The highs and lows of camping
Speeding Through L
ife
Well, we’re in the process of perfecting this camping thing. My wife and I headed to Mead Lake Campground outside of Greenwood for a night last week. My parents were camping out there all weekend so it was very convenient for us to go stay by them for a night while we could enjoy time by the lake.
Our parents have also not-so-subtly tried to encourage us to get into camping during our young adult years as they have bought us a cooler, poker sticks for cooking marshmallows and hotdogs and a tent. The tent is a very nice piece of equipment. So nice that we feel like we haven’t been doing it justice as this was only the second time we’ve pulled it out.
My parents are avid campers and have perfected the art of camping. They can park their 30-foot camper and have it mostly set up in a half hour. They have outdoor rugs, table cloths, an outdoor kitchen that doubles as a drink station, lights, and much more all ready to go within minutes of arriving at the site.
That is a drastic contrast to how our camping experience goes. I spent half of my childhood summers in and around campers so you’d think I’d have a handle on the camping regimen. That is far from the case.
Kaitlyn and I considered this particular camping trip a success right off the bat because we didn’t forget anything... or so we thought.
The tent went up without an issue. It gets easier each time we set it up. I was particularly nervous about the sleeping logistics because the last time we were in the tent, I woke up on the ground as our air mattress had deflated. Kaitlyn assured me she tested the two twin air mattresses we own before we left and said they held their air.
It was a cold night. We had a radiating heater in the center of the tent that put out a decent amount of heat, but it didn’t blow the heat evenly around the tent. Remember how I said we thought we remembered everything? Well, a fan would have been great at this point to help circulate some of the heat.
I woke up in the early hours of the morning shivering as my air mattress was the one that was closer to the side of the tent and Kaitlyn’s was more located in the middle of the tent. I also woke up and realized that the air mattress had deflated throughout the night.
I ended up moving to a spare bed my parents had in the camper as Kaitlyn wasn’t about to be as discouraged as I was and spent the rest of the night in the tent.
It was another learning experience. Mostly, we learned that we have a long way to go to perfect our camping routine. My advice to new campers is to figure out the sleeping situation first. Once that comes, I’d imagine the rest of it is gravy.
