Seeking your stories about the delicious misery of American camping

Friends, campers, and camping friends: I need your help and your contributions! Right now I am working on a spin-off feature story about the “delicious misery of camping,” the reason why we keep on camping even when things go wrong out there for us. In fact, sometimes the homeopathic doses of awfulness can add intrigue to the camping trip and an additional incentive (at least we can brag about or laugh about the trips to other people later on.) With this in mind, I am hoping you can send me your stories about camping trips gone wrong — bears trashing your tent to get at a small snack-sized candy bar, your hot dogs floating away in an unseasonable storm, etc. These stories don’t have to be recent. Divertingly traumatic childhood campout stories are perfectly fine. Creature incursions, bear-bag fails and spoiled food are most welcome. It would be great if you…

Your mid-march Under The Stars update: travels to Tucson, upcoming big travel writing conference, continuing recuperation, and kicking myself for not ordering the Tres Leches cake in Tucson

Feeling under the weather back here in Santa Cruz, CA, but I sure had a big time out in Tucson. For one thing, I’ve never seen so many other Tilley-hat-wearing people in my life (and I made sure to greet every one of the Tilley people. We Tilley folks need to stick together.) It was pretty cool to hang out at the famous El Charro, and with Matthew Parker and Mark Woods as company. They have a specialty out there called carne seca — it’s like a haute Southwestern version of beef jerky — they hang the steak strips in the sun, in cages no less, swinging like gibbets over this restaurant, and then they reconstitute it with water and spices, and it is mighty good. Kicking myself for not ordering the tres leeches cake. (I didn’t know that was a ‘thing’ at El Charro. The waiter was so enthusiastic about the…

My March update: Tucson bound for Under The Stars, plus George Saunders and the cough without end

Thanks for taking a look a this. I’m just starting to pack my bags for the Tucson Festival of Books next weekend — my first one ever (thank you very much, Roberta and Dennis, for making this happen). I’m proud to be a featured author at the bookfest, speaking solo about Under The Stars at 10 a.m. March 12 at the Integrated Learning Center, Room 130, on the University of Arizona campus. I will try if possible to scare up some doughnuts for at least some of you but please don’t hold me to that — I just don’t know Tucson very well, having been there only once, in a great big rumbling RV, which I used to explore the Desert Museum, the stunning Saguaro National Park, which I visited during a rare snowstorm, and a few other remote areas including the Gilbert Rey Campground, where I once welcomed the…