
I Love Camping!
On Thursday Lyle called to ask if I wanted to go camping that night and Friday night. Of course I did! We decided we could take the camper up to the state park that night and spend the night, then he would go to work on Friday. He thought I could stay out there with the kids on Friday, but I had to work, too. (I work from home but require the internet and phone, which we not available at the state park.) But we decided to go ahead and go up there that night in an effort to get a spot before the weekend rush on Friday evening.
We got up there about 8:30… still about an hour of daylight left. We found a nice spot so pulled the camper in and proceeded to set up camp. After unhooking and balancing the trailer, Lyle hooked up the water and electricity. Then he and the children “furnished” the campsite while I got supper ready. They put out the rug that keeps us from tracking so much dirt into the trailer, and set up the lawn chairs, and put a tablecloth on the picnic table, unloaded all the firewood and got the fire going. By then I had supper about ready, so we carried the food out to the picnic table. All that we lacked was to roast our hotdogs and we would be ready to eat. As I made the final supper preparations Lyle said he would go over to the camp host and pay the camping fee. The children went with him.
Pretty soon the kids came running back in a panic! (Scared me for a minute. I thought maybe something happened to Lyle.) But, no, apparently our site was reserved and we needed to move! It wasn’t reserved till the next day so they hadn’t marked it reserved, but we would not be able to stay there the next night, and since Lyle had to go to work early in the morning, we had to move that night! I said, “Well, let’s eat supper first anyway, since we have the fire going and the food is all set out.”
Lyle said, “No. We can’t. This campground is completely full. We have to go to a different campground [still within the state park] and the camp host there is waiting on us to show us where we can camp.”
So… we carried the food back into the trailer, put away all the “furnishings” and firewood, dumped water on the fire, disconnected the hook-ups, rehitched the trailer and moved!
By that time it was after 10:00 pm so we didn’t build another fire. We just nuked the hotdogs in the microwave, ate supper, and went to bed!
The rest of our camping trip was very nice, though. I enjoyed watching the sun come up with my coffee and Bible after Lyle went to work the next morning and before the children got up.
We got back out there about 6:00 on Friday evening. Still several hours of daylight. We had a fire and cooked hamburgers on the fire. Then Lyle and the kids went to a ranger program at the amphitheater to see a film about “Bears!”. The dog and I stayed at the campsite to keep an eye on the fire. I listened to old time radio programs on my MP3 head-set and worked Sudoko puzzles while they were gone. The dog enjoyed watching the other campers and their dogs, and also the prairie dogs that inhabited the campground.
After that the girls roasted marshmallows and then went to bed. Lyle and I enjoyed conversation, the campfire, and the stars!
The girls had fun hiking and exploring and checking in on the walkie-talkies today. Lyle and I mostly just relaxed!


One Comment
Anonymous
I've really come to enjoy reading about your camping adventures. I thought I might pass along a tidbit of information from one camper to another! You should definitely take a minute to browse The Sportsman's Guide. They have a dedicated camping section here and another here for "camping furniture." The second one is basically a bunch of collapsible hammocks and chairs. I was able to get a really nice hammock for something like $40 and I don't go on a trip without it now! I thought you might like to at least check it out. Keep us posted on your adventures and I hope I helped out in some small way =)