We got home today from a week of camping. Overall, it was a very good week. We tent camp. We have a tent and a screen house. We have a fairly elaborate kitchen set-up, with a propane stove and a container that has silverware drawers, storage for plates, bowls, and such, and spice racks on the side. This year I traded in my air mattress for a cot, which gives us more room in the tent (we can store things under the cot). I had used a cot for years, but 14 years ago we were rear-ended on the interstate, and the resulting back pain caused me to shift from a cot to an air mattress.
Daughter was amazingly cooperative. Our first day was rainy, so I let Daughter choose the activities for the day. We ended up shopping and going to see Earth to Echo. That evening some members joined us for a concert. I had planned to prepare a meal over the campfire, but it was still raining. It did stop in time for a fire and s'mores following the concert.
Last year was very hot. This year was very cool. The temperature was down into the 40's a couple of nights. We had to go out and buy blankets to supplement our sleeping bags. Once we added the blankets, we slept quite comfortably.
For the first time ever, I complained about some neighbors. The people next to us had a small tent and screen house. They had a huge tv in the screen house, that was on pretty much all the time. I came back form the restroom at 2:00 in the morning and the tv was on. Most of the time, it was down so low we could barely hear it. There were two men, a woman, and teenage girl. The men disappeared all day, while the others were there all the time. I finally heard enough to realize that the men were going off to work. They had at least one person sleeping in the screen house, which couldn't have been good the nights it was raining.
Then came the evening that another daughter joined them. She was either yelling or crying. The tv got turned up, and at 11:00 I went to bed listening to a documentary about ghosts-- not exactly pleasant things to listen to while camping. At 7:00 the next morning, the screaming began. The woman was swearing up a storm. I looked over at Daughter, and her eyes were open and she was clearly terrified. "Can we go to a motel now?"
In the restroom that morning everyone was talking about it-- several asked me how we'd gotten any sleep. I knew people were complaining, so as we headed out that morning, I added my complaint. As we prepared to head back to the campground, Daughter kept asking to do more including things she normally hated doing. Finally she said, "Mom, I'm afraid those people will still be there." I told her the ranger had promised to go take care of it right away.
When we got back, the people were packing up. Another daughter and toddler had joined them. They packed an extended cab pick-up truck to overflowing, then packed 7 people and a large dog into the cab and left. As they were leaving I heard one of the daughter say, "Mom used the n-word!" I guess they knew the source of some of the complaining. I had explained to the ranger that Daughter has severe PTSD, and I suspect that got passed along. Fortunately, Daughter didn't hear the comment, and I didn't care what they said as long as they left. It was wonderfully quiet after they left.
2 comments:
The people in the campsite next to yours may have been homeless. At the very least, it sounded like they were going through a difficult patch.
I had that conversation with some other campers. While we agreed that they were in a difficult situation, we didn't feel that gave them the right to subject the entire campground to their profanity. After the 7:00 rage, there was a later rage where the woman was screaming about some of the family members "smoking dope in the tent." I have been praying for them, and hope they found a safe place to stay.
Post a Comment