Camping 101

What's been happening these last two months, you might wonder? We went camping. Not for two months ... just two days this past weekend.

Our church family took the weekend and travelled to Wyoming, IA to take in God's creation. It was the first time the Hagerman family has been camping, and only the second time I have ever slept outside away from my own backyard. Here's a few observations:

• First off, it was HOT. Those of you not familar with Iowa may not appreciate how sticky it can get in these parts. The temp was in the low 90s, with a heat index (combo of temp and humidity) in the 100s. Unlike the desert southwest, Iowa heat is wet heat, not dry heat. Even when we weren't moving, we were sweating.
• If you're not used to tent sleeping (like me), it can drive you mad. The combination of sleeping a couple inches off the ground, listening to the insects, feeling your sleeping bag turn wet with dew, and the stifling heat was too much for me. The first night out I didn't sleep a wink. The second night, maybe three hours. By God's grace I wasn't a complete beast to be around.
• Be careful about parking your tent, and your car, under walnut trees. Nuts dropping in the middle of the night on the roof of a van sound like a shotgun blast.
• I now know what a millipede looks like. The campground was covered with these unusual looking wormlike creatures. The rumor that they are poisonous wasn't exactly true, but I wasn't interested in finding out for myself.
• I also now know what poison ivy looks like. It was everywhere, but not discovered until a few hours AFTER all the kids began running around without their shoes. No reported cases of itching yet ...
• Eating is hard work. You pack all the food into coolers and totes, transport it to the campsite, unpack it, cook it, eat it, pack it back up, wash ... and repeat several times a day. Before we left I told Michelle it would be a good time for a 48-hour fast. I was right.
• I'm not as young as I used to be. Those who know me and my history of back problems are not surprised by this statement. The combination of sleeping arrangements and physical activity was more than my L5 S1 disc could handle. By Sunday morning it was everything I could do to just straighten up.
• We're counting the days until we go back. We weren't in the van returning home more than 10 minutes before the kids asked, "Will we be doing this again next summer? Pleeeeaaaaassssseeee!" Yes, I suppose we will. There are few things better in life than creating family memories with some of your best friends in tow.