Bingo. Maybe that's it right there. It was just shy of being a homeless dude as far as I was concerned.

I've been thinking about it more, and I actually think that it's a matter of how I was both over and under equipped for the trip - I suspect that car camping with an RV or backpacking in a Bivvy would have been better than the mish-mash of heavy "car grade" stuff (massive tent, too much kitchen stuff) and backpack grade camping stuff we threw into the canoe.

The kids ranged in age from 5 to 13, that was a factor too - quite honestly, it's easier when they are younger and unaware of what a howling wind in the forest means - my daughter, who has seen what happens when a large branch falls on my car (happened twice) knows that the tent isn't going to stop any of those big branches way up there - she clung to me like a little monkey all night long.