Campering

We just got home from a great camping trip! I have tons of work to do unloading the camper and working on my lesson for my next Econ class, but I just realized that I never blogged about our trip to SFO and now many of the details are hazy... maybe I'll try to go back and write about it when my hubby's around- his memory for details is waaaaaaay better than mine! Anyway, I think I better write a quick bit about our Memorial Day weekend before it all slips away!

When I was a kid we'd go to these archery shoots every summer (a bit like rounds of golf except you shoot an arrow at a target instead of hitting a ball in a hole). We'd meet my aunt and uncle at the shoots and dry camp in the National Forest. My dad always shot and when I got old enough, I got a bow and started shooting too. There were so few little girls who participated that I'd often get 1st or 2nd place in my class. My aunt and uncle always shot too and my mom has even recently picked up shooting every now and then (when there are no grandbabies around). We've been doing this long enough that we've made friends with other shooters and these shoots are the only place we get to see them. So by the time the night falls and everyone gathers around the camp fire, we usually have a nice crowd!

During the six years my husband and I lived in Michigan, I really missed all the camping. When we finally found a way to get back to Arizona, I was ready to start camping again! Every Memorial day there's a shoot at Clint's Well, AZ (south east of Flagstaff). It's around 7,000ft in elevation and all pine tress. Last year we went with our 9mo. old son, NJ, and didn't get there until midnight Friday night. It had snowed that day and we were all accustomed to the 110F heat of the Yuma desert. So, instead of crawling into our tent, we gratefully accepted a bed in my parents' camper. NJ froze and cried. He shortly ended up in my sleeping bag with me. I didn't sleep much because I was paranoid about rolling over on him, but we made it through. The weather got a bit better and we managed to use the tent to play in, even if we never slept in it! Soon after, we bought a small travel trailer and we've really enjoyed it and its furnace.

This year it looked like the weather was going to be much warmer! So, I was super thrilled that my husband managed to get a 4-day weekend! We haven't been camping since elk camp last year and I was eager to go again. We invited some of our friends, M&M, who are avid backpackers. The whole "campering" experience, as she called it, was a bit new, but we loaned them an ice chest and they improvised easily.

Of course, the day before we left, the weather started to turn cold. It's a double shame because not only did we end up camping in the cold, but we missed the last beautiful weekend in Yuma! We drove the last hour or so in a downpour and when we got to the Clint's Well service station, I had to run through the rain barefoot in shorts because all my warm clothes were in the camper and I was not about to get $150 leather sandals wet. After a bit of confusion, and a wardrobe change, we filled the camper with water and headed out to find the rest of our family in the forest.

My uncle gave us some very explicit directions, but we missed the turn somehow and quickly found ourselves on a narrow, very bumpy, steep, muddy road. Given the fact that we were pulling a camper, we couldn't just turn around anywhere, so we just kept going and going and going. When a slightly wider, less steep, area presented itself, I jumped out and started directing my husband so he could do a three point turn with the camper on this bumpy, muddy road. In all honesty it worked out easier than I thought.

We started back down the hill and stopped at a road that looked like it had a paper plate with my name on. Turns out it said "Willie" and not "Julie" but I had to get out and walk over to it to see that. At this point, M&M, who had been following us through all this in their all-wheel drive CRV offered to give me a ride back to my husband. However, when B saw me get in their car, he kept driving. Huh.

At the next road, Mr.M stopped the CRV and I got out and tried to wave B down. Picture me running through the mud and the rain, arms waving widely, calling out to B, Mr.M honking in the background... but B just kept driving. In fact, he got back on the highway! Huh.

At this point, M&M drove over to me and offered me a ride again. Mr.M suggested that we drive south down the road and see if it was, in fact, where my family was camping. I agreed- after all, I don't even know where B has gone. It turns out that he had missed the road and decided to just drive back to the service station to turn around. So when he got back, we were no where to be found. Not having the directions, he turned north.

When M&M and I found my family, I really wanted to turn around and go find B and lead him to camp- after all, he was alone with a baby and a dog, pulling a camper- but M&M were feeling a bit lucky to have made it through the mud holes the first time without four wheel drive, so instead, Mr.M and my dad went walking. Soon after, My uncle and his friend got in a truck and drove back too. Ms.M and I hung out in my mom's camper for a few minutes and then, when we couldn't take it any more (and the rain had stopped) we started walking back too. About half way back to the main road, I see our 4-Runner, pulling our trailer, come barreling up the road. I instantly knew B wasn't driving. B doesn't drive like that with my trailer! Sure enough, My Uncle was driving! I had to laugh- it was soooo typical for him to end up behind the driver's wheel! In the end, we were really grateful for every one's help. We got the camper set up and even managed to eat a warm bowl of soup at a reasonable hour.

The rest of the trip was pretty typical. The rain stopped and started, but didn't affect our plans too much. NJ struggled to sleep every night so we had to run the furnace until I was sweating. But, during the days, he had a wonderful time playing in the dirt and making weapons of sticks (where do they learn this?), following daddy, discovering beetles and caterpillars, leading our dog around the forest, making friends with other kids, and gathering fire wood.

Other highlights include my aunt and uncle's granddaughter using an old toilet seat they found in the forest as a table in the fort she built with another friend's grandson,
and my husband lighting the old washer turned fire bowl.

The drive home was long: 8.5 hours of driving- which included 45 min for lunch, 46 min in stop and go traffic when there was an accident on the freeway, 12 min lost to diaper changes, 21 min dumping the black water tank, and a total of 40 min worth of gas stops. Now why does Yahoo Maps think it's a 5 hour drive????

But NJ entertained himself almost all the way home!