Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The October Camping Trip

I have been wanting to blog on this topic since the trip but haven't had the chance. Let me start by saying that camping is meant to be done in warm weather. I did have a great time thanks to good company but I will definitely not be going camping at the end of October again UNLESS I own a trailer with heat!

Tim and I are in a wonderful bible study group (later blog). Our group usually meets once a month on a Friday. One of the couples in our group loves to camp (Ted and Kristi). We went camping with them on our July trip which I posted about previously. Anyway they had reservations to camp at Babler the 24th & 25th of October. They invited the bible study crew. The plans were to carve pumpkins, eat chili and make smores by the fire. Since Babler is only 30 minutes away those who didn't want to camp could just drive home after the bonfire. Our friends who were hosting the outing own a travel trailer. Somehow they convinced us and another couple to stay overnight in a tent. I am absolutely ok with camping and outdoors but I HATE cold weather. I think any temperature below 70 is cold. So anyway. We were the only ones with a tent so the other family, The Muellers(Gregg, Dianne, Rachel and Rebecca), were going to stay in the tent with us. Gregg wasn't so happy about the camping thing and would probably end up driving home after the bonfire.
So anyway the Friday of the planned camping trip I was getting everything ready and decided to call Kristi who was hosting the campout. She informed me the the youngest Mueller kid had the flu and so the family would not be going (Marissa was very sad about this). Great, now we were the only fools staying in the tent. After my husband got home from work and packed the car (that's when the mini van statement occured:) we set out for our cold camping trip. The evening was great. Another guy from our bible study group showed up with his daughter and her friend. We carved our pumpkins, ate chilli, made smores, and chatted around the bonfire. But as you know the later it gets the colder it gets. By the time we were ready for bed it was about 48 degrees. And since we were sleeping outside it wasn't going to get any better. We had an air mattress with a blanket on it to sleep on. We each had on 2 pairs of pants and 2 shirts and 2 pairs of socks. We had a sleeping bag and two blankets on top of the sleeping bag. IT WAS STILL COLD. You are not meant to sleep outside when it is below 65 degrees unless you are crazy. Anyway, my daughter fell asleep watching a movie on the portable DVD player. That girl is so easy she can sleep anywhere. She was not complaining at all (unlike her mom). So I snuggled in next to her and it really wasn't so bad. I convinced myself that I could sleep for a few hours and by the time it was morning I would barge into my friend's trailer and warm up. Or take a walk to the heated bathroom/shower house. Except for one thing.... The was a VERY loud man at the campsite next to ours. It seemed as if he was having a one sided conversation. Sure he was talking to someone but the other person couldn't get a word in. The later it got the louder he got. So now I just had to wait for him to fall asleep and then I could finally get some peace and quiet. Around midnight the drunk man finally piped down and went into his pop up. Great! I could sleep finally. I dozed off for about an hour when I was suddenly wakened by a loud roar!!! Holy cow! A bear? a train driving right by my tent? No, it was neither of these. This load roar that wouldn't cease was the LOUDEST snoring I had EVER heard in my life. and it was buzzing right in my ear. I turned over to kick my husband when I realized it wasn't him. I should have known better because he never snores. The snoring was the loud drunk man in the pop up behind us!!!!! I decided to wake my husband anyway. I wasn't going to suffer this alone.
"honey, are you awake?" (me)
"I am now"
"Do you hear that?"
"How could I not?"
"I can't sleep"
"me neither, now"
"ok, take me home"
"no, go to bed"
So I lay there trying to drown out the snoring. I put two pillows over my head and could still hear it. I shut my ears with my fingers and could still hear it (my husband can't fall back asleep now but Marissa is sound asleep.) Finally around 2am. I loudly announce I am going to sleep in my car because of the loud snoring (I tried yelling this in hopes of waking him but it didn't work). Once in my car with door shut I turned the car on to see what the temp is. 42 degrees!!!!! I shut off the car and curled into a ball and finally fell asleep till about 5am. I couldn't lay straight because my car is too small. Then I dozed for a while and finally left the car about 7am. The snoring had finally ceased. I took my little one to the bathroom and when I came back our friends where finally awake. Kristi asked me if Tim usually snored that loud. The snoring was so loud they had heard it in their pop up with the door closed and the thought it was Tim (poor Timmy). I explained to her that it was not my husband and pointed out the pop up right behind our tent. She laughed. I didn't.
Anyway they made us a great breakfast and we took a long hike after that. They weather warmed and we ended up having a great time. We grilled for lunch and then made smores again. We all headed out around 3pm. We were going to stop somewhere on our way home and the other couple was going to head back and stay another night in their nice heated camper. Our family was heading home. There was no way I would sleep there another night.
It ended up being a wonderful experience (except for the snoring man) but I made it clear to my friends that I will only be camping between May and September!
another note, most people who know me know that I exaggerate ALOT when I am telling a story. Whenever I tell this story Tim makes it clear to everyone that for once I am not exaggerating about how loud this man's snoring was!

3 comments:

Michelle Haner Fitness said...

This is hilarious. I think you might be CRAZY for staying out in the cold like that. Because that was so crazy, I think you got what you deserved, with the snoring man and all. I think you learned a lesson. What a trooper Marissa is... This is too funny, I was laughing out loud.

Scott Wheeler said...

Yes, I am with you Sarah...my idea of camping is in an RV or perhaps a cabin with a bathroom and a heat source of some kind! Scott

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