A Stormy Stay

One of our adventures - March, 2002

On one of our latest trips, it was just Quinn and I on a weekend away from the families. We decided that we would go up to Laurel Hill in the Laurel Mountains. We didn't need much of a tent since it was just her and I. However, we let her husband pack the tent for us. When we finally got to the campground and selected our site, we were excited. We began to set up our tent when we realized that Alan had packed the wrong tent poles with the tent we had brought with us. Setting up our camp chairs we viewed our options. We could turn around go back for a real tent, we could try to make the poles work with what we had or we could sleep under a tarp. Driving back was ruled out. So we attempted to make the tent work with the poles we had. Just wouldn't work. Starting with our canapy and poles that usually goes over our picnic table, we turned it into a lean-to. Then, taking the other three tarps that we had with us, we wrapped it around the sides. Pretty good.

We set up the rest of the site and started our fire. We were off by ourselves, as it was early in the year and still a bit chilly. Not many campers out yet. However, it was fishing weather, so we did have several men camping there to fish in the river. All walked past our contraption we were calling a tent and stared. As evening set in, Quinn looked at our make shift shelter and decided that if it rained or the wind blew, we would be in trouble. So as I cooked our dinner, she tweaked and tied, fiddled and fixed. That night, while we slept, the rain came. But we remained warm, dry and comfortable. It rained most of the weekend. But being the wild mountain women that we were, we stayed. It was one of the best trips we ever had. Despite the rain, we slept in dry quarters, always had a roaring fire and ate well. The only other incident that we had was, when I was grilling our beautiful steaks, I dropped the cooking mitt in the fire, where it promptly caught on fire and proceeded to burn. We managed to rescue it and put it out. However, we had to give it up and threw it back in the fire, it was a lost cause.
Just goes to show you, no matter what the circumstances, no matter the weather, camping can be just as fun. We were glad we stayed and very proud of our hand made shelter.

A Kid and a Snake

We were on a camping trip when our children were younger - the oldest being about 10. After arriving at camp and setting up, the kids wanted to go exploring. We looked around and figured they would be fine. While they wandered about into the woods we managed to get the rest of camp set up and a fire started. We were just sitting down to relax for a few moments by the fire when the oldest son walks up holding his arm. The first words out of his mouth were "Don't Worry Mom, I don't think it was poisoness". Don't Worry??? He had found a snake in the woods and had tried to pick it up. He got bit. Out in the woods, a ways from any help we did what we thought was right. We had him sit down and we looked at the bite. It didn't seem deep and he didn't seem to be having any kind of reaction. We sat around the camp fire waiting for him to suddenly go into convulsions or something. After an hur of waiting we had to agree with him that it wasn't poisoness and let him go play agian with the strict rule that if he found any other snakes or wild life he would leave it alone. It is one of the dangers of camping in the wild. It is home to many creatures and we are invading their space. But with the proper supervision and information, you can teach your kids safety in the woods. The important thing is - be prepared. Anything can happen in the woods.

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