There was a general rain coming down when we arrived at our camp site Friday night, just heavier than a drizzle, but unpleasant. We waited for a break in the weather, and ended up climbing into our sleeping bags about 10:30 pm. The temperature was cold for late May in the middle of New Mexico, but we were just warm enough. Little showers all night kept me from getting out to look for the meteor shower, but by morning it was clear and sunny. We knew it couldn't last, though. The whole weekend was forecast to be wet. I felt fairly confident in my experience and gear, though, so we had fun and went out to socialize with our fellow campers.
The kids are 12, and pretty good at this, too. Sadly, though, in order to make room to move around in the tent during the day, they had shoved their air mattresses (okay) and sleeping bags (not so good) up agains the wall of the tent below the area protected by the rain fly. Most of their lives our spring camping trips have been dusty dry and hot, so they have really never had any experience with a wet tent. Ah, experience. When the first rain of the day came, it was a gully-washer with wind and hail. My best friend's tent went down and all her stuff got soaked. My little nylon tent stayed up, no hail rips, but dear daughter's sleeping bag was soaked where it was against the tent wall. Okay, I though I was prepared, I always make the kids pack a change of warm, dry clothes in case of unexpected storms, closed-toe shoes instead of Teva sandals, dry socks, but we did NOT pack a spare sleeping bag. The forecast was for the night to be colder than the night before, when we had been BARELY warm enough, and DD only had the car blankets to sleep under, along with all of her dry clothes layered on. Or, more likely, she had my bag and I had the car blankets and my dry clothes. Either way, uncomfortable.
Hmmm. I had decided to camp out this weekend instead of working on my trailer. If we had BEEN IN our little camper, we would have weathered this storm, NO PROBLEM! We would still be out there right now, in another bright sunny morning (expecting more rain this afternoon). We've been in drought conditions for so long, we generally dance when it rains! Okay, not so much when there is also hail, but rain dancing is practically our state pastime! So please don't think I'm a fair weather camper.
We decided to pack it up and go home.
The kids had not helped pack the car before the camping trip other than adding their pillows, bags of clothes, and "driving time gear." I was sure that it would take hours and hours to pack back up, as I had taken hours and hours the first time to make sure there was room for the three of us. Oddly enough, with their help we were packed up just as space-efficiently in only one hour! Amazing what 3 people can do!
My friend who we were camping with is more of a glamper. The young men who had helped her unload and set up were no longer available, so the kids and I started packing her up. It was just her and her little dog, and it took 3 HOURS.
I really like my theory of camping: Little Family, Little Car, Little Camp (and soon, Little Camp Trailer). OTOH, her theory of camping is BIG CAR, BIG UTILITY TRAILER (oh man, she NEEDS a camper), BIG TENT, BIG CAMP. This is probably her last camping trip that way, though, as she now needs oxygen, a CPAP through the night (yes, I know, I'm trying to point her to a CPAP that can be used camping), and she has other recently-diagnosed health problems that really limit the lifting and moving of stuff that is a major part of her camping style right now. She is a MUCH OLDER 53 than I am. The good news is that her big car (SUV) will be able to pull a little camp trailer just as easily as it pulls her weighed-down utility trailer. I don't want to quit camping with her, but I DO want to do it smarter.
Okay, next problem. We were NOT in the area of New Mexico that got record-breaking floods Friday night (!!!), but the road to the camping area, which was loosely referred to as "gravel" was actually mostly clay, and the rain left it as slick as snot. Even WALKING on the road was a slippy-slide experience. Several cars slid off the road, several DIDN'T slide off the road but dug huge spinner ruts in it trying to get their cars to move. Obviously we were not the only ones giving up. Anyway, a general announcement went out, DON'T MOVE! The road was wet, yes, but just inches down was dry, dry soil that hadn't seen moisture in about 9 months. Give it a couple more hours and the dry under-soil would suck the water out of the snotty clay, and we would be able to drive out. That prediction was absolutely correct. The rain had struck at about noon, ending around 1:00, and we were able to drive out of the campground at about 6:00 pm.
We hadn't eating more than crusty bread (but good crusty bread, not stale bread) and some cheese since breakfast, so we headed for an IHOP on the way home. Nothing like pancakes and bacon and bacon after a washed-out camping trip!
Catherine
p.s. Yes, the rest of the long weekend is going to be spent working on the Penguino-2
