{"id":325,"date":"2025-05-17T08:20:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T06:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/footstepsoffreedom.nl\/?p=325"},"modified":"2025-06-11T22:28:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T20:28:32","slug":"tent-at-the-shooting-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/footstepsoffreedom.nl\/en\/tent-at-the-shooting-range\/","title":{"rendered":"Tent at the shooting range"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 17, 2024<\/p>\n

I get up to pee and now, in the daylight, I see where I pitched my tent last night in the dark. Not under a tourist information sign, as I had thought, but under a sign for a shooting range. What?? The sign explains how to hunt wild animals\u2014where to shoot a bear or a moose. All around me are warning signs about stray bullets. Not exactly an ideal camping spot\u2026 But hey, I didn\u2019t hear any gunfire, so no harm done. Still, a good lesson: even in the dark, read signs carefully\u2014and luckily, Google Translate\u2019s camera function works great for that. Without coffee or breakfast, I quickly head out and find a nice spot for a break later on, next to a beautiful lake.<\/p>\n

Since I won\u2019t be passing a supermarket for a while, I stocked up on groceries yesterday. I feel the weight in my cart, but I\u2019m also getting better at adjusting the straps that connect it to my hips, so I can hit just the right balance point where the cart feels as light as possible. It\u2019s different every day, depending on how heavily it\u2019s packed and how I\u2019ve arranged everything.<\/p>\n

I notice my mind is much calmer today. Has the great letting go finally begun? The weather is beautiful, though there\u2019s a breeze that makes cooking tricky\u2014my alcohol burner\u2019s flames flicker in all directions. But, lucky as I am, I stumble upon a shelter that isn\u2019t marked on any map, just when I\u2019m getting hungry. I cook out of the wind and lighten the cart a bit\u2014from trolley to tummy. I wash my dishes in a little waterfall and carry on walking.<\/p>\n

After more farmland, a wedding venue, and some forest, I pitch my tent in a quiet meadow. It\u2019s by a small road, but apart from one car and three cyclists, no one comes by.<\/p>\n