A wet camping trip beats a sunny day at work

My husband and I decided to camp while attending the Hoston Annual Conference this year. Camp Adventure is directly across from the United Methodist Assembly grounds. The campsite that we booked into was on the edge of the forest. We were surrounded on three sides by tall trees. You would almost never know it but we were next to the semi-clean bath house.

Pop up camper by Palomino

The campsite was quiet, well shaded and very comfortable. It was a bargain at $20 bucks a night. Our unique experience wasn't solely the fault of the Junaluska reservations. It wasn't solely the fault of the staff, the campsite or anything to do with the Holston Annual Conference.

When it rains, it pours is a true and accurate statement. Except with us, it doesn't just pour. It almost monsoons.

This was the first time that we tried out the pop-up camper in the rain. We congratulated ourselves on the wisdom and good fortune to have a pop-up camper despite the torrential downpour. Hubby and I settled down for the night. Our daughter snuggled up in her sleeping bag and her faithful service dog lay next to her. The rain on the roof lulled us to sleep. It was idyllic...for the moment.

Photo of tent on another rainy day

A drip through the canvas woke me a few hours later. I shrugged it off and rolled over. A few minutes later, I was awakened by Hubby. Surprise! Our pop-up camper wasn't as water tight as we thought. Who knew? We probably should have (after all, it fits our life pattern).

The rain continued for a while and then let up. We headed to the confernece with the confidence that the worst was over. Our plan was to hit the laundromat after lunch.

My phone vibrated at the end of the session. It was a weather alert. We were under a flash flood warning. At about this moment the wind kicked up and the rain plummeted down. Hubby looked at me. I looked at him. We raced to our campsite as soon as the session ended.

What we saw was a mess. Virtually erverything in the camper was soaked. Our daughter was doing the best she could to put some items into the center of the pop-up. It was drier there. We laughed to keep from crying. Then we laughed some more.

Hubby and I are the couple that rolled the canoe over on our anniversary trip. Had the rain canopy on our tent fly off during our Walt Disney World vacation. And, we're also the couple that had to go back home for Hubby's wallet on one of our road trips!

Life with us is often unpredictable but never, ever boring.

The small laundry room at Camp Adventure opened about two weeks before we got there. It is $1.75 to to wash or dry and we did both. Washers and dryers are the standard family size. It took awhile to take care of the items that got wet but we did it.

When we returned to the campsite we gazed at the soaking wet firewood, the drenched picnic table and the new kiddie pool that stood in place of the fire ring. The dog huddled under the camper unrepentantly occupying the only dry spot that was left.

I couldn't help by shake my head when I saw him. My daughter saw me looking at him and laughed. That got Hubby to laughing and in a minute we were all cracked up. (Yes, cracked up instead of cracking up.)

We made our big decision at that moment. Rain and all, a wet camping trip beats a dry day at work.

That's our story and we're sticking to it.