Decompression and Spring Break Adventures

   Our Spring Break was wonderful. After having taken more than a week to recoup from our trip, I can now write about it!

   It started out cold (here at home) as we began our journey south, pulling our camping trailer behind us. Please note, camping in my life includes no roughing it! I like to refer to my camper as the Holiday Inn on wheels! We were headed as far south as Evansville! Hey, the weather was supposed to be about 15 degrees warmer than here, so that meant heat wave in my mind! The route was an easy drive and we encountered no traffic. Practically no cars. I checked at lunch time to see if I was really awake. The further south we drove, the warmer the weather became. To my surprise, the drive only took what Google Maps predicted. Our campground was nice when we arrived and we were able to set up and have dinner with no issues at all. I was kinda surprised by the ease of the whole day. As an added bonus, it was much warmer than it had been at home. Of course, that would not have taken much. Anything above freezing was much warmer.

   The first day, being the coldest (relatively speaking) we headed off to the museum (Art, Science and History Museum). Mom and Dad were both surprised that we did not have to auction off the kid to get in. Added bonus - parking was free! There were not too many people, the museum was not too overwhelming and the displays were top notch. The art was FANTASTIC! Really liked their collection. By lunch time, we were looking for a cafeteria they did not have, but as we were just a two minute drive from a downtown that had on-street parking (also at no charge), this was no problem. Mom had to be fanned out of shock when the employees at the Subway were really good, even offering to go next door to get coffee cups because they had run out. She also noticed that everyone at the museum was terrific, laid back and very helpful. Even the other patrons. Throughout the day, she was careful to make sure that her purse was securely fastened and that her wallet was in place.

   The next day dawned bright, sunny and warm. Not to mention early. Dad has a knack at getting up before the birds to ensure that they wake up to have a good breakfast. He tries to be quiet and not disturb anyone, but in a camper, that is not a reality. Note to self - first big investment in our camper - super mega heavy duty stabilizers. House jacks maybe.

   The temperature now did it's magic and we did not even need jackets to roam the worlds most hilly zoo. Heck, we managed just fine in tank tops. Locals did take the precaution of wearing jackets with their flip flops and shorts. We fed the giraffes, which was really neat! Again we had to leave the facility to get lunch - all of their dining areas were closed, but again, this was a two minute drive where we once again had to revive my mom when the employees went out of their way for her. Sure we were eating fast food at Taco Bell? More wonder for mom during the day as people were polite, nobody pushed you out of the way to see animals on display, and folks actually apologized if they thought they walked into your picture taking. I reminded mom that we had left Chicago a few hundred miles away and that it was the "off season" for travel, even if we were practically wearing no clothes!

   After about three hundred hills and a wide assortment of animals, we made our way back to the camper, dinner and relaxing by the pond to watch the ducks. It was quiet, we were not worried about what to do the next day, and vacation finally started. I thought this was a record for reaching the relaxed state. We were finally achieving family decompression that I had written my daughter's teachers about in my complaint letter over homework levels (see my last post).  The rest of the week began to progress in a more relaxed manner. We reached our destinations when we arrived. We arrived at places more wonderful than we had planned. We met people who told us their stories about where they came from and who they were. We sometimes shared our stories with others. There was time to sit in a library and just read. Time to watch the ducks skim across the pond. And time to drive down the road and around the bend just to see what was there. We pushed ourselves to hike a little extra to see something special and were surprised along the way with the simple things that awaited us. We explored and learn new things about the world around us and there is no pressure.

   By Thursday, we had seen car shows, Native American historical mounds, state parks and nature centers. We had played at the park and taken a scenic drive along the Ohio River. We had eaten ice cream and had lots of good meals. We were relaxed. So the weather getting rainy and chilly seemed of no real concern. We could go visit the oldest public library in Indiana (and haunted to boot). Be mall rats. Do a lot of nothing. And we did. But as the day wore on, the weather predictions became more severe. And more severe. And violent severe. Not something you really want to encounter when living in a camper. Our campground was located in a hollow, not near a major river or lake, so our concern was tempered. By the time it was bed time, there were tornado sightings, flash flood warnings and sirens. But things would go from heavy rain, to calm, back to rain. I made sure the main building was open in case we needed to seek shelter. Ready shoes and blankets by the door, just in case.

   Mom and I decided to keep an eye on things. Not like we were sleeping much anyway. So we watched the weather reports on TV. Not very helpful as they named counties we never heard of, gave names of cities that could have been in Indiana or Illinois (actually, there were cities with the same names in BOTH Indiana and Illinois, which made it difficult to pinpoint which one the weatherman was talking about. I thought about calling the station and asking if they could at least identify which state the city in so I would know if the storm was 50 or 10 miles away, but I had pretty crappy cell signal in the campground).  Seeing as there was a pond and a creek, we watched for flash flooding. About every 5-10 minutes.
   
    My last check verified that there was still grass showing on the ground, I went to the camper bathroom, emerged and looked out the window. Then uttered a very low "Oh Crap." Okay, that is sorta what I said. I looked at my mom and said, "Time to evacuate, now." We were now located in the midst of a lake that was just below the step of

the camper. Hey, pool side camping was not advertised in the brochure. I woke my daughter, told my folks to get their meds and opened the camper door. My intention was to alert the campground manager to call for help and pull the truck to higher ground so it would not become immersed. By the time I had the camper door open, the fire department had arrived and the campground was filled with blue and red disco lights. So we took the bird, the kid, electronics and clean clothes and waded through knee deep water to the truck that I had pulled to higher ground. I assured the firemen and our campground manager that we were okay. We were going to spend the night somewhere else. One of the other campers managed to hitch their band new camper and pull it out of the deeps (they were further downhill than we were) so we had to wait before we could leave. Pulling our camper was not an option - I was not swimming under it to get the hitch. Yup, I had taken the hitch off the truck and put it under the camper - with the hitch lock on it. Habit. Whenever we stay anywhere more than two nights, we generally do this. Driving with a hitch can be hazardous. With a camper on the back, you are extra careful when backing up. But no camper and it is easy to forget the hitch is there..... Oh well. I was not up to heroics anyway. We watched the fire department pull out their raft and rescue one of the inhabitants, and after a waiting a short time, we drove through torrential rain to the Holiday Inn. I was not going to be much use to the fire department. Everyone else seemed to have their own plan.

 As I drove away, flashing lights lights in my rear view mirror, I said a small prayer that my camper would still be there in the morning. Water had risen to just below the bottom of the camper. Maybe investing a boat would have been a better idea? It was about 1 am and I was tired. So much for the relaxing, calming effects of vacation. So much for my theory of decompression. So much for searching for warm weather and adventure.

   Mentally I made note that the campground could now advertise Thursday night disco nights.

   The next morning came earlier than I would have liked. Noon would have been a good time to have morning. After eating (I never miss a meal!) dad and I drove down to the campground. And there was the camper, towel drying rack still standing in front of it, looking as nothing had happened. Campground manager was driving around cleaning up debris and cheerful. Apparently the water had gone down right after we left. I was cheerful again. We had weathered the storm. No one had been hurt. No water in the camper. Everything had not floated down stream. I was relieved! I said a quick thank you prayer, then decided that we would go home a day early. The weather reports were now calling for more rain, and I wasn't putting pontoons on the camper. We hitched up and headed out, collecting my daughter and my mom from the Holiday Inn along the way.

   As we drove in 30 mph buffeting winds (this is the drying cycle in my new camper cleaning regime) I found myself smiling. Traffic was fairly light. I was in good spirits and actually relaxed. I guess some of that decompression was still having it's effect. We had learned new things, visited new places and tested our endurance. I felt my daughter had learned some valuable life skills, not to be found in any homework packets or practice sheets.  This is what vacation was meant to do. Take us out of time so that we could slip back in, mentally prepared and ready for the next adventure.