Camping at Douthat, Part 2

We woke up again Saturday morning to a sprinkle of rain. Nothing major, just enough to slow down progress. Thank goodness it quickly tapered off and the sun came out.

Larry and I fixed breakfast for our camp since the rest of our group was still snoozing away and we enjoyed fabulous pancakes and sausage. I really do think we eat better when we are camping then when we are at home. By the time we were wrapping up breakfast, the rest of the gang was awake and moving. We piddled around the campsite for most of the morning and played more ladder golf.

Next thing you know it was lunch time. We knew we wanted to go for a long bike ride so we ate a quick sandwich lunch and then packed up the bikes for a 6 mile “flat” ride. When we got to the location where the trail started, we quickly realized that it was going to be a little wet, muddy, buggy, rocky in most places, and definitely not flat but we decided to go for it. (keep in mind, I am pulling Tanner in a trailer behind me). To say the least, it was a very bumpy ride. Every few seconds either Tanner or myself would let out a “huh” or “ow”. All in all, it was an adventure I don’t think I will attempt again with the trailer. By the time the ride was done, it felt more like 15 miles. We ride 8-10 miles several times a week but this ride kicked my butt. Seriously kicked my butt.

After the ride, we went back to the camp ground to chill. The guys decided to go fishing and I thought it would be a great time to give Tanner a clean diaper and a snack and put him down for a nap. Wrong. He wanted to play and I wanted him to nap. I would have loved a nap too. I could tell that he was tired and it was nap time so it became a power struggle. He kept peeping up over the pack and play or calling my name or flat out screaming to get out of the pack and play. Again, since I could tell he was tired, I was determined that he was going to sleep. Wrong again. After fighting with him for about 45 minutes, I gave up. I got him out of the pack and play and laid down on the couch and told him that I was going to sleep. All I could hear for the minutes preceeding me getting off the couch was “Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama” and “out ide Mama” and “baw baw Mama”. So we went outside and played ball.

Later that night Larry lost majorly in a game of ladder golf so he had to give Tanner a bath and get him ready for bed. I hear him yell for me from inside the camper so I take off running thinking something is wrong with Tanner (Side note: Tanner currently has his 3rd black eye, he’s just that rough and tumble and clumsy. He’s all boy.). When I get to the camper, there is water on the floor, the shower/tub is leaking and leaking bad. Anyone that knows Larry Gagnon knows that he did not handle this well. That ruined most of the night and set the mood for me to turn in by 9:30. It was actually ok though because I was exhausted.

Sunday morning we woke up to a torrential downpour. No joke. It was coming at us from all sides. Again, for those of you who know Larry Gagnon, he did not handle this well. Also, anyone who’s set up or taken down a tent in the rain knows it’s miserable. It takes us twice as long, we are both soaking wet and banged up. Everything is so slippery when it’s wet that everything you touch you end up either falling down or running into something on the camper. We also did all of this in shifts since Tanner was with us. He fussed most of the time because we couldn’t pay enough attention to him and he let us know it. Miserable. Just plain miserable. So, several hours later when we are finally packed up and ready to go, it’s time for Tanner to eat. Well, we forgot about the time thing so we had packed most of the food and Larry was ready to go. I had to feed Tanner a cereal bar and some crackers from the front seat. Talk about motion sickness. Pleugh.

Anyway, over all it was a good trip but I don’t think we will ever camp again with any significant chance of rain on the day we set up or take down. Oh yeah, on a good note, we ate breakfast at the camp restaurant in hopes that the rain would slow down or stop all together. Although neither of those things happened, I had some fabulous hot cakes and bacon!