Our Camping Adventure

So we (Hubby, J-Mav, and I) took the camper out for the first time over the weekend. We had a great time, but it was not without adventure.

First off, the camper has been set up in our driveway since just before Memorial Day because we had intended to camp that weekend. It didn't work out because we couldn't get a reservation anywhere within an hour of here, and we needed to be around for hockey games that weekend. So, in alarmingly redneck style, we just left it up in the driveway.

I got out of work a couple hours early on Friday, so I went home and loaded stuff into the trailer and truck so that we'd be pretty much ready to go by the time Hubby got home. Once we had everything in the camper, J-Mav and I put it down and closed it up. We did very well if I do say so myself! ;-P When Hubby got home, we loaded the cooler in the truck, he changed his clothes, and we hooked the truck up to the camper. We checked that all was good with the hook-up and that all the lights worked, and off we went. We had an hour to get to the campground (which was 20 minutes away) before the office closed. No worries.

As we left our subdivision, however, we went over a very uneven cross road and immediately had a much bigger problem than making it to the campground by 7:00! The truck swerved to the left and we heard a horrible noise. As Hubby tried to get us stopped, I looked in the side view mirror and realized the camper was no longer hooked to the truck. Yikes! We were now stopped in the left lane of [thankfully, recently widened] two lanes heading toward Fairfax Co. Parkway.

Telling J-Mav to stay in the truck (it was rush hour, afterall), Hubby and I got out to assess the damage. The trailer was wedged up under the hitch, but the safety chains were still attached. J-Mav had just asked what they were for when we were hooked the trailer up. Now he saw in action just what they were for. I moved the truck up a little bit, and then went back, and together Hubby and I were able to lift the tongue of the trailer up and put it back on the hitch. We re-attached it, yanked on it to make sure it was really attached, and then plugged the lights back in to make sure they still worked. Amazingly, they did. We pulled into a church parking lot and drove around a bit over a couple speed bumps to make sure it was really hitched properly and then got on our way once again, albeit a bit nervously.

We arrived with no further issues, and received our assigned spot. As Hubby backed the camper in, we realized we were going to get a storm sooner rather than later, so we got to work getting set up. I think we were set up within about 30 or 45 minutes... just before the rain started. With the rain came a welcome drop in the temperature. J-Mav and I took off to grab some subs, leaving Hubby to make beds and put food away in the trailer. He had everything organized by the time we got back, and the rain shower had blown through by then, as well.

By the time we were done eating, Hubby and J-Mav took a walk to the bathhouse (where J-Mav did not like the sign posted warning about copperhead snakes) and then J-Mav wen to bed and Hubby and I played Scrabble and made a list of things that we need to get before we go camping again (lights for the awning, more light bulbs, a hatchet, more blankets, extra pillows for propping up Hubby's arm when he lies on his side and my head if I'm congested...). Kdog was surprisingly calm, she laid on her blanket on the floor. I think having the fan on all weekend helped a lot. She probably couldn't hear every little noise, so she didn't bark and "woof" at every little thing.

We awoke [early] on Saturday to bright, hot sun... the way our site was, it was beating down on the picnic table/door side of the camper. One of the things we did was scope out other sites so that we can request a more shady site the next time we go there. We found one that we would love to have and it was empty all weekend. Hopefully it will be empty the next time we want to go there, as well.

Hubby and J-Mav went to the water park that is at this particular park. The plan was that they would go for a bit and then Hubby and I would switch off. However, when they came back for lunch, J-Mav didn't want to go back. That was fine because I had a pretty good headache going anyway. We decided, instead, to take walk/hike as this was a county park, there were also county trails to walk/bike on. We followed one and ended up, at the end of it, at the rink. Only we could take a hike and end up at the rink where the boys play hockey. They quick visit (we went in to get water and use the bathroom) meant that at least one of us had been at the rink every day for the past eight for one reason or another. But I digress...

When we got back to the site a couple hours later, I made macaroni salad for dinner while the guys built a fire so we could roast hot dogs and, later, s'mores. They did a great job, though J-Mav told Hubby every five minutes for a few hours that he thought the fire was going to go out. ;-) We ate dinner, and then one of J-Mav's hockey teammates (who lives within walking distance of where we were camping) came over with his mom for s'mores. We all visited for a couple hours before they left and J-Mav hit the sack again. I wasn't far behind as my headache had never gone away.

We actually got cold on Saturday night, and Hubby went and got the blanket that I keep in the truck! KDog was also more restless on Saturday night... lots of moving around and scratching and ear flapping. But we survived and slept a little longer on Sunday morning than we had on Saturday morning. But once we were up, we ate a quick breakfast and started packing up as the check-out time was 10am. Plus, J-Mav had a birthday part to go to at 12:30. Busy, busy.

We didn't have any trouble "breaking down" and I think it took about an hour. Maybe a little more. We made triple sure that we were securely hooked up before we took off, and headed home... our first camping adventure in the books. We are already planning our next weekend away in July...