So this next story happened last summer, but I never got it
posted, and I figured since in was camping season once again, I should post it now.
Last
summer I decided I was a genuine camper.
For those of you who have read my view on camping in previous blog
posts, you are probably wondering what metamorphic change took place. Well, the year before I went camping and the
weekend was great. We had a drought so
there was no mosquitoes and plenty of sun for the beach. My airbed was topped with my egg crate and my
fan plugged into my power strip with a perfect medium hum. It was almost like a hotel only I could see
the stars through my screen window on the tent. I felt like a camping pro! So at the end of
our trip I told my sis-in-law that next year I would come Thursday night with
her, even though Mike wouldn’t join us
till Friday after he got out of work. Her jaw fell open and hit the dried up thirsty
grass. Six months later, when it was
time for her to make the reservation she called me to make sure I was
SURE. Yup! I had never set up a tent in my life! But why
not, my son is a boy scout, he’s always prepared, right?!
June
arrived(2013) and it was time. Mike
loaded the truck and gave Josh a mini lesson the night before we left. We arrived at our camp site and per the
suggestions of my dad-in-law, we found a high spot, (he saw me scouting out a
low luscious green spot that seemed quite comfy to me, thank goodness he didn’t
let me put my tent there) Once the
location was set I went to work right away doing whatever Josh(14) told me, and
with the help of my mom-in-law, the tent was up. Then we left camp in a rush to catch Kate’s
last ball game. As I cheered my
daughter on, I noticed the clouds seemed dark in the direction of our campsite
just 40 min away. Before I headed back
to camp I called my mom-in-law, because if it was raining I WAS STAYING HOME
for sure!!
“Well” Her voice sounded apprehensive over the
receiver. “ Just so you know, it down poured while you were gone and your
tent flooded, but we put your suitcases in the camper and your sis-in-law
dumped out your tent and put it back together(“cause we wanted you to come back”-
Jamie interjected into the phone. lol)
and a fan is blowing to dry it out.”
Though
I felt a pit forming in my stomach I still forged on. Since I didn’t have time to set up the beds
before we left, all our bedding was still in the van nice and dry. This should still work. Right?
As I began setting up my airbed and lying out sleeping bags it began to
rain again. And then it rained harder, and all of a
sudden a steady stream of water was pouring through my roof right over top of
one of the kids beds. Josh grabbed a
bucket to catch the stream and then we went to work on our rain fly, which
apparently was on wrong. We did manage
to finally get it on correctly thanks to the help of my other sis-in-law Tonya.
(Apparently it takes a village…to help me camp)
But by this time I was sopping wet crying on the phone to Michael, “I just
want to go home, take a hot shower, and climb in my bed. “ But when I made the announcement of our
departure to the kids Bo and Timmy had tears in their eyes. We only camp once a year. How could I be the lame mom who takes them
home? The rain let up and I decided to
stick it out.
Finally,
mostly dry and exhausted we were all tucked in bed. The rain had stopped and things were looking
up. Just as I began to drift off to
sleep I hear my cooler open. “Hmmm.
Jamie must have needed something out of my cooler.” I thought to myself. About 30 seconds later, I heard it slam shut
again. “Hmmmm. That’s weird.” I wondered.
Then it sounded like someone was digging through it … all of a sudden I
jumped up, unzipped the door just in time to see a raccoon slam the top down
and run off.
“Those
Damn Varments” I said in
frustration.
“Um, I
am still awake.” Josh said admonishing
me with a laugh, for my choice of words in my annoyance.
As I kept ranting looking for my flip flops, Josh said with
concern.
“Mom! Don’t get to close to the raccoon. It will
bite you. “
I thought his little protective side was cute. In the absence of his dad he was taking care
of me. I huffed and puffed murmuring
some opinions to myself about the 4 legged thief while I locked my cooler in my
van. The next morning the damages stolen
deli meat, bitten tortilla shells, and some of my cheese was missing too. Lol Oh well, nothing that a day at the beach
can’t cure, right? Well, we had 2 hours of sun on the beach and the clouds
rolled in. As we began packing up we
could see the down poor coming across the lake.
Despite our rush by the time we ran back to we were soaked! And the rest of the day looked like this…
Hide
from the rain under camper awning
Watched
my Bro-in-law cook dinner… in the rain
Watch
kids play in the rain and mud puddles(at least this was entertaining)
Mike
arrived- THANK GOD!!!1
Tent
flooded again…I cried again…Mike fixed tent
I
loaded up sopping wet blankets into van to take to laundry mat to dry and try
again
My van
wouldn’t start… I cried again…Mike fixed van(while I just sat in the divers
seat with a bag of chocolate Jamie brought me when she saw me crying.
Finally
Blankets were dry…beds were made… and the rain finally stopped
At
least the last evening was dry and we all sat around the campfire laughing
about the mishaps. And the next morning my bro- in- law, Charlie, surprised with a Mocha latte. That sweetie.
Yeah, so I thought I could camp. Hmmmm.
Well, in the words of my sister in-law.
“Wow Jamie, I am impressed that you are still here.”
So maybe I can camp.
lol
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