Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Disaster Camping - crash course #1

We attempted to go camping this past weekend.


Attempted being the key word.


It was HOT for us in the Pacific NW this weekend, mid 90’s, and luckily the heat was the least of our worries.


We get to the campsite about 7-7:30pm and it’s a ‘park wherever’ sort of place. We get one of the last spaces open, on a slope, but whatever.


We start to unload and open up the camp gear. Moldy/mildew-y tent, moldy air mattresses and broken tent poles. Our tent takes 3 poles. 2 were broken – one of them severely, like beyond repair broken – luckily Anna’s little tent had an extra pole (?) in the bag, so we jimmy-rigged that for ours.


Great.


I blew up the moldy air mattresses and flipped the flocked/moldy side down so at least we still had something to sleep on.


Needless to say, it was not a pleasant set up and I decided early on that one night (not 2, like planned) was going to be enough.


So, fine, we get dinner cooking - YUMMY hamburgers, thanks to Shawn - get the campfire going and settle in to watch the stars & meteor showers.


Without all the light pollution from the city, the stars are amazing!


Saturday morning:


We're up at 6am to rent the pontoon boat at 7. It's cold, it's damp and everything is dew-covered. Whatever.


Rent the boat, out on the lake at 7:15. Realize we don't have some fishing supplies.... they were *packed*, but either left at the campsite or in the Pathfinder.


We motor over to the boatramp at our campsite & have Anna run up and look. No luck.


We then proceed to motor over the the boat launch to look in the Pathfinder.


CLUNK !


another CLUNK !


We hit a submerged tree stump in the lake and the motor FALLS OFF OF THE BOAT!


Yes, falls INTO the water.


Luckily it is hanging on vy the power cord and the fuel line.


Anna & Shawn wrangle the motor back onto the boat and needless to say, we are never going near Mineral, WA ever again.....

1 comment:

Julie Norton said...

OMG,we had a bad experience last week at Crescent bar renting a pontoon boat. Starter broke. Should have taken the clue when the gal said her husband was in wenatchee the day before picking up a part!