Camping in Raysville: Tubing & tent misshaps

This past weekend I went on my first Camping trip with my Husband and two of our friends on a Double Date weekend to Thompson. After making a pit stop at Walmart for supplies we arrive at our Campsite and begin to unpack the car and set up the tents. While the boys get the containers unpacked Deanna and I start prepping our Sandwiches that we got from the store for lunch. Before I could even take a bite the guys realize that they forgot the poles for the canopy that connects and holds the two tent rooms up. Meaning without the canopy the tents cannot be setup. We all eat our sandwiches and the boys stuff the gear that is already unpacked to one side of the campsite and then we all pile back in my SUV. The boys drop us off at the beach and they continue on to Walmart to finish getting all the correct parts. From there they finished setting up the campsite while Deanna and I met her Family out in the middle of the lake. We had gotten situated on the sand and started to get a feel for the water when Deanna decided to check her 360 app in hopes that her family and their boat was near by, lucky us they were. They stopped by the “no wake zone" sign bobbing out of the water in front of the swimming section us girls were occupying. We ditched all of our stuff on the sand. (Don’t worry the only thing remotely valuable was our cell phones, although my bag literally had all of my clothes for the weekend in it!) And swam out to them. We pulled ourselves up onto the Tube, well I did Deanna did a few back flips off of it before she managed to stay. The boat slowly made its way out into the lake and we got situated. I haven’t been tubing in years, but it was major fun! I was the only one who managed to hold on the entire three rides I skidded on. After that third, the bumps had given me a minor headache so I was done after that. For the next hour or so we road on the boat and enjoyed the sun while watching others get thrown off the tube! I didn’t know what time it was because I didn’t have my phone but we made it back to shore around 2:30pm. (I grabbed my phone out of my bag that I had left) Thankfully no one touched our stuff! Deannas family made their lunch and I tried to call my Husband because I forgot to tell him where we went. I got no answer but that was understandable considering he was standing behind me!

We went out on the boat one more time with the boys and watched as Deannas boyfriend got knocked around on the tube. Then the boat and its occupants went back out and us couples went to our swimming hole to take a dip. We made laps from the pole and back, played chicken, and through sand at each other. Which I did not participate in but got the brunt of a few times. Six o'clock was nearing so we all got out and dried off and headed back up to our campsite where Deanna and I got to see the set up the boys made for us earlier that day. The canopy was in the middle with a tarp underneath covering the hard dirt ground. There were string lights from my shed wrapped around the poles to give us light for when it became dark. On either side the tents were standing and attached to the canopy. Inside the airmattresses and fans we had brought were lain in a room like setting. It was pretty cool!

The boys started grilling the burgers and hotdogs, I got changed into some dry clothes in mine and Brandons tent, then walked to the nearest bathroom that happened to be an outhouse. It was literally a wooden rectangle that had a hole dug in the ground and a metal toilet set on top of it. It was pretty gross. I am not going to lie I was nervous because of all the cobwebs and the empty birds nest at the top. I did my business with the help of the flashlight on my phone and started to make my way back to the campsite when I saw a visitor in the middle of the road. A TURTLE! I got up close to him and looked at him for a minute, but then decided to try and get him out of the middle of the road so he wouldn’t become road kill or his shell would get cracked. I pushed his back a little with the tip of my foot, I didn’t want to scare him or pick him up so this was all that I could think of. He was a cute little thang.

When I made it back to our lot I started setting up the table for dinner and taking in the view of the lake we had, well it was more of a bunch of trees infront of it, but it was still pretty cool. We ate dinner and set up the cooler as a table under the canopy. We pulled out a deck of cards and played a couple rounds of spades and some good conversation. Then Deanna and I's bathroom trip turned into a service hunt! We had no service where we were at so we drove back down to the bridge where we turned the hazards on and sat while checking our socials for updates. And so my stories would post. When we got back to the gate we ordered some firewood for the pit in order to roast some marshmallows when it got dark.

I knew we should not have left the boys alone because they always do something stupid and juvenile, but you gotta love them. We pull up to see the boys standing in front of a pile of brush a few feet infront of the Picnic table looking at us with wide eyes like they just got caught by mom. They had apparently drawn on the sand, poured lighter fluid over it, and set it on fire! Yes… set it on FIRE! We hurried out of the car and told them the older man was on his way down with firewood and they freaked. “Oh Crap! We gotta get this cleaned up!” They started digging into the mud and picking up the brush and throwing it into the the woods! It didn’t really help. You could definitely smell the lighter fluid around it! The old man didn’t really say anything about it though… thankfully. He sure looked at the spot for what seemed like an hour though. We got our firewood and started it up! Roasted some mellows and made us some smores! Man was it good!

After talking for another hour we decided to dissappear into our designated tents and go to bed. Unfortunately earlier that day Brandon and I had found that our air mattress had a hole in it. This was after the second trip to Walmart. Every hour or so we both woke up to being flat on the hard rocky ground. The only plus to the situation is that the airemattress, that is now in the dumpster, was an automatic pump so we were able to reach over and turn the nob. It would fill back up in a few seconds and last about an hour before we had to fill it back up again. It was pretty annoying and definitely uncomfortable.

The morning came and we all got up and started to take down the campsite that the boys worked so hard on the day prior. I am not going to lie, I was getting pretty annoyed because I was hungry and wanted Waffle House while the boys sat on their bums and watched as Deanna and I brought all of the contents out of the tents and from under the Canopy. It was later in the morning so it was starting to get really hot! Walking back and forth packing the car and bending over with a growling stomach made for a cranky woman. Eventually we got everything down and the boys through our trash bags and the deflated airmattress with a hole on the top of my car so we could head to the dumpster. Apparently I took a turn to hard and the air mattress went flying off! The boys jumped out the car and ran to get it. As they approached the suv again I hit the gas! I did this a couple times and it gave me a good laugh that made me forget about my hunger! The boys decided to walk… of course. So another sharp turn and the trash bags go flying off the hood! After our bout of laughter stopped we turned around to grab the bags when we see the boys come around the corner with the deflated air mattress and two trash bags! When I tell you my lungs couldn’t find air! Believe it! They decided to walk infront of my car so I couldn’t get past… my speedometer literally said 0 miles per hour!

Anyway we make it to the dumpster and the boys hop in and we head home! Despite the no sleep and hard gravel ground I slept on, my first Camping trip is one that I will never forget! I had a lot of fun and laughed a lot. We unexpectedly went tubing and I had a run in with a TURTLE!

Thanks for sticking around! See you next time on Shades of Shay!