Late September camping trip

 It was very cool to take the kids camping again recently. Evey brought it up a while ago… when was the last time we went camping? 

It might have been… OK, it probably was… when I took Bub to the Wake Family farm to see the eclipse. That had to be five or six years ago!

Before that, the three of us had camped a few times together at the Wake Farm in Leavenworth. Since then, we started playing more fall soccer, COVID, etcetera. 

I was happy Evey suggested it. Bub likes to roll along with Evey ideas, so he was in. Plus, we had no soccer that Saturday.

**

I eventually committed myself to the idea. We don’t like leaving Mom out of family plans, but really… how many more years do I have to camp with the kids? She’s 16, he’s 11. He turns 12 tomorrow; she turns 17 in December.

LET’S GO CAMPING!

The weather forecast was for HOT weather even though it was the last weekend of September. It did get up to the low 90s that day. But we didn’t arrive to the lake until 6 pm, it was calming down fast…

So I chose Eisenhower State Park, which resides on Melvern Lake. About an hour south of here. I tried to pack up everything in the afternoon so we could just drive off when Evey and Boyd pulled up (Evey and Boyd pull up!) but I got a little bogged down and was running late. We were wheels up by 4 pm with a tent, two air mattresses, a cooler full of food and drinks and two bicycles.

Emergency PB&Js

As we drove off, Bub asked if we could stop for a Wendy’s or something, on the drive. I said, “Good idea!” But I really didn’t know if we would drive by such a place. 

Turns out, we drove by two Casey’s (Boyd declined pizza) and one Mexican restaurant that looked really good. No other options. When we made the turn on the last 5 miles to the lake, I told a hungry Boyd, “Sorry, man, look outside… there’s no Wendy’s out here!”

Thankfully I packed peanut butter, jelly and bread. As soon as we got settled, Evey made them both sammiches for a snack. Replete with milk in Wonder Woman Solo cups.

***

Important note: When we arrived at Eisenhower State Park, I paid $5 to enter the park. I was directed to go to Ike’s Cabin, to pay for my tent.

Channeling the Progressive commercials “home owners turning into their parents” commercials, I told the lady — Oh, no, I brought my own tent. 

She said, yeah, I know. You have to pay to spend the night.

OH! OK.

We went into the shack and the kind woman gave us the layout. We chose our campsite. Went back to the shack. As we pulled up, Boyd asked me, “Dad, can I stay in the truck? Something in there made me SNEEZY.”

Sure enough, Bub was sniffly the rest of the trip. He hung tight and never complained, but something in there changed him and frankly, he was sick for about two days afterward. Bummer.

***

We chose a spot as remote as possible, but still with a view of the lake.

And of course, as soon as we got back to the campsite… someone was parked there.

It’s OK, they were just fishing, apparently on that day pass (no tent fee for them!) and moved out of our spot once they saw us setting up.

I told the kids that I could set up the camp; they should bike ride while they could because the sun was going down quickly. 

They went on a short ride then they had to return almost immediately to report they saw four deer, and the deer were not scared of them… they got really close! They went on another short ride, then they came back to help me set up camp. With their help (especially Evey) we were done in no time. 

I sparked a nice fire using the Solo Stove Adro got me for Father’s Day, and the wood I’ve been hoarding at the house. Before I knew it, we were cooking hot dogs as the sun went down.

We called Mom to let her know we were safe and sound. Then Evey went, “Is that THE MOON?!?” We looked, and behind the tree was emerging this giant moon, bright pink. We took photos and looked at it through the binoculars. (Yes, of course I brought binoculars.)

Monopoly!!!

After hot dogs and chips were s’mores. Then we went and the kids sat in the bed of the truck and we chatted. Evey asked, “If time froze for 24 hours but you were the only one who could still move, what would you do?” A fun conversation ensued.

Any fish in this ti--

We wrapped up the night in the tent, and played a game of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Monopoly, probably our favorite boardgames. I was kicking so much butt, probably three Monopoly’s…. Then a sudden twist of fate, and I was out of the game. I went and fed the fire some while I watched Evey and Bub duke it out. Bub won based on owning Ego (Boardwalk) and the game was over.

We closed down the camp site then got out a book of Greek Mythology and read the story of the Chimera. It was just an OK story, not amazing. By then it was almost midnight, and the kids were exhausted. “I love you, good night”s were exchanged, and then Boyd was snoring instantly. Evey soon followed.

The moon was so bright, I couldn’t sleep. I stared at the sky, restless, for the next 90 minutes. 

***

Morning arrived and I was the first up. I told the kids to sleep in as late as they wanted. I was up by around 7 a.m. and started working on the fishing poles. The kids were still asleep and I was pretty much done with my chores, so I went fishing by myself. I didn’t get a single bite, but ironically, a 12-inch bass leapt out of the water right by my bobber. It was like he waved.

The kids got up and I made breakfast on the Coleman grill. Because, why not? Ham, egg and cheese sandwiches. They turned out nice. Boyd was still pretty sneezy and groggy, but he wanted to try fishing.

I caught the first bluegill of the day, a little guy. Then Boyd caught one. 

We changed locations to a quiet cove. The sun was coming up and you could tell we were in for another hot day. The shade we welcome.

You can tell Bub is sneezy 

Boyd looked down at a discarded tire and asked, “Do you think there are any fi—“ and before he could finish his sentence, he pulled another bluegill out. We stayed in this area. Boyd probably caught 8 or 9 small gills, Evey caught two or three. I spent most of my time pulling fish off the kids’ hooks.

With every fish, Bub extended his own stay… but you could tell he was miserable. Eventually, we cut it off and started packing up. Poor Bub… he was probably actually sick by by now.

We drove by the same two Casey’s and got home by about noon on Saturday. The kids took an immediate “tick check” shower. I unloaded the truck.

We were all exhausted. But I think we all enjoyed the moon, the Monopoly, the s’mores, the storytelling.

And yes, if any of us are still moving while everyone else is frozen for 24 hours? You’re going to see a really fast car in our driveway afterward. Jones agreement.