Camping

This was the overnight with the scouts. I arrived at the parking lot at the school where we were to "gather the troops". The Dad that was going got tied up at work so the boys played Frisbee in the parking lot while we waited for him to arrive. Seven boys were going. They proceeded to get the frisbee stuck in a tree a couple of times, but one of the boys used a tent pole to knock it out of the tree as I forbid them to climb the tree to retrieve the stuck frisbee.

After the last trip where only Trevor brought food, this time everyone had packed food to eat. There was a lot of stuff. The van arrived and I open the door in the back to start loading, it is already pretty full with camping gear. With all the stuff everyone is bringing, there isn't enough room for all the boys. I say I can take three in my jeep. I will have to rearrange as I have brought a lot of stuff for my own comfort.

I brought my big tent, a five gallon water bucket, my camp chairs and my new camp cots, my sleeping bag, an umbrella, and food for Trev and the troop and myself. I also have Trevor's gear and sleeping bag. I open up the roof box and start loading anything I can into the top. We make room but it is tight, with the tent sitting between the two boys in the back seat.

I follow the leader in my car to the camp. Our sight is way back as far from the bathrooms as they could have possibly put us, a hike up a hill to the main road junction, then down another road to the main lodge. The boys can just go in the woods, which they announce regularly. "I am going to go pee". I think it has to do with the buddy system they are supposed to have. They don't need company behind a bush. Meanwhile I have to hold it for as long as possible before making the hike to the ladies room. The facilities weren't bad clean and  bright.

The other chaperon tells the boys to help set up my tent. They all have these little tents for two. I open up my tent and it is a two room suite. One boy peaks in after we get the tent up and says it is as big as his room at home. I say "Yes, it is as big as Trevor's room at home also". My camping girlfriend said to get a tent that you can stand comfortably in and as large as you can find. I had picked up this tent on an off season sale. I usually have it set up at the beach for the children, so the adults can have their own space. For once I am really camping.

the tent works for car camping, but I can see if they were hiking into a camp sight, it is a bit heavy to carry. But it looks impressive compared to the little tents the boys all have. Not only that but I have a camp cot and a chair set up inside for my comfort. It looks quite roomy for one person. The drizzle had stopped at just the right time for set up so we could get the tents up. the weather was overcast and questionable. I kept my coat on and wore a wool hat.

I snacked on our food, we had been told to bring a bag dinner for the first night. I had made a turkey sandwich. The boys all had brought treat that they shared with their best buddy, showing off who had brought the most interesting snacks; chocolate milk, pop tarts, candy bars.

The night was cold. I found out later it was freezing temperatures. I was so cold I didn't want to take off my clothes to put on my long johns for bed. I kept my jacket and hat on as I crawled into my sleeping bag. I could feel the cold air seeping up under the cot during the night. I put a blanket on top of my sleeping bag for extra warmth, but I could still feel the cold even with my head tucked in. I would have to come up for air periodically. The only warm moment was the mid life hot flash I had. It felt so good to be warm. It lasted about five minutes. I kept hoping I would have another hot flash.

In the morning the boys got the fire going and cooked the eggs I had brought on the propane cook top. I put water from my water cooler in my cast iron pot and stuck it on the fire with a few eggs to boil. I used that water for a warm drink and when the eggs were done I offered them up as egg warmers for the boys hands. We were so cold that we could hold those hot eggs in our hands without needing to juggle them. They soon cooled off for eating.

The boys went off to do their thing. There were stations to visit, learn how to throw a hatchet, carry and injured person with a tarp, set up the fastest tent and fire, play capture the flag, and other fun boy activities. I stayed and watched the fire at our camp sight. We had been instructed to put our cars at the parking area when we first arrived, but had decided we needed our cars near us. I had not packed the food in closed containers. Animals would have gotten it all during the night if we hadn't been able to lock it in our cars. Since we kept our car with us at our camp sight, I noticed other campers brought their cars back. It is just so much easier.

The Dads in the camp sight across from ours brought out a chain saw and sawed a slab off a stump in their camp sight. They started to cut it up for fire wood. That brought the forest ranger and a reprimand. He came by a couple of times to check on the "trouble makers" after that. You aren't supposed to cut up things in the park. The chain saw was a loud irritating noise, but I eyed that great pile of fire wood for a couple of hours before I finally went over and asked them if they could share a few pieces with me for my dinky little stick fire the boys had built. We had brought wood but were trying to be good about using it to make it go as far as possible. I was grateful for the contribution as I sat wrapped in my blanket in my camp chair with my coat buttoned up and my wool hat pulled down over my ears, when it drizzled I also used my umbrella to keep the rain off my book.

Lunch was Hobo stew. We had all brought cans of soup to donate. The camp cooks had made up a beef stew, a chili, a chicken noodle, a clam chowder, and a cream soup for the boys to choose from. Originally the boys had feared it all would have been put in one pot for a nasty mix, but it wasn't that bad. By the time I got mine though the soup was only luke warm. The cold weather had sapped all the heat.

I had fun. It was a novel experience. I wouldn't mind going again, if only Tom would get over his anxieties. Car camping isn't that strenuous. Next time I will bring even warmer gear, use two sleeping bags. Mine are original to my child hood camping, with lovely flannel lining but not quite up to freezing temperatures. Trevor had  one of the new sleeping bags we got in our survival kit, handles temperatures to 32 degrees.

   I had plenty of food and good company. The kids tried hard. there were a couple of glitches. The boys tended all to want to do their own thing rather than be a group together, all leaders. They liked to not share their special foods with everyone.I finally said "if you show it, you share it". I also had to tell them that when everyone got back from where ever they were scattered, everyone had to be included in the game in the tent, no exclusions. I heard a heavy sigh from inside the tent when I gave those instructions. I called out  to who ever sighed that I had heard him,  and the boys all went round the room naming someone else for sighing until everyone had taken the blame. It lightened up the mood and helped when all the boys finally made it back, they all got to climb into the big tent for a gaming afternoon including everyone. All I need is a little propane heater like Tom had on his old golf cart to make that tent the perfect room.


The Dad who was to replace me pulled in around 3:00pm. The boys had found waiting in lines for their activities boring so they had asked if they could use my tent to play games after lunch. They asked if I could leave my great big roomy tent for their use. I crossed my fingers that all the parts would come back to me and said yes.

I was home by 4:30pm but Tom had beat me home by about an hour. I asked him if he was still mad at me and he said a little. I kissed him then headed to the other end of the house. He was watching horse racing anyway. I went to watch the shows I had recorded. I went to bed early and loved sleeping on my soft warm mattress.

Trevor called for pick up the next morning an hour earlier than schedule. They had not wasted any time breaking camp in the morning. I asked the dad who had replaced me if he had enjoyed his over night. I had to ask twice as he didn't answer me at first, just gave me a look. He turned and told me he likes camping about as much as my husband does. He just does it for his kids.