One day I woke up and decided my life was passing me by. Most of my time was spent in front of a computer even when I came home. It was spring and the weather was enticing me to get out and enjoy myself.  Being single I had found it difficult to find things to do that I really enjoyed. Most of my friends were married and busy with their families. I can't remember the trigger that made me think of camping. I starting thinking about it and couldn't get it off my mind. I was hoping that my little dog would enjoy camping but knew that only time would tell.

I started looking into tents and camping gear. Before I knew it I had all my gear and then some. I was going in style. No roughing it for me. I made my reservations for 4 days in May, 2004, at Devil's Den, Arkansas. I couldn't wait!

FIRST CAMPING TRIP

Day one:  My drive to Devil's Den took about three hours. I spent about  four hours setting up camp. The ground was so hard I bent 6 stakes. Luckily I had spares and finally got the tent set up. My tent was 9 ft by 8 ft. I put a rug in the tent along with a cot, small table, TV, porta potti, pet carrier and fans. I left my water, cooler and food in the car.

Did I mention it was 85 and humid? Well it was and I was soaked when I was finished. I couldn't drink enough fluids. I didn't do much else that day. We turned in early and were visited by a large raccoon that thought it would get in my trash. I had a 5 gal bucket with a lid. It didn't succeed. After that I hung the bucket up on the lantern hook.

Day two:  I woke up about 7:00 AM. It cooled off during the night, thank goodness, and I really slept well. We had a full breakfast that  tasted wonderful. After clean up we spent time walking around our campground and the others nearby. Did I forget to mention that I was the only one camping in my campground? From my camp site I could see one other occupied site.

After a light lunch we went for a short hike. It was so hot and there wasn't any breeze. The trail name was the Woody Plant Trail. As you can see from the picture below, it started out as a wide, clear path. The path continued on and I could see that a recent flood had caused some damage to the park. I found out that there had been damage to the dam and they had drained Lee Creek. We turned back when I could see more debris on the trail. I was being careful since it was my first outing. Back to the car (air conditioning, YES!) and I drove around the rest of the campground. I finally found where most of the campers were. I was definitely in the wrong part of the park. Oh well.

After eating a light supper I relaxed and read for a while. I turned in when it got dark.  About an hour later a group of motorcycles came into the park. They must have been Harleys because they were very loud. It seems they were staying at the group area across the road from me. They kept coming and going so I didn't get much sleep that night.

The morning of the third day started about 8:00 AM.  I was tired after a restless night. I had a light breakfast of muffins and milk. Then I noticed that my closest neighbors were moving out. I thought about it and decided to leave a day early. It took me about 2 hours to pack up and load the car. Another factor in my decision was the weather forecast. There was a chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms. I took my time and really enjoyed the drive home.

Arriving home I then started to unload the car. I had  packed it to the roof and on the roof so it took a while.  Later I started noticing how many insect bites I had. I was covered. I hadn't used any insect repellant as my little dog does a lot of licking and I didn't want to hurt her. I was miserable for days and days. I still have some scars because I couldn't help but scratch. I think that is what made me decide that tent camping may not be my thing.

The camp site had giant ants everywhere. I saw fleas but I did not see that many mosquitoes. There were squirrels and raccoons. I could lay in the tent and watch dozens of spiders on the top of the tent under the rain fly. They must have loved it there. When I took the tent down I shook it as hard as I could but I'm sure some of them came home with me.

All my friends and family thought that I had worked the camping thing out of my system. I wasn't sure and I waited a few weeks. Then I decided that maybe a camper would be more my style. To read about my purchase and new adventures, click on the next button below. You can see more pictures in the picture gallery.

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