California here we come

I wrote this blog four nights ago, but haven't had a chance to post it yet. So here it is!

It’s 10.30pm. I’m not sure what the exact temperature is, but I can’t feel my left forefinger and I can see my breath. I’m sitting up in bed, wearing my leather jacket zipped right up to my neck, pyjamas and thick woollen socks. The only thing protecting me from the elements is a canvas roof and a tenuously strung canvas curtain. Outside, my food: cheerios, milk and tea, bread and peanut butter, is locked into a bear proof cabin.

I am in Yosemite National Park with my friend Olivia. We are possibly the worst prepared campers ever. All around us are groups of people bundled up in high tech outdoor gear, sitting around campfires which they have kindled themselves, probably by striking a flint on a rock. Mostly, they are sitting at special camping tables, eating hearty meals with proper cutlery.

We have the aforementioned bag of breakfast provisions, and two plastic spoons, which we nicked from a petrol station at the bottom of the mountain. We have no special camping gear. We have no frying pans, no bowls, no kettle in which to boil water for our tea. We don’t even have enough clothes to keep us warm, which is why we are currently huddled up together in the quite small double bed.

Nevertheless, we are on day one of an exciting road trip, which will last two weeks and take in the sights of northern California. I hope to be updating my blog daily with our exploits. That’s if I don’t die of hypothermia overnight.