"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, except for bears, bears will kill you."
Back before we bought our RV, we attempted camping in a tent a couple times. Both times did not end well, and we gave up the idea and therefore bought our first RV in 2000.
Our first camp out was just us three, before Chubs was born. We had our boat, we bought a new tent and we were ready to rough it. We had everything you see in a staged camping picture, not that it is all used. We even had a gas stove top to cook. Our destination on our first attempt was Inks Lake. It is about an hour and change from the house, perfect distance for a weekend getaway. As soon as we got there, we put the boat in the water and it couldn't be more perfect, I was able to bring the boat almost up to our campsite, just a paved road separated the water and our numbered campsite. I backed in the truck, we set up our tent, then went for an afternoon cruise to enjoy the sunset and maybe sandwiches for dinner as we casually fished and enjoyed the evening. I know we had to have jumped in the water, Boy loved swimming at that age, and I was fifteen years younger, so I would have had more energy to pursue him.
Now we were back on land, and the whole camping thing now became more real. What to do about pooping? Luckily, it was a state park and the bathrooms were kept pretty clean. For some reason, there were hardly any other campers there. This made it that much better, we commandeered one of the bathrooms, did our business, then back to our campsite. I was not satisfied, as there was no shower facilities, but since most of the campsites were empty and it was dark, I took the privilege of squatting by one of the faucets and like you do with a baby using a cup of water, washed my stinky parts.
Things were now great, it was dark, real dark, no stars, no campers, we ate, cool breeze, I remember going to the water to check on the boat and seeing all the little critters that used to excite Boy, frogs and turtles and maybe even a small snake moving about in the shallow water.
Then it turned, the wind started picking up, we weren't sure what was happening, but it got ugly fast, it must have been a big storm, maybe a cold front. I don't quite remember, but at a certain point we jumped in the truck to avoid the wind, looking at all of our stuff all over the place. We weren't sure whether to wait a bit to see if storm would pass, or get out in the rain and get everything packed away. We waited a bit. After awhile, we both said it's time to go. We jumped out, I was attempting to break down the tent in a strong wind, and only managed to break it down enough to stuff it in the metal box in the back of the truck. No way was I going to fold it neatly into its storage bag. Wife was gathering the stove, and lanterns, and coolers, blankets, I think we had a futon mattress to sleep on. The wind and our yelling was a little too much for Boy, I remember him trying to get off to help, if it was 2000, he was about 6 years old, all he could muster was vomit. The stress of it all made him throw up, at least it was on the grass by the truck and not in the truck.
Next to last thing was taking truck to boat ramp, running back to boat and driving boat in that wind and rain to get it on trailer. Boat was loaded and secured, after a few minutes, we were on the road. Luckily, none of our roads were flooded, maybe because we left so quickly, before long, we were home. This again, was all before smartphones. Nowadays, there are apps, to notify you where the rain is, within a block accuracy. Maybe we just didn't pay attention, and that's probably why park was empty, but it was fun while it lasted.
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