By AMR contributor Richard Rodriguez
I came across some photos of the About Men Radio crew back in the day when we were young and crazy and camping in the Catskills in New York.
Of course we were just a bunch of New York City boys spending a weekend in the mountains, so out of place and not ready to take on nature and the elements.
It was July 1986. I am not sure how many of us had actually been camping before, but we were ready to have a male bonding weekend in the woods.
We loaded up two vehicles with a tent, gear, food, drinks, and surely stuff we didn’t need. Our destination was Woodland Valley Campground.
Campsite secured, we went about trying to set-up camp.
We hadn’t even gotten the tent up and John had already dipped into the beer stash.
So much for his help.
Finally the tent was up, and we cooked up some BBQ. Good times ensued.
Got through the first night fine, and in the morning we took to the trails and headed up the mountain.
Then the rain hit, and it didn’t stop. We tried to find shelter under rock overhangs but we couldn’t go on and we headed back to camp.
It started to rain hard and steady. The other campers were leaving in droves, but we refused to give up, and the people leaving actually gave us all their firewood!
We were stacked and actually had enough to keep a fire burning for practically the whole weekend non-stop.
Unsure of what to do as the rain continued to fall, some of the crew ventured to the nearest town and convenience store and returned with some much needed supplies: porno magazines of almost every variety.
This collection of adult entertainment became a legendary stash that survived our camping excursion and was passed around to each of us at one point or another for a number of years.
Not sure where this collection is today…
The rain did finally stop, and we continued to enjoy the outdoors.
The highlight of our shenanigans was a belching contest between Chris and Gary.
It was an epic battle between two belchers extraordinaire, and I can’t remember the final outcome, but it was a roaring good time that capped our crazy weekend that made a great impression on our friendship for years to come.