Security & Camping alone

[Miriam C.]

I like the idea of a Ladys Teardropper gathering. Miriam is correct though that the USA is mighty big and it would be hard to have a central meeting place. I would love it though. I can just picture all of us sitting around and really getting to visit!

It is too bad we can't get a fund raiser up to pay for everyone to join in a central place.

Security is a strange thing. Abusive people seem to target those they feel are vulnerable. The National parks and game reserves (I think I wrote that right) have decided to allow licensed concealed carry. Now I am not planning on getting a permit to carry so I won't be, but---perhaps a whole bunch of perspective criminals will find another place to look for a target.

[dakotamouse]

If a bear really wanted into a teardrop I bet he could rip into it like it was nothing more than a potato chip bag. A blast of bear spray would be a really good idea.

The very thought of that makes me get the chills. That's why I could never camp in bear country...I wouldn't have to play dead - I would die of fright.

Hey, are you snowed in? Heard on the news that the Dakota's were having a nasty snow storm. Hope ya'll are warm and safe.

We got about a foot of snow over the weekend. We can deal with it. We are getting some extra cold weather for December , though. I think last night was -19. Right now its -6 and dropping. Doesn't feel as bad though cause the wind isn't blowing

[S. Heisley]

Eunice wrote:

I like the idea of a Ladys Teardropper gathering. Miriam is correct though that the USA is mighty big and it would be hard to have a central meeting place. I would love it though. I can just picture all of us sitting around and really getting to visit!

I agree! The center of the USA, mileage-wise looks to be somewhere between Nebraska and Kansas, probably Kansas. Has anybody got any good ideas?

[MsDana]

Last year i was inspecting homes for FEMA. Finding a place to stay was an adventure all in itself. Motels being damaged etc cuts down on safe habitat. During the whole process I stayed at a truck stop several nites..a makeshift campground in a tent for several nites..a nice campground an hour from where I was working and finally found a room and got moved to houston and had to start all over. A friend and I rented a house and first nite there we had someone set off the house alarm and cut the power to the house at one in the morning. We called the police and 45 min later they got there. So this is why im building a tear. Stay in a populated part of the park..get to know your neighbors (easyer to access people in the daylite)..dont wander around after dark..lock up and stay armed. I intend to put a loud alarm system on my tear because of the areas I have to be in alone. I think if your aware of your surroundings you will be fine.

[Miriam C.]

Welcome Dana! One of the nice things about TD's is they are small enough that your foot will knock anyone out before they get in. Be sure to get one of these:


Thinking about sharpening mine.

BTW you folks do an amazing job with FEMA

[fireaunt]

Dana, you sound like a busy person. That's pretty rough duty. We did the Mardi Gras parade in Crystal Beach on Bolivar. After all the cleanup, it still looks like ground zero. Hats off to all those affected. There were lots of the workers at the RV areas. If you don't have time to build before your next assignment, you can check our For Sale section here. We are always tracking what's out there for sale.

Marilyn

[MsDana]

Dana, you sound like a busy person. That's pretty rough duty. We did the Mardi Gras parade in Crystal Beach on Bolivar. After all the cleanup, it still looks like ground zero. Hats off to all those affected. There were lots of the workers at the RV areas. If you don't have time to build before your next assignment, you can check our For Sale section here. We are always tracking what's out there for sale.

Marilyn

Thank you Marilyn! My tear is underway and im hoping to have it campable in a couple of months.
Yeah i saw a lot of people in need. The children get to me. They lose toys and pets and worse. Some are to young to understand. Some had nothing to begin with. Really sad.

Dana

[fireaunt]

You have already started! Wow, nothing slow about you! Take some pic - we love to watch the progress. What is your sesign and or plan? What to go - it is something you can do to really forget about everything else.
Keep us posted and if you have trouble, you have some experts here to help.

[CAJUN LADY]

Hi Dana! Welcome aboard and kudos to you for starting to build your own Tear. I wish I could have done my own but I think it would have gotten the "What the Hell Is That" award. You will love this forum...can't find a bunch of friendlier or more helpful people anywhere.

I have a dear friend who lives in Blue Ridge...her name is Marlene Godfrey. She grew up there and moved back after her divorce. She said it's just the most beautiful place to live. She's been bugging me to visit. One of these days...

[Dewi]

I went camping with my ten year old son... used to camp up there when I was a kid and I thought it would be character building... problem was there were delayed trains, a broken down bus and pelleting rain... not to mention the path had eroded away halfway up the hill with a 20ft drop that we had to climb around.

We got up there, wet, in the dark and set up the poorly made tent and I strung up a tarp with some tied together shoe laces... cooked us some beans, got my little lad dry and warm and settled down for the night. Problem was I didn't account for how when you're an adult how you think of things you didn't think of as a kid... barely slept.

Slightest noise I was on guard thinking someone was prowling and at about 4am, with the rain finally beginning to subside I heard a snort and a squeal outside the tent... must have been a badger or something, but it got my mind racing. You see so much on the news these days, it really did my head in thinking about it.

Next day, again raining, we packed up and wandered off the hill... phone call to my wife and about an hour or two later we were in the car being taken home. I want to do it again... the whole pitch the tent and build a campfire, more for my little lad to have a good camping experience, but you know, I bet I'll be just as worried and just as on guard... and I'm not the smallest of chaps.

Cheers, Dewi

[CAJUN LADY]

I went camping with my ten year old son... used to camp up there when I was a kid and I thought it would be character building... problem was there were delayed trains, a broken down bus and pelleting rain... not to mention the path had eroded away halfway up the hill with a 20ft drop that we had to climb around.

We got up there, wet, in the dark and set up the poorly made tent and I strung up a tarp with some tied together shoe laces... cooked us some beans, got my little lad dry and warm and settled down for the night. Problem was I didn't account for how when you're an adult how you think of things you didn't think of as a kid... barely slept.

Slightest noise I was on guard thinking someone was prowling and at about 4am, with the rain finally beginning to subside I heard a snort and a squeal outside the tent... must have been a badger or something, but it got my mind racing. You see so much on the news these days, it really did my head in thinking about it.

Next day, again raining, we packed up and wandered off the hill... phone call to my wife and about an hour or two later we were in the car being taken home. I want to do it again... the whole pitch the tent and build a campfire, more for my little lad to have a good camping experience, but you know, I bet I'll be just as worried and just as on guard... and I'm not the smallest of chaps.

Cheers, Dewi

Hi Dewi!
Do you have a backyard you could take him for a campout? When I was young(er) my mom and dad would let us camp out in our yard. We lived out in the country on lots of land and my mom's sisters all had lots of land close by so we cousins met in the middle and put up our tent. There was a pole with a light on it that stayed on at night (night watchman) so we camped under it. My dad would come check on us. We thought we were the bravest 12 year olds ever. Those were the best times.

[Miriam C.]

My friend and I camped out under a large shed in her back yard at 11 years old. All alone. She went right to sleep I played in the fire pit we built. We had an awsome (small)fire. Kinda surprised no one got arrested for letting us do that.......

Camping is harder when your own kids are at stake and you are old enough to know the truth about the hearts of people......... I feel safest when in the company of Teardroppers!

[Gaelen]

Dewi, your story reminded me of the first time I took my oldest nephews camping. They were just over 8 and 5 years old, respectively, and their dad had taken off about 18 months earlier. They wanted to go camping and discovered that he wouldn't take them any more--so after a couple of day trips to local state parks, we planned together what would be the first of five annual camping trips.

I had a tent that was tall enough to stand up in, but that I could pitch by myself (I camped often at dog shows.) We went to a kind of remote, marginally improved state forest area that is used for horse owners who do cross country trail riding. Good, relative easy hiking, a stream to wade and fish in, and only about a half hour from grandma's house if the kids panicked in the middle of the night. Plus, it's exactly the kind of place that a woman with two little kids and five dogs (yeah, *five* dogs) can camp and no one is going to be bothered.

Beautiful first day, nice hike, fun cooking over a campfire, awesome sunset. Then the wind picked up, and it began to thunder. My younger nephew says, 'Aunt Patty, I don't *like* thunder.' I show them how to put out the campfire, put the older two dogs into their crates in the truck, shepherd the kids to one last trip to the toilet house, and then we pile into sleeping bags in the tent with the three younger dogs. I light the battery-operated tent lantern, and we sing songs and tell stories and play games to relax the younger nephew. Soon I have two sleepy kids, so it's lights out.

They are out like lights, but I'm sleeping lightly in the worsening thunderstorm. About two-thirds of the way through the night, my older nephew wakes up and says, 'Aunt Patty, it's really wet over here.' I know that the tent is watertight, but I get up and check. The rain (it's still pouring) is washing down the very edge of our campsite. So I grab some safety tarps (the kind with reflective coating on one side) and two 30 gallon trash bags out of the truck bed, and wrap both boys' ancient military-issue sleeping bags in the tarp and garbage bag combo to keep the kids as dry as possible. I block off the washout from the edge of the tent, put two of the dogs on down stays next to the kids and the third on a down stay at their feet, and we all cuddle together. At least the lightening and thunder have stopped, and now I just want to get them through the night as dry as possible.

Morning came bright and sunny and warm. We got up and spread their soaked sleeping bags over one side of the picnic table to dry out. I get the kids into dry clothes (always store the backpacks with dry clothes in the truck!) and start a fire (always store the charcoal in the truck, too!) After cocoa, oatmeal, hard-cooked eggs, more cocoa and some bananas, the kids are ready to go exploring, make new friends at the campsite they can see down the hill (at least we were on higher ground; the sites below us are flooded.) We have another wonderful day exploring and hiking and playing in the stream. Toward mid-afternoon, we head back to camp and I ask the boys if they'd like to pack up and head back home, or camp another night. Rain forgotten, they vote to camp another night which is (thank you goddess) bright and starry and DRY! And when the birds start in at daybreak the next morning, my younger nephew wakes me up with a loud 'Aunt Patty, we're CAMPING!'

Dewi--every single summer I took those boys camping, it rained at least one of the three days. Sometimes it rained the entire trip...so we camped in the rain, and fished in the rain, and sometimes went into town for blueberry pancakes or mini-golf--in the rain. The boys remember the rain..but they also remember the camping. Truly, for them it was about the jjourney (rain and all) and not just the destination.

And they still borrow my tent now and then to go camping on their own (btw--my older nephew is now 27 and his younger brother is 23.)

[Dewi]

I thought about camping in the garden, but I have these memories of being a kid, catching rabbits, building campfires and digging potties... I got muddy, cold and with British summers, usually very soggy, but it was brilliant. I'd take an old blanket, a tarp, a bit of rope, my knife and a few other bits that'd fit into a rucksack... climb the hill and build a bivvy.

Wanted my eldest lad to have that same experience I s'pose... not so much the whole survival thing... just enjoying the outdoors, away from the urban life... nothing like sitting next to a campfire.

Bit he definately didn't enjoy was the walking... it's 6 miles from where the bus drops you off to where we camped... a mile of it is up a very steep hill, and I kind of forgot just how steep it was. I was exhausted once we got to the top.

Strange how you remember things from being a kid that don't seem to work out quite the same as an adult... and it goes to show that as you get older you really do lose your nerve a bit compared to when you were a kid.

Just hoping he likes being in the TD when its built or h'll be sleeping in the Delica

Cheers, Dewi

[fireaunt]

Do they have something similar to our Boy Scouts in the UK? It's a great way for the parents to share the responsibility and give you back some of your childhood nerve.