Friday I was off work and was able to take care of a few things for our overnight camping trip. For starters I needed to get a new battery for the Sequoia. The one in it tested bad and needed to be charged when my shop evaluated it for me. I figured that was an easy thing that I could do myself and save the labor charge. I also needed to shop and fill the cooler with ice and food that we would bring. I also needed to load the entire truck minus my wife’s bag of clothes.
It all worked out. My wife got home a little after 3pm and I was on her from the time she made it through the door to get her stuff we need to get out of the house! A little after 3:30pm we were on the road, but doomed, DOOMED I SAY! It took us 2 hours to travel the 35 miles to the park. The truck did great in the bumper to bumper traffic with the A/C going. No issues at all. We made it set up and enjoyed a late dinner. There was more to the story that is best told in person by my wife. It involved a Park Ranger being called on us. In the end it worked out. Common sense prevailed.
It was a tough night of sleep. The sleeping bag I have is a winter bag so it was too hot to sleep in. I wore a light pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt and went to bed on top of my bag which was on top of a lounge chair pad. Unfortunately the pad is not wide enough for me to toss and turn on like I do in a regular bed. I did not sleep well. Getting up to pee in the night was not fun either since I needed to crawl on my knees to get out of the tent. I got cold in the night and was using a towel as a blanket over my arms until I got a long sleeve shirt out of the truck when I peed. In the morning we cooked breakfast and then went on a walk around the campgrounds. After we packed up camp we headed over to a trailhead and did a nice hike. It rained on us, but we were rewarded with seeing rain lizards! They only come out during or right after a rain. This made my wife’s day as it brought back many memories of when she was young and would find them in up state NY.
The first trip was a success. We are refining our packing and what we need for future trips. A bigger tent is on the list, a better mattress, like maybe from a futon, pre-made meals to re-heat on the fire, light weight sleeping bags etc. This looks like we will be having fun from these new adventures!
