New Requirements for camping trips!

   We had such a wonderful time camping with our friends over Memorial Day weekend! The weather was perfect, just right for doing activities and doing nothing at all. We went swimming, took a hay ride, played ladder ball and ate WAY too much good food. There was time to hang at the beach and walk the pier. Time for the kids to splash in the waves.

Light house at end of Pier in St. Joe MI

   I can't remember the last time it did not rain over a holiday weekend. Or that I had so much time to just sit and enjoy good company. Or that I ate sooo much food. Did I mention that we at a lot? Good thing we broke up our eating with some swimming and walking and biking. Okay, I was reading, my daughter and husband were biking. But that is the same thing, right?

   I think we read 5 chapters from the Harry Potter book we are reading as a family. There was an afternoon family nap, in which we all dozed as a lovely breeze wafted over our prone bodies resting on the big bed in the camper. I am talking about total decompression! Smiles so big that your face cracks.

   So what are the new camping requirements?

   Storm shelter and easily accessible roadside assistance.

   If you read my blog about our first camping trip this year, you already have a clue about my first requirement. Beautiful week ended with a night of tornado sightings and flash flooding. You probably get the storm shelter requirement.

   Our holiday weekend trip had an interesting end on the way home.

 Great view.
                      Lousy Location.            

   But we were relaxed and ready for this new adventure. When the patrol officers stopped to check on us, we had already called roadside assistance and were waiting for a response on how long it would take to rescue us and our camper. It was hot in the brilliant sunlight, but we assured the officers that we had plenty of water, food and a clean potty.

   So we waited. And waited. And waited. A very hot wait with no power in the truck. It refused to start, therefore, no air. My brother took the time to come down and pick us up in the mini van so that we could have a comfortable journey home (we still had 70 miles to go), but it was a holiday, with heavy traffic and accidents and all, so it took quite a while.

   But the relaxation we had all weekend had not been in vain. We reminded ourselves that we should count our blessings. We did not have an accident. We were able to safely get our vehicle off the road. The officers were friendly and concerned for our safety. We had cell service and could call roadside assistance and my brother. We had a service that would tow both the truck and the RV. There was not fierce rain storm to deal with. We had lots of water and lots of really tasty leftovers. There was a clean potty just steps away. Not to mention the great view.

   So it was the second time that day we had issues with the truck. You might notice the tire in the bed of the truck in the picture. A puncture earlier in the day was the first issue. So the highway was noisy and hot. So there were ticks in abundance if you happened to step in to the weeds on the roadside.

   When you decompress, it squeezes most of the pessimism out. It is much easier to objectively deal with a crisis without getting frantic or too terribly upset. You take time to be thankful.

   After all, this could have been in the middle of Nebraska, hundreds of miles from home, on a highway that is 75mph and only sported a stingy emergency lane, with no cell service, a broken sewer pipe (thank heavens an empty and fully flushed tank), a shredded tire on a single axle camper and a wind that whipped burrs across miles of open grasslands and lodged them deep into your skin.

   I just need a storm shelter and access to roadside assistance.