We had 2 different camping days this past weekend. The cub scout families had the choice of adding Friday night, which 4 of us did. The weather was awesome and we got in some nice hikes, fishing and exploring. We left the fly off the tent and gazed at the stars while dozing off. Saturday morning and afternoon were equally good.
We came back to town for an afternoon baseball game, won, and headed back for pre-dinner fishing and to meet up with the main body of campers that arrived during the afternoon. While fishing we could see the western clouds starting to darken and had heard the forecast that isolated thunderstorms were possible for our area. "Isolated" certainly was "isolated" and it appears like the storm "isolated" over the campground for 90 minutes. High winds, rain, thunder and lightning had us scurrying for the nearby cabins. Several parents braved the environment to continue grilling and setting up food while the kids played on the bunks.
The weather finally calmed down about 8pm and we got word of another cell that was about 90 minutes away to the West. While the forecast was discussed the dads performed damage control on the tents. A few were flooded, several had some leakage and others were fine (ours in the latter). I learned long ago to buy the best outdoor equipment I could reasonably afford, especially if I have to sleep in it. I don't buy tents that don't come with a full-coverage rain fly.
A few families packed-up and went home, others just left and came back for the their stuff on Sunday, some moved to the cabins and several tented it out as planned.
The next weather cell moved to the south of us, with much relief. The kids were in the tent by then and were asleep 5 minutes after hitting the pillow. We did get some rain around 2am, but nothing with thunder and lightning.
Sunday morning was gray and overcast and the coffee was brewed and waiting. Breakfast was followed by tent tear-down and packing. We all then took a 3-mile hike around the Boy Scout Lake next door, then headed home.
A nice weekend all-in-all. It was good to handle some weather diversity and show the kids some resiliency. In my opinion, those that went home with dry tents just teach the kids how to give-up home when conditions aren't optimal...we're all different.
The tent and fly are still in the garage drying out as it's been raining every since Sunday afternoon. Baseball cancelled last night and we wonder if we'll get 3 consecutive days of sunshine.
Stay Dry.
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