Back in 2006, the wife, two girls, and I went on a camping trip covering four states in ten days. We started toobin’ in Ichetucknee Springs in northern Florida, then decided since we were almost half way out of this long state, we may as well go visit some other places.
In Georgia, we stopped in Dahlonega to pan gold. Liz still has the gold we panned in a charm on a necklace. We were told it was about $45 worth of gold! The charm and necklace cost me $60.
We then moved north into North Carolina to Murphy to do some gemstone grubbin‘. We eventually made earrings and a couple charms from the rubies and other gems we found there. Everyone 
was having fun, and the wife’s only complaint was that she really wanted a morning coffee.
At one of the gas stops, I snuck into the store to buy a jar of instant coffee. Since we had no way to perk coffee, I figured this would be as close as I’d be able to manage for her.
We then spent the night in Nantahala National Forest.
That night, as we set up our camp, the sky was was clear and bright. When the wife asked me if we should put up the fly, I said not to bother, we would only be there for the night, and it looked clear. Epic Fail
Around 2am, we woke up on our flat air mattresses (why do we try to use air mattresses? We KNOW they will leak while we sleep!) in 2 inches of water as the rain came down in a torrential downpour. The wife was a trooper, grabbing what little clean dry items we had, emptied out the wet tent, replaced what we could with dry items, and tried to suffer through the night. I’m sure the smirk she had on her face helped keep her warm.
Our only pan was a cast iron skillet (of course). in it, Liz made eggs and maple-smoked bacon for breakfast. As we sat cold, wet, and miserable, I thought I’d make like I was cleaning the pan, rinsing it out several times, then added water enough for some coffee and put the pan back over the campfire.
It was there, on the morning of day seven of our trip, that I made a fantastic discovery.
The fatal flaw in my plan was that I forgot that water doesn’t cut grease. As I poured the hot water into the coffee cup, I realized this. Damn. Greasy coffee 🙁
She saw that I had started making her some coffee, was excited to finally have some, and of all days, the wettest and coldest one we’d had. I tried to stop her from taking it, saying it had some bacon grease on it. She said she didn’t care, she wanted coffee, even if it was bad, so she drank it.
And for once, I somehow had gotten EVERYTHING right. Gone was the complaints of everything being wet due to my bad call. She had a cup of coffee…that tasted like maple bacon..and she LOVED it!
That has been over 6 years ago, and she STILL talks about the maple bacon coffee from time to time. We even make it on camping trips.
And if you think we are crazy, click here
BTW, we were able to stop at some friends in Asheville later that day, and we STILL owe them for the chance to dry off and wash our clothes. Thanks again Tim & Heather!
Peace,
db
Ahhhh…great story! It makes me want to go camping….it’s been way too long for us. The pic that you included is fantastic, as well. I don’t recall hearing about this maple bacon coffee when you guys stayed with us. However, that was a long time ago and I did drink A LOT of beer back in those days! I guess I’ll just have to wait and hear it straight from your mouths when you guys pass our way again 🙂 I guarantee we’ll have something much more interesting for dinner than breakfast!
And why, may I ask, did I not get some maple bacon coffee this past weekend when we were camping. There I was, drinking that foul tasting plain old Sanka instant and you had both the ingredients and the know-how to make it much better. Next outing I’ve got to try some of that. Someone ( oh, that was you) once said, “there’s only one thing better then bacon – that’s bacon with butter”. I’m thinking maple bacon coffee might be right up there with bacon.