When Ben and John were sent by Congress to try to talk reason with the British generals at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, travel wasn’t like it is today. No interstate highways, no automobiles, no large hotels to spend the night in. John and Ben had to spend the night at an inn with only one room and with one bed available.

So Ben taught John about air circulation and leaving the windows open. And a little about his penchant for “air baths”. That’s one reason Thomas Jefferson gave for not wanting to even travel with Benjamin Franklin.

It’s a little bit like Charlie Brown and Lucy in Peanuts. Lucy is sitting at her lemonade stand like psychiatry help desk counseling Charlie Brown. She begins by saying: “This fear of going to camp is something you have to overcome!”

Then in the next comic strip panel she adds: “It’ll be good for you! It’ll teach you to stand on your own two feet! This is just the sort of experience you need!

Charlie Brown in turn asks in the next scene: “How about you? Are you going to camp this summer?”

In the final panel Lucy responds: “AND LEAVE MY GOOD HOME? DON’T BE REDICULOUS!”

But that’s the way I feel about camping, too!