Post by kutkota on Jun 18, 2012 9:27:09 GMT -7
Well it was a hell of a camping trip to say the least. My wife decided that we had not been camping in way to long so she suggested the entire family head out to meramec state park near Sullivan Missouri and have ourselves a ball.
It was my wife, my daughter of 4 going on 14, son 1, and myself. We decided to leave friday after my wife getting off work around 3:30 or so but of course the best layed plans never survive first contact!
I did not prepare enough leading up to the trip as I have been dealing with other issues that were occupying my time so friday mid morning it was a rush to try and get everything packed. Most of my camping stuff was in a couple of bags that I had layed out and identified what was needed. Of course it helps when you then place the things that were needed into a bag that you take with you.
Lesson #1
Proper planning prevents pess poor performance. We wound up getting to the camp site with nothing to make fire. Don't yell to loud or long at me please!
We didn't get to the camp site till 7:30 so light was beginning to be an issue, but the tent we have has been in the family for years, so It did not take much time to put it up. What did take time was several of the fiberglass poles were splintered so I had to untie the poles and replace the broken ones. That took about 30 minutes.
Lesson #2
Inspect your dang gear before you need it.
9:30 or so the tent was put up and the kids where ready for smores. Of course it was not until this point that I realized every firemaking tool was at home in a nice little grab bag. Thankfully we were not survival camping but family camping so I was able to pull out the propane table top grill with electronic lighter to light a cotton ball to light the fire. My daughter found this to be very funny, her dad not so much.
As the fire goes, I am completely impressed with my BK2 and I am very pleased with my purchase. I batoned every bit of wood that I needed bashing the knife and it is no worse for the wear. Still very sharp. I have never had a knife like this, so I was able to start to teach my little girl how to make sticks small enough for a fire. She enjoyed it.
Smores and then bed.
The next morning we played in the river all day long floating down and then carrying my kids back to the starting point to float down again, and again, and again. I was beat, but we had a blast. Lunch on the river and then headed back to camp to get ready for dinner and relax out of the 97 degree heat.
Made a huge fire, took a shower, cracked open a beer or two as the kids slept in the a.c. of the van. They slept for atleast 2 hours.
At this point the northern sky was getting a little dark so I decided to throw the rain fly on and get it strapped down just in case of a little rain. My wife also got out and threw anything we didn't need into the van just in case.
Lesson #3 always prepare for the worst so you are prepared for anything.
We spent the remainder of the night, watching the 5-7 deer walking less than 50 yards from the campsite along with tons of squirrel and racoons. My goodness I hate those things. The kids ate some dinner and we made a few more smores and then the kids went to bed and my wife and I enjoyed a few drinks by the fire. I checked the radar before heading to bed and noticed a huge band of storms heading directly at us. So we shut everything down and packed up into the van or tent, notified our camping neighbors of the coming storm and then made another drink and watched the storm roll in.
Not 5 minutes into the storm, my 10 year old tent was less like a tent and more like a rain collecting device target. We quickly realized that we would not be spending the night in the tent so we quickly threw the kids in the van packed up the tent and headed home.
All in all it was a great trip. I realized some issues with my preps so I will be fixing those. How do you beat camping with family though. I am also very thankful my parents were able to join us for the saturday river adventures. It did raise some issues of concern for me but you live learn and correct those issues.
Pics to follow after they are loaded.
It was my wife, my daughter of 4 going on 14, son 1, and myself. We decided to leave friday after my wife getting off work around 3:30 or so but of course the best layed plans never survive first contact!
I did not prepare enough leading up to the trip as I have been dealing with other issues that were occupying my time so friday mid morning it was a rush to try and get everything packed. Most of my camping stuff was in a couple of bags that I had layed out and identified what was needed. Of course it helps when you then place the things that were needed into a bag that you take with you.
Lesson #1
Proper planning prevents pess poor performance. We wound up getting to the camp site with nothing to make fire. Don't yell to loud or long at me please!
We didn't get to the camp site till 7:30 so light was beginning to be an issue, but the tent we have has been in the family for years, so It did not take much time to put it up. What did take time was several of the fiberglass poles were splintered so I had to untie the poles and replace the broken ones. That took about 30 minutes.
Lesson #2
Inspect your dang gear before you need it.
9:30 or so the tent was put up and the kids where ready for smores. Of course it was not until this point that I realized every firemaking tool was at home in a nice little grab bag. Thankfully we were not survival camping but family camping so I was able to pull out the propane table top grill with electronic lighter to light a cotton ball to light the fire. My daughter found this to be very funny, her dad not so much.
As the fire goes, I am completely impressed with my BK2 and I am very pleased with my purchase. I batoned every bit of wood that I needed bashing the knife and it is no worse for the wear. Still very sharp. I have never had a knife like this, so I was able to start to teach my little girl how to make sticks small enough for a fire. She enjoyed it.
Smores and then bed.
The next morning we played in the river all day long floating down and then carrying my kids back to the starting point to float down again, and again, and again. I was beat, but we had a blast. Lunch on the river and then headed back to camp to get ready for dinner and relax out of the 97 degree heat.
Made a huge fire, took a shower, cracked open a beer or two as the kids slept in the a.c. of the van. They slept for atleast 2 hours.
At this point the northern sky was getting a little dark so I decided to throw the rain fly on and get it strapped down just in case of a little rain. My wife also got out and threw anything we didn't need into the van just in case.
Lesson #3 always prepare for the worst so you are prepared for anything.
We spent the remainder of the night, watching the 5-7 deer walking less than 50 yards from the campsite along with tons of squirrel and racoons. My goodness I hate those things. The kids ate some dinner and we made a few more smores and then the kids went to bed and my wife and I enjoyed a few drinks by the fire. I checked the radar before heading to bed and noticed a huge band of storms heading directly at us. So we shut everything down and packed up into the van or tent, notified our camping neighbors of the coming storm and then made another drink and watched the storm roll in.
Not 5 minutes into the storm, my 10 year old tent was less like a tent and more like a rain collecting device target. We quickly realized that we would not be spending the night in the tent so we quickly threw the kids in the van packed up the tent and headed home.
All in all it was a great trip. I realized some issues with my preps so I will be fixing those. How do you beat camping with family though. I am also very thankful my parents were able to join us for the saturday river adventures. It did raise some issues of concern for me but you live learn and correct those issues.
Pics to follow after they are loaded.