"And miles to go before I sleep..."

A few weeks ago, Carlos went on a 10+ mile hike at night with some of the young men at church. He dreaded going because he hates sleeping in a tent and didn't want to carry the heavy hiking backpack. Of course, any opportunity I have to make him do something he hates just gives me a thrill. After all, he is a teenage boy who picks on his brothers and bothers me to no end. We packed the backpack together. I even gave him a quiz on where everything was located. He passed with flying colors. The pack was heavy....30 pounds. In my defense, I was told he had to pack EVERYTHING he needed including a tent. When the day came, he was excited to go and was looking forward to spending time with friends. They hiked through the night. He even fell asleep a couple of times when they rested. The next day when I picked him up, he looked so tired and hungry (as you can see from the pics). I could understand the fatigue but not the hunger. After all, I packed all kinds of canned foods for him for dinner and breakfast. He told me he had some really bad oatmeal for breakfast and that was it. I asked him why he didn't eat the canned fruit we packed. His response, "I had fruit?? Why didn't you tell me?" I couldn't believe it. I said, "Didn't you see the fruit when you had dinner last night?" He replied, "I didn't eat dinner." To my surprise, the boy didn't realize he had food and water in the backpack. What did he think made the pack so heavy? Let me remind you that I quizzed him on the items in the backpack before he left. I then asked if he was able to put the tent up OK. He said that he didn't use it because they had a big tent at their destination. I was glad to hear this because he probably would have forgotten he had that also. On the way home, I heard nothing but complaints. Apparently, he had the heaviest backpack of everyone. When I got home, I couldn't resist to take out the tent, food, and water and weigh them. They were 14 pounds. So, basically it would have cut his weight in half if I knew he wasn't going to need the tent nor eat or drink anything. This was definitely a learning experience for both of us. We will need it for next year's hike on the Appalachian Trail. OH, YEA.....he's going and complains on a weekly basis about it.