Camping trips from hell.

Everybody has one, usually more. But, regardless, you never forget them and they do make the trip a lot more memorable. My wife and her family used to travel in a pop up. It had a canvas add a room that she and her brother slept in. She was sick so the whole family was in the trailer when they heard a noise in the add on.

They quietly looked through the window and saw that a skunk had crawled under the edge. They helplessly watched as he foraged all through the food. Whispered comments went like this...

"Look, he's eating the Fritos."

"Now he is getting the Twinkies!"

He sampled everything, then left with a full belly.

We were camped at Hen House Ridge when the kids were little, the raccoons there are really ingenious and overpopulated. We were in the tent when it sounded like someone was throwing the spare tire around in the back of the truck. I got a flashlight and shined it through the window. The kids laughed when a coon with his glowing eyes peeked over the side of the bed then went back to his search. I said, "Relax, all of the food is locked in the cab."
My wife thought for a minute, then said, "My candy bar! It's in the backpack in the back." We had bought two of those big chocolate bars from the Girl Scouts, mine with nuts, hers plain. Grumping I got up and stepped over giggling kids. When I got there, he was gone. The backpack was unzipped and her candy bar was missing. Mine was still there.

My idea of the perfect campsite has a Vacancy sign out at the front drive. Meaning I just don't do camping out anymore.

Back when I was about 20 I went to Colorado for a church conference that was to be held at a large campground with cabins. Several of us went early though and camped out in the mountains for a couple nights. We arrived fairly late in the day and found and picked a spot that looked good to camp in. The spot was perfect...along the edge of a lake, very very nice, but in the morning the rangers made us move up the mountain a bit because we were in a "no camp zone"
So we moved a bit up the mountain to the designated "camping area" and right into the WORST mosquito infestation that I've ever seen. Even in broad daylight the entire area was a virtual CLOUD of mosquito's. I might mention here that I'm allergic to mosquito bites. No amount of repellant was enough....It was however enough to convince me I was not a happy camper. LOL

When we were in Yellowstone, there were signs all over the place to not feed the wild animals and not to approach them under any circumstance. We saw a guy get arrested for feeding a huge black crow. He said, "It's just a bird." The ranger said, "And it's just a law." We saw another fool waaaaay out in the field near a herd of elk. He had a camera and was taking pictures but what we were watching was this idiot trying to get close to the herd and a big male was doing a facedown with the guy. The elk put his antlers down and pawed the ground and finally the guy had the brains to leave before he got gored.

We had taken the kids in our 13' vacation trailer to Ludington State park. We were fortunate enough to get a site right next to a swampy edge of the lake. Out in the swamp was a tree stump. We watched a crew of baby raccoons playing around that stump and thought they were so cute. Later that afternoon, the kids fed them bread. The next day, Pete's folks arrived for the day and mom had brought a grocery bag full of food. You know, people of that era never arrived empty handed for a meal. On the top of the bag was a package of hotdog buns and the bag had been plunked on a picnic table. We were sitting around the firepit chatting when all of a sudden, momma raccoon hightails it across our yard, up on the picnic table and grabs the package of buns. She ran back to the swamp, up on the tree stump where she proceeded to tear open the bag and feed her babies.

That night we had forgotten to bring in the trash and there were bones in it from smoked fish. In the middle of the night there was the most awful raucous of snarling and fighting. Turns out the raccoons were arguing about who got the fish bones. Our two oldest boys were sleeping in a tent near the trailer and were scared to death of the racket but were so afraid, they didn't dare unzip the tent and come in the trailer.

Probably the worst experience was not a camping one. We spent ONE night in a motel in upper Michigan coming home from the Alaska trip. It was so OOOOOOOLD and tacky, I almost was going to bring in our own sheets to put on the bed. But I sniffed the sheets and could smell bleach so dared sleep on them. The windows were so dirty you could see dribble marks where steam/water had made a mark in the dirt running down. The bathroom had a metal shower that was so rickety it wobbled back and forth if you bumped it. The bathroom was sooooo tiny you had to enter the room, step over to the right in front of the shower to get the door shut to be able to get to the sink and toilet. The door banged the front of the sink when you opened it. Oh well, it was cheap, it had a bed, toilet and TV and that was OK. Next door was a nice restaurant so we used that toilet until the restaurant closed.

I guess that was the oddest part, not having toilet facilities. In the night it was a little scary to have to walk through the campground to the toilet. Soooo I kept a margarine tub and cover and that was my UM potty at night. I have since bought a lady's portable urinal.

Being brought up on a farm, kinda makes you accept any weird situations with dirt or animals.

Summer of 1976, my mom, 16 yr old cousin, and I traveled all up the west coast, and on up into Canada. The only states we missed were Utah, Oregon, and Washington. We were in a 1974 Chevy pick up with a bed over the cab camper that Mother had paid someone to customize. She had a "boot" put in, so I could go between tha cab to the camper when needed, without having to stop. We camped in KOA parks and national parks all over.

In 1974, we had spent two weeks just outside of Hot Springs, Arkansas, just at the foot of the Ozark mountains. We were about 100 yrds down river from the dam. WHEWWWWWIE, that water was freakin' COLD!!!! The grown ups didn't have to worry, because they were going to the bath houses in H.S. every day, but a different cousin and I weren't old enough to go, so we would have to carry the cold water up to the camper and take a bath in a #3 wsahtub after the water got warm.

During the summer of '77, Mother had traded the truck/camper in on a Winnebago, and we set off to travel up the east coast with my two godmothers. We made it as far as Brandon, Fla., just outside of Orlando, when Mother went into renal failure. It was a very miserable trip home for her. The beginning of that trip was the last time my mom was ever her "normal" healthy self. She lived another 7 miserable years, but she hung in there because she didn't want to leave me an orphan.

Fast forward to summer of 1987, and there wasn't really any camping involved...but I drove my my house in Vidor, Texas to Theresa, NY in about 2 1/2 days. Just me, my dog, and a CB radio. Not much money, no liability insurance, and no speedometer. When I finally got there, I found out God was truly watching over me. BOTH front tires were completely chewed up on the inside, and were showing the steel belts all the way around. A week and 2 new tires later, I left Theresa, NY on a Friday morning at 8:30a.m. eastern time, and I was in MY driveway Saturday night at 10:30p.m. central time.

I kept telling all the folks I was talking to on the CB that I didn't think that was the kind of travel and sightseeing my mother had meant for me when she said she wanted me to "see the country". At least, not at that pace!

If I get a chance to get back on here before this thread is too old and forgotten, I'll write about some of our adventures. Got lots going on right now--not all bad--just alot.

yes yes keep this one going I got some stories too
just too busy right now

Having camped 3 weeks to Yellowstone and back and 6 weeks to Alaska and back, we have had some experiences too but none were all that terrible I guess.

We were camping in our van. Pete had made a queen size bed with drawers under it and a cupboard with drawers and counter behind the driver's seat. We had a microwave, TV with video player, fan, electric frypan that was equipped to bake, broil and fry, so we were in pretty good shape for camping as long as we had electricity. Oh and we had an Igloo refrigerator that would run on car battery or regular electricity. I had also taken the Coleman stove just in case. I had made screens for the windows that attached with magnets inside and there were curtains that closed all around.





We parked in a nice campground in Fairbanks right next to a lake. I have a picture taken out the window of a plane landing on the lake around 10:30 PM as I was sitting in the rider's seat reading with no lights on. A great percentage of people in Alaska have planes and ones with floats too.




By the way, this picture was taken on July 26, 2003 in Denali National Park in Alaska. There was 3" of snow on the ground when we woke up that morning. Fortunately, we had spent the night camping in our van. We used the front curtains, and all our towels as blankets that night and were sleeping in our sweats and warmest clothes, inside the sleeping bags. Who woulda thought we needed an electric blanket at that time of year?

We had wandered around in a little town of Seward on the south shore of the ocean and when we were leaving, we saw a sign that said, "Tsunami escape route". Not being used to that type of thing, it kinda made me a little nervous. That town had a bank teller window in a clothing store. I thought that was a little unusual.



As we were heading south through Canada, heading for the US border, we noticed that the roadsides were cleared way back with widde grassy spaces. We thought maybe it was to give room to put the abundance of snow. So we notice a little fox laying a ways from the roadside. I told Pete to stop so I could get a picture. Can't find it now but anyway we parked a short ways from there and was telling someone about this little fox. She said, "OH, that must be the fox that all the truckers feed."

This campground wasn't really a camp. There was a wide gravel drive that was a service drive for some trucking company. Back down the drive along a high bank that was by the highway, was a telephone pole with 4-5 electrical hookups. Yup, ya back in and plug in and you're home. Oh and at the end of the driveway was a unmowed grassy area loaded with alfalfa hay. And smack in the middle sat a bear calmly stuffing her face. Back down the driveway was a travel trailer with people working on it and a ways from that were two little kids playing in the gravel like there wasn't a bear a short distance away.

Cool pictures Esther. I'm retiring September 1st and getting a new truck and a trailer. Gonna hit the road for a little while then move way down south to Paamul, Mexico.

They have the internet, yes I'll stay in touch. Things aren't looking real good on the home front right now, Vicki and I are getting a divorce. I've tried and it just isn't working, people at our age just don't change. So far, it is amiable, we are getting along, just realize that we can't live under the same roof any longer. I still love her and always will, I'm just too old to argue every single day of my life. Life is too short for that.

OH NO BULLFROG!! I'm so sorry. Have you tried counseling? Sometimes the things we argue about aren't really the problem.

Yes, we have tried counseling, but they are just people themselves. Most of their personal lives are a wreck. We are getting along, I'll be fair and take care of here.

It's not me that needs to change, it's her. I've tried talking to her with reason, and then warning her, nothing works. We have to stay together two more months so she can get the retirement money, but nothing will change unless she does. It has been my experience that people don't change at this age. Actually, things have gotten better snce we made this decision.

I'm sorry to hear this my friend! We never know where the future takes us but we have to make some hard decisions along the way. We've had some pretty hard knocks in our old lives. But you are strong and I know you will survive this also.

Congrats on the retirement thing though. You're gonna love that!

It's good to see you back Bubbles. And yes, I'm gonna love retirement. Actually, I can rent out two of these bedrooms, that will pay the rent and all utilities. I'm pretty low maintenance by myself. She wanted a huge fifth wheel that would have required a 40,000.00 diesel pickup to tow it. My buddy has a 6 X 12 foot trailer. He stuck and AC unit in it, loads up the Harley and goes. Put in an airbed and I'm good to go (with a mini fridge for the rum and 7)

Very sorry to hear this my brother. Hang in there, Do whats best for you and things will work out