Perpetual Ruminations

Camping, Trips One and Two.

It's almost July and my last entry was back in March. It's been that kind of busy and hectic! Despite this, we have already managed four camping adventures this spring, returning from the latest on June26.

The first one was early spring still dropping down to freezing at night. We had an electric site, so we brought along electric heaters to safe on LP fuel. The furnace worked great the first night. I had just gone through it and installed a new blower, so this was a great test. But, we camp in a mobile tent (pop-up camper) and they do not hold heat. Thankfully we had the electric heater as well and between the furnace and electric, it was comfortable.

We arrived Friday afternoon and with it being cold and windy, didn't even start a fire. Saturday we had our granddaughter's birthday and didn't get back until late afternoon. It was a sunny afternoon, but windy and chilly. That didn't stop the party north of us, they had music blasting and were yelling over it until about two in the morning.

The next day started out the same. The campers across from us woke us early when they started their loud pickup, and the rest of the day was noisy from a church group camped a few sites down from us. But, by late afternoon just about everyone had left the campground and we had our last night camping nice and quiet. it was another chilly evening and cold night, but it just made the fire more enjoyable. Luckily it only dropped to about forty degrees overnight because the furnace quit working. (I believe it was because of the high winds that night blowing straight into the furnace vent.)

Our second camp was local and included an online friend of my wife whom we had never met. It all sounded good when we set out, but it soon became another flop of a camping trip. However, the first day was great. We got set up and started a fire to cook over, talked around it until it got too chilly, then went into the camper. With three adults and two dogs, it was a bit crowded, but comfortable.

This time, we had no electric hook-up, so we relied on our battery for all power. I brought a second, just in case we needed it, which we did. The first night the furnace did great, and instead of an electric heater, we aided it with a small propane heater.

The next morning we woke to rain, thunder, and wind. Being a mobile tent, the wind made it more difficult to hold the heat, so the furnace was running a lot. By early afternoon, it quit; it just wouldn't light. I knew we were low on fuel in the first tank, so I switched them out, but the furnace still wouldn't light. Everything else was working great, but no furnace.

I took the cover off to look for any loose connections and jiggled the wires around a bit. Note to self, and I know this; always cut the power before reaching into an electrical component. The back of my right ring finger came into contact with the igniter, and wow, what a rush! No serious injury, luckily, but it left my hand tingling for a few hours.

To make a long story shorter, it was a gloomy, rainy day, and I couldn't see well, so I turned on the overhead light. It barely glowed, the battery was almost dead! I switched out the battery and the furnace worked great. Since it rained and stormed all day and late into the night, we stayed inside and played cards and talked.

We woke to sunshine the next morning but the day started out rough. The friend who came with, I'll call her Jill, was up super early and went out to enjoy the morning. No problem except in a mobile tent, when one person is up, everyone is awake. I wouldn't have minded, but she let the dogs out without their collars or leashes on! I flew out of bed and rushed out before they could run off chasing something. I confronted her about it, but since I had just woke and hadn't had any coffee, I was a bit gruff about it. I did apologize and explain things a little later, but the damage was done and her feelings were hurt.

Also, she hadn't ever gone camping before and didn't want to hike or kayak, and wasn't seeming to enjoy the adventure, so we packed up that afternoon and returned home instead of staying for the next day.

That brings us to number three, but I don't want this to get too long, so I'll pick up there in the next entry.