The Camping Trip

It's been a couple of weeks since I've had anything to update, although Ryan and our friend Matt have spent a couple days working at the property and even identifying some of our trees! They've mostly finished clearing our homesite, with the exception of a few trees we weren't sure about, and our next step is to get the ground completely clear of stumps, sticks, and excess anything. We've got a large wood pile and an even larger brush pile that will all eventually be used for fires. We decided the property was ready for a primitive camping trip and planned it for this past weekend.

On Sunday morning Ryan and I loaded up the car with our backpacks, cooler, hammocks, chairs, a tent for the dogs to try sleeping in, and, of course, the dogs. Roxy and Pilot both get really excited when you ask them if they want to go camping, because who wouldn't? So we hit the road and headed for Walmart to get a few things for our trip. I stayed in the car with the pups so they'd stay cool and Ryan ran in to grab food, ice, and a little charcoal grill to leave out at the property, which he found on sale. After this the camping trip had really started. We drove up to our property and backed the car in, unpacked all our supplies and hauled them down the hill. It was a nice, sunny afternoon, so the four us got pretty hot pretty quickly. We all took turns taking trips to the creek and setting things up at the campsite. Ryan put our new grill together and I set up the tent for the dogs. Then we both did some clearing where we intended to hang our hammocks and in the homesite in general. After we took a break it was time to decide where the fire pit would go so Ryan could get to digging. We picked a spot that already had a bit of a dip in it to make life a little easier and he started on our fire pit. I used this time to continue clearing some and play with the dogs.

After a couple hours we realized the friends who were joining us were a little late and Ryan decided to drive up the road to try and get service. While he was gone, of course, they showed up and Ryan pulled in right behind them. So we got everything set up and explored a little. The men started looking for rocks to put around the fire pit and after about 30 minutes they'd made a great spot for a nice sized fire. Then we all gathered some more firewood for the night since most of what we have is still about 6 feet long and needs to be cut up. The boys got the fire started and the girls got to relax and watch. After the fire was built Ryan started up the grill because the pork loin we'd brought would need a few hours. He got things ready and cooking and it was time to chill by the fire.

At about 7:00 or 8:00 some unexpected clouds started rolling through and we all started crossing our fingers that the worst we got would be drizzles or a quick afternoon storm. The drizzles came and we started hearing thunder in the distance. Ryan and I decided to take down our hammocks and throw our tarp over the tent in case we needed to share it with the dogs that night. A little while later our amazing dinner of pork loin, corn on the cob, sweet potato, and buttered onion was finished and we sat by the fire and enjoyed it. The dogs loved the leftovers, too. The rain held off for a bit, but by about 10:00 it was raining lightly but steadily so I took the dogs to the tent and both of the ladies decided to retire until the rain let up.

About 30 minutes later the men joined their women in their respective camping areas after realizing the rain was just going to get worse. Neither Ryan or I were tired, though, so we stayed in the tent listening to the rain and the thunder and watching the lightning, talking about our plans for the property and what our options were. We discussed the possibility of building a small lean-to type shed for people to sleep in when we went camping and to store our tools in that would be staying at the property. And that opened us up to the possibility of just building a tiny house for much less than we were originally planning. I believe around midnight Ryan started dozing and I laid awake for quite some time, unable to get comfortable on the unpadded ground we were laying on. The rain continued and I sat and listened to it and cuddled with the dogs. Not long afterwards our poor friends that were camping with us came to the tent and said they were leaving because one of them was having an allergic reaction to something we had eaten (possibly the pistachios) and needed medical attention. (She's fine, for the worriers.) After this, we laid awake again for a little while and then both finally fell into a fairly light and uncomfortable sleep. I awoke numerous times to the feeling of something crawling on my legs or arms and pulled about 20 ticks off of Ryan, the dogs, and myself throughout the night. (I must have done a good job, because only one tick made it home with us that had hitched a ride on Roxy.)

The rain continued through the entire night, and the thunder woke us a few times, but there's nothing I'd rather listen to when I can't sleep than rain and thunder. Finally I could see the sun starting to rise outside the tent and I started to relax; we'd made it through the night and were completely dry. Our little four person tent, plus tarp, had kept the middle of the tent, where we were sleeping, out of the water's way and only the sides and corners were effected. At about 7:30 AM we started getting up and assessing things and found that everything at the edges of the tent, including the dog butts, was a little damp, but nothing was soaked and that made us happy. It was still drizzling a little but the rain had mostly let up and we decided to start packing up, but were in no real hurry. We packed everything and slowly started taking things to the car, dismantled the tent, packed up the cooler, and took a trip to the creek. We made it home around 9:30 or 10:00 and decided it would be a very lazy day after a very sleepless night. Ryan is the best husband ever and told me if I'd take the dogs inside (an easy task) he'd unpack the car so I could get a nice, hot shower.

Although the trip was rainy and sleepless, we woke in the morning feeling happy. The woods looked beautiful with the sun coming through the rain soaked trees and even the muddy ground seemed clean and quenched. The rain had the fire out for us, but our fire pit was in tact and perfect. The flowers and mushrooms were out and dripping and it was the prettiest thing to wake up to. We had a great first night on the land and can't wait for many more!

Monday morning.

The rain on the tent, which kind of sounds like fire or popcorn.