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Jun 17, 2018
12:45:40pm
wabluecoug All-American
We just finished what will likely be our last family camping trip. It started
by hitting a deer on the way to the campground. I was able to slow down enough that it didn't do a lot of damage to the truck. The deer was not as lucky. The little spike was trying to limp off the side of the road so I went back to put it down. I told my wife and kids to look away, but as soon as I pulled the trigger I could hear screaming from inside the pickup. All three kids watched, my wife was the only one to cover her eyes. What made it worse was the deer rose up quickly before perishing, giving the kids a gruesome view of the damage caused by fatal shot.

After evaluating the pickup, we determined that it was mostly cosmetic damage and we proceeded to camp. We had planned to stay at the same state park where Girl's Camp will be held in two weeks. My wife is in charge and was anxious to see what she was going to be experiencing. When we tried to register we discovered that a glitch in the state's system cancelled our reservation and had to find another place. We drove to three other campgrounds in the area, all of which were completely full. The kids were getting annoyed, while my wife was approaching full blown hangry. Our phones didn't work because we were out of service, so I drove us to a nearby town where I knew we could at least get dinner.

While talking about our options, we decided that it would be best to admit defeat and just drive the two hours home. The kids were bummed, but we were out of options. About half an hour on the road my wife saw a road sign for a town close to where we had camped before. After strategizing, we decided to drive the hour north and stay at a cheap hotel. The next day planned to drive another 20 minutes to a forest service campground.

Everything seemed to be looking up the next morning. The kids were excited to go "real" camping and were eager to load the pickup and get on the road. The 20 minute drive went smooth, and we found the campground without issues. As we pulled off of the road the kids erupted in the backseat. "She just threw up all over me!" "GROSS, THERE IS VOMIT EVERYWHERE!". Our youngest sprayed the back seat without warning. We stopped in the campsite and tried to clean her up. We were prepared to just clean up and go home. But the offending party protested, either because of guilt or because she realy believed it, and said she was fine. She begged to stay and camp and claimed it was just from being carsick. Unfortunately, we believed her.

The day was pretty uneventful, other than a massive thunderstorm. That night we were talking about how all the nonsense the previous day now seemed worth the trouble. We went to sleep exhausted. I woke up in the middle of the night to someone hitting me. Not nudging, not bumping, but hitting. My wife was laying on her pad without a sleeping bag and was mad at me. I asked what happened and she snapped "YOUR daughter pooped in her sleeping bag, and then puked on the way to the latrine". To make matters worse, it started drizziling on their way back to camp, and turned into a cloudburst while they were washing their hands. My wife didn't know what else to do, so she gave her sleeping bag to our daughter. My wife put on all the sweatshirts and sweatpants that she could find. She even put on my jeans when all the other clothes weren't enough. I managed to ask if she wanted my bag, but fell back asleep before she could answer. I honestly thought it was a dream, but in the morning it became very clear that it was not.

We didn't even bother cleaning or cooking this morning. We stuffed everything into garbage bags, threw away anything beyond repair, and fed the kids at a gas station on the way home. At least the trip home was filled with laughter, especially when I tried talking about our next camping trip.

The whole point of this trip was to help my wife prepare for girl's camp, and that definitely did not happen.
This message has been modified
Originally posted on Jun 17, 2018 at 12:45:40pm
Message modified by wabluecoug on Jun 17, 2018 at 12:46:43pm
Message modified by wabluecoug on Jun 17, 2018 at 12:47:10pm
wabluecoug
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wabluecoug
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