Well, the girls’ wish is my command, so in August I popped up our little camper and got it cleaned out and ready for use. We towed it with the truck, and our whole set up looked very “retro”, even though the truck and camper are ONLY both 20-some years old. Hey, if it still works, why replace it! The girls had to get used to manual locks and crank windows on the truck (I hadn’t realized that rolling down a window was a skill, but M was impressed by how quickly I could do it!), and there was a mini panic the final morning of our trip because M hadn’t slammed the door shut quite hard enough, so I had to plug the truck battery in while I packed up.
Anyway, we went to one of our local state parks for a few nights, and it was a good camping redemption trip. We’ve all been spoiled by camping with other people so often — the girls were bored off and on, and I missed having other adults to chat with. But the weather was very mild, and we really enjoyed being in the camper again. It’s so much easier to enjoy the entire trip when you have somewhere comfortable to sleep/lounge.
The dock was the big attraction this time. The kids made fishing poles out of sticks and reeds/grasses, and the curious fishes would come up to see what they had. We went into town one day and found a nice fishing rod (left-handed, but it’s not like any of us are used to using a right-handed one!) for only $2.00. I hammered back the sharp point of a hook, and the girls used it to feed pieces of cheese to the fish that evening.
With this truck success under my belt (you never know how an older car will behave, especially when it’s not driven regularly!), I’ve booked us an autumn trip in early October. The leaves should be really colorful, and maybe we can convince some friends to visit while we’re there. I hate to see summer go, but at least it’s pretty when it does!