paddles echoing from the bluffs. I told Ian, surely no one is floating down the river in the pitch black. The sounds and voices got louder and sure enough, some people were on the river. They beached about 200’ from our camp. They could not see us but I thought I heard a kid’s voice among the other men’s voices. I wasn’t sure if they were in trouble, but I wanted to make sure who they were before I approached them. They immediately took off through the woods getting as close as 100’ from our camp. They never seemed to notice us, but it became obvious that they were there intentionally. The child’s voice turned out to be a woman’s. They were locals. I got really worried, I mean, I’ve seen Deliverance! Ian quietly snuck down to where our food was tied up in a tree and brought it back. I was surprised that they had not seen our bag yet. I told Ian to crouch down and watch from the backside of our camp. I grabbed the hatchet and crept closer through the woods to observe them. I needed to know whether they were harmless or not and also if they were going to keep trekking through the woods towards our camp or if they were going to settle in on the beach.

I think I have read too many Navy Seal books because there was a part of me that started to enjoy creeping closer and closer without them having any clue I was there. I watched them for over an hour before I realized that they were just some knucklehead high school or college aged kids. Once I knew they were innocent I went back to camp and tried to sleep. I did sleep fully dressed including shoes on with the hatchet and knife by my side. They stayed up all night cracking open cans. At this point, I wasn’t worried about them intentionally harming us, but I do know what stupid things liquid courage can cause a young, underdeveloped mind to do.

Campfire Conversation Topics: Know Your Name and Who You Are, The Journey of Manhood, Sex, Spiritual Life and Relationship with God.

Day 5

Saturday 6/4/22

I woke up, from what little sleep I got, about 7:30 am. Ian woke up at the same time. He was excited, not because it was the last day, but in his own words, “I want to get as much as I can out of this day.” I made fire, easy this time. Coffee was ready quickly. We boiled the day’s water the afternoon before, so we did not have to worry about that. We ate a Cliff Bar for breakfast, and I read Proverbs chapter 4 aloud. Around 9:00 am we headed out on a trail. This time we took the Steel Creek trail for about a mile and a half then hiked a ways into the Kyle’s Landing trail. Today, we hiked further as we were less sight-seeing and higher paced hiking. Our hiking conversation today started out talking about serving other people. I told him I was proud of him and his brother, Ayden, for how they had developed a heart to serve. They volunteer every Sunday to help our children’s pastor at church leading the elementary aged kids. They have taken care of the yardwork for three widows on our street for the past three years; for free. I told him that every passion or vision you have should in some way involve serving and helping other people.

Shortly after we turned around on the trail, we stopped and ate. It made me feel good that Ian was in no hurry to get home. He really enjoyed this trip. We decided that it felt like we had only been here maybe two days, not five! We had so much fun together. On the way back, I told Ian, “You’re not going to believe what I was just thinking about again.” “What?” he asked. I said, “That stupid snail!” I could not get that snail scenario out of my head. I told him that I believe I have a conclusion for the snail dilemma. He said, “Really? What is it!?” I said, “I think the snail teaches us about our current lives. We all have a snail after us. It represents the end of our life here on this earth. We do not know when it will come to an end. But just like the snail chasing us, we cannot live our life in fear and running from the end. We have to live and enjoy our lives right now and make the most of every moment.” I had no idea that Ian’s silly snail conversation would be the lightbulb moment for me on this trip. I have been so busy working, leading, and serving (all good things) for so long that I worked myself into being needed all the time by too many people. I maximized my time and energy, but I did it for the wrong things. Being with Ian, alone, for these five days helped me to realize that we cannot spend our lives running from the snail. Instead, we must be aware and alert of the snail, be diligent to stay safe, but do not make him, the snail, the ruler of our every decision in life. The snail may mean something different to each of us. He may represent literal death, or maybe he represents worry, anxiety, busyness, stress, addiction, or wrong relationships in people’s lives. Whatever it is, he will always be there no matter what, but he cannot own your life unless you allow him, give him permission and authority, to do so. You decide.

We returned to camp around noon. We slowly packed up, loaded the unbelievably heavy bags on our shoulders, and headed out. When we reached the low water bridge, it was packed with people swimming and fishing. We must have looked strange because everyone of them stopped what they were doing and stared at us. We dropped our gear and Ian made the mile or so hike to the outdoor center to grab the Jeep. About twenty minutes later I was so happy to see him pull up. The whole time I kept thinking, “What if someone messed with the Jeep (which has been happening back home) or what if it didn’t start for some reason.” As soon as we got back in cell service range my phone rang. It was Leslie making sure we were ok. I didn’t realize that she thought we would be heading out in the morning. She had been somewhat worried all week because we dropped cell service before I could tell her exactly what the plan was, and she had been waiting for Saturday morning to arrive and have confirmation that we were even alive!

We decided that we deserved a double cheeseburger from our favorite fast food burger joint, Whataburger. So, we drove out of the way to find one. Worth it!

Son, I am so unbelievably proud of the young man you are and the man you are becoming! And remember, that snail has nothing on you!

Camping Supplies

We brought…

• First-Aid kit
• 3-man tent
• Pop-up privacy tent
• Sleeping bags
• Inflatable pillows
• Sleeping mats
• 80L backpacks
• Small tactical bags
• Telescoping fishing poles
• Fishing tackle
• Fish cleaning kit
• Big pot with lid
• 2 cast-iron frying pans
• Coffee pot
• Small fold-up fire pit grate
• Sawyer water filtration system with 1 gallon pouch and 2 1L bags
• Mess kit: 2 plates, utensils, collapsible cups
• Camp soap
• Dish scrub pad
• Hatchet
• 2 backpacks to carry food in
• Wood spoon
• Spatula
• Bible
• Book
• Pen/Notepads
• Bug spray
• Bug bite/anit-itch
• Citronella candle
• Sunscreen
• Aloe vera
• Knives
• Sharpening stone
• Flint stone
• 2 battery powered lanterns
• Flashlights
• Extra batteries (did not use)
• Paracord
• Twine
• Lighter
• Toilet paper
• Dude wipes
• Antibacterial hand wipes
• Collapsible camping shovel
• 2 hammocks (not used)
• Yeti coffee mug (used a lot!)
• Toothbrush/toothpaste
• Water bottles to reuse (3 each)
• River shoes
• Hiking shoes
• 1 extra set of clothes for last day
• Swimsuit
• Solar batter pack (not used)
• Playing cards/UNO
• Sunglasses
• Hat
• Camp chairs
• Fishing license
• Phone/camera
• Small phone/camera tripod

Food

• Coffee
• Beans (bag)
• Olive oil spray
• Club crackers
• Clif Bars
• Kind Bars
• Bags of Peanuts-with shell
• Slim Jims (Ian)
• Chex Mix (Ian)
• Kind chocolate protein granola (Me)
• Snack packs – 2 per day/each
  • Almonds
  • Dried fruit
  • Beef jerky – 1 stick
• Propel packets (electrolytes)
• 1 gallon freezer bags

Wish we had:

• Small table
• Small hand saw
• Extra coffee pot to boil more water