"We've done the impossible and that makes us mighty!!" Mal Reynolds

I think I am crazy.  Not really but I do feel that way sometimes.  I have heard that more than once in the last few days to say the least.  We are working on a project that the goal seems impossible to most people but it is such a near and dear thing to my heart that I cannot stop.  I think about it every hour of every day.  I do not know how many of you will be reading this but please at least do not stop until you have finished this first paragraph.  We are raising money to send foster kids to summer camp.  Almost everyone of us has memories of camping as a kid, either summer camp or family camping trips or any combination in between.  Foster kids have not got this opportunity and often do not even live together as a family.  Please take a moment to visit the above link and give what you can to make a difference.  WHEN we reach our goal of $25K this month it will be matched dollar for dollar and presented to a camp to help create these memories for a lifetime.  Below is an excerpt of the first blog written for the new website.  I hope you enjoy and if we have amused you even a little please go and give some money to help this worthy cause.  A thousand people donating $25 dollar makes $50K in donation for this month with the matching!   Every dollar makes a difference!

http://www.gofundme.com/virtual-camper

Taken from the intro to VirtualCamper.info:

Camping is a passion, its an obsession, its crazy, and it is many different things to many different people. You never know what someones definition of camping is; some of us grab a trailer full of enough stuff to furnish and army and some have just what they can carry on their backs. Some folks have RVs or buses or any thing in between that constitutes a camper. However one thing bonds all of us together and that is the insane urge to leave our mechanized, homogenized, automated, processed, connected life, pack up head out into the woods and eat some food with a little dirt in it!

No matter what your choice for camping is it seems that magic happens when we get out into the woods and start “camping.” All of a sudden it is OK to ask your neighbor if they have some salt, or a lighter since you forgot yours. If someone walks into your campsite and its dinner time you try to feed them. You don’t freak out if the kids go to play with the dogs on the walk around the loop and don’t worry as long as you hear your kids screaming but cant see them. Its OK to eat pop tarts and spam and for once the calories or cholesterol levels just don't matter. No one thinks you are weird for drinking a beer with breakfast (my choice is hard cider but you know.) You find yourself staying up until 4 in the morning talking with a group of people that you didn't know at 4 that previous afternoon and may never get to speak to again.

You find that your memories are solidified, not by how well things went but the 'tragedy' associated with the trip. BTW: Difference between tragedy and humor is just time. No good camping story ever started out with: “Everything went perfectly, weather was perfect.....blah blah blah boring boring boring.” The really good ones all start with: “Oh yeah? Well let me tell you what happened when it rained for 8 inches in four hours and got dark at 3 in the afternoon......” (A real story by the way!).

Most folks initial camping experience was less than stellar and often down right traumatic, but we were all crazy enough to try it again. Note: Anything worth doing is worth doing badly until you figure out how to do it well. How is it that in our “real life” we would be offended and possibly murderous to find someone in our kitchen cooking our food on our stove with our stuff (sounds like some twisted version of Goldilocks) but in the woods you are grateful that the coffee is ready and just introduce yourself to the person, not to mention that they didn't run at the first sight of you. (another real story)

We are all here together to capture that feeling of camaraderie and have a place where we can all come and keep up with each other, meet new folks of a like mind and form some of those friendships made over a campfire into something more than just a brief flicker in our lives. Here is a safe place where we can share stories, photos, videos and even our reviews of the sites with folks we can trust not to judge us to harshly. (Yes there will be an adult section with a password so we can share those stories too). In the spirit of a true camper our site will host annual events around the country to raise money for our sister foundation that sends foster kids to summer camp so they can start forming those memories and have a chance to just be kids. If you haven't already check out what they are doing over there to help. (insert URL here). By the way 80% of the money you pay to be a member of this site goes directly to support that site as well.

Now if you are wondering if all this is worth it and what the heck I am talking about anyway. Browse some of our free forums, and sign up for a trial membership and have a look around. See what all this hype is about, stay a while and who knows you just might turn into a virtual camper too!

See ya in the woods.

Flint