Hmm, so this *COULD* be fun...

Camping, that is... My mentality has always gone more towards the idea of "roughing it means no room service" so this past weekend was a bit of a paradigm shift for me...

I've gone camping before, but for the most part, it's been in travel trailers. Before children, we belonged to Thousand Trails and they had trailers set up permanently on their properties. That was definitely do-able for me. I don't like dirt and bugs. I like air conditioning and heat (as needed). I like my own personal bathroom. If I could go camping w/air conditioning & heat, a toilet, etc., well, I'd definitely be going a lot more often! LOL Which is why I really want a Class B (minivan/van size) motorhome! We don't have a tow vehicle and I have always liked the idea of being able to get up from the passenger front seat to go get something to eat or use the bathroom. The smaller size would fit our family (sleeping 2 or 3) and would even make going to co-op classes a breeze. (Go out to my home-on-wheels to work on something or take a nap, or whatever--all outside of meeting place, in the parking lot.) Plus a Class B makes parking easier and if it were one of the newer models, one could even use it as a secondary car, getting at least 20 mpg (not like the older versions where they got 8 to 11 mpg). Right now, it's still just a dream, but one never knows if the Lord would see fit to bless in that area... so I dream.

Anyhow, our family of three plus the dog went camping this past weekend. Only one night, I'm afraid, but it was a very good introduction, or re-introduction, to camping. My 18 year old son's last "family camping experience" was when he was a toddler in a Thousand Trails travel trailer, so this was a bit of an introduction for him, also.

Friday, my homeschool group had a field trip tour of the Dublin Dr Pepper bottling plant, in Dublin, Texas; the only U.S. plant that uses granulated sugar instead of corn syrup. Oh, what a smooth taste that gives a carbonated soda! Sadly, they are not bottling Orange soda any more with the cane sugar, only Dr Pepper and a few other flavors. I'm not a fan of Dr Pepper, although I can tolerate it much more when it's from Dublin, but my favorite soda is orange-flavored. Anyhow, we had the tour, had lunch there, and then headed home to finish packing. I exhibited interest and curiosity, so Glenn let us stop at a travel trailer/motorhome dealership outside Granbury and at a Tuff Shed place on the way home, so we didn't get home until 3pm. It was neat to actually look at travel trailers themselves. My favorite was an Airstream Bambi - 19 foot, but if I could look at the 16' one, that might be the "one" instead. My favorite of the motorhomes, though, has been and continues to be the Gulf Stream BT Cruiser (model 5211 - 22'1" in length), but I'm still looking and dreaming.

I'm looking at all that I want to write about, and think I will make this a several parter, so I can post the first part and keep working on the rest...

So we got home around 3:30pm from our morning field trip. I still had to make some bread dough (let it rise) and put the bierocks together & bake them, plus foil the steak and potatoes, and pack. We ended up leaving the house around 8pm Friday night, so set up in the dark (not completely at least, thanks to the full moon) and packed up Saturday night about 7:30pm, so it was dark then too (and the moon rose over the trees after we'd finished packing the car).

Thanks to a friend at the field trip Friday morning who offered their air mattress to us. That was definitely a deal-maker, I think, on the whole camping picture. We had planned to take our tent, but to put all the stuff we brought into it and sleep in the car. Our son would take the passenger front seat, recline it all the way and use his sleeping bag. Glenn and I would take the back - our back seat folds down and opens up into the trunk. So our heads wouldn't be under Mike's seat, we would have our feet towards the front of the car and our head towards the trunk. The dog would sleep at our feet, most likely under Mike's seat, but wherever she wanted to be. With the addition of the air mattress, my husband didn't think there'd be room for us in the car, so when I got back to the campsite (after visiting others in the group at their own campsites), I was surprised that we'd be sleeping in the tent. The idea was for all three of us to sleep in the tent with the dog. Once the air mattress was in, it became apparent that Mike would either be half-on & half-off the mattress or completely on the hard ground. He chose to not even try and so headed for the car. The dog started with her dog bed on top of my sleeping bag, but I found that I couldn't stretch out comfortably, so I moved her dog bed (big pillow-type) over to the ground next to the air mattress, in the back corner. I think she joined me (behind my knees) sometime during the night (which is typical at home too), but I wasn't cramped at least. The air mattress DEFINITELY was a winner and if/when we ever do this again - that is on the "to buy" list as far as I'm concerned!

Our old tent died some time ago and I'm not sure when Glenn bought this on. This was the first time to even use it...It's a Winnebago brand, 7'x7' speed-clip dome tent (model 7218), and from looking at the box (as I write), I think it's perfect for 2, although it says it sleeps 3. I don't see ANY extra space if you get three into it! It worked fine for 2 on an air mattress and a dog, with a bit of room where I could have put my "carry-on" suitcase in the side area.

Mike must have slept well, since it took the group of youth some time to wake him up Sat. morning at 8am. He said he thought he could do that for 2 nights, if/when we do this again. I couldn't get warm until in the wee hours, and when Mike & the youth woke me up, I just knew I hadn't gotten enough sleep. I woke up with a headache, but once I got some food in me, that helped a lot. Speaking of, here's the first picture. I had just woken up and gotten dressed. I hadn't even put one foot outside of the tent at all, and was eating a cold homemade cinnamon roll.

So it's time for bed, so this is part one of the Camping Adventure... stay tuned! More pictures coming.