The autumn rains have started and of course they always seem to come on the weekend, so I'm blogging instead of gardening. We had a spectacular summer if you like hot weather. We nearly set a record at the end of July for the most consecutive days without rain. I think we came one day short of the record. However, we did not take our vacation until the end of August, usually a sunny time in western Washington, but of course it rained.
So, midweek we took off for eastern Washington to do some camping with the kids and grand kids. Now, it's probably been 15 years since Joyce and I went camping, so we had to stock up on new camping gear and of course attempt to find what gear we still had left out in the barn. As it turned out, we still had sleeping bags, a Coleman lantern and a camp stove, but that was pretty much the extent of our equipment. We ordered a new tent on line and a deluxe air mattress that would fit perfectly in our Honda Element. The neat thing about the tent was a feature that allows you to couple the tent to the rear door of the Element thus allowing us to sleep in the car while using the tent for dressing and storing gear. More about this later.
So, we prepared our equipment and loaded up the Honda after removing the rear seats and since we weren't bringing the dogs, we had plenty of room, although we did pretty much fill up the space. We set out on Thursday and planned on spending the night at Tammy and Tyler's in Spokane and then setting out the next morning for Priest Lake, Idaho. Doug and Michelle were supposed to meet up with us at the campground, but as we left Ellensburg Joyce noticed a boat and pickup truck up ahead that looked familiar. She called Michelle on the cell phone and asked if they were heading up Ryegrass pass and sure enough, they were right in front of us. We made a stop at the rest area at the top of the pass and had a visit with Doug, Michelle, Jacob, and Ashlynn. They were loaded down with camping gear, fishing gear, two dogs and a Guinea pig not to mention the boat and 70 gallons of fuel and had to travel slower than us, so after telling everyone goodbye we started out again for Spokane. When we arrived at Tammy and Tyler's it was in the 90s, so we were optimistic that the weather was going to be much better on the dry side of the Cascades.
After spending the night on an air mattress that went flat during the night requiring some pumping up at 2 AM we managed to get some sleep knowing full well that the next night we would be sleeping on our deluxe air mattress snug in the back of the Honda.
The next morning I helped Tyler load his canoe on top of their Element, then Tyler discovered that they were short of space. With Zander's extra equipment and the need for Tammy to sit in the rear seat with him even the Element wasn't big enough. I had also forgotten that Tyler had found us reclining folding chairs at Cabellas, which I had to find room for. We squeezed a couple of boxes of fire wood into our car along with the chairs and we finally had a full load!
We stopped to buy some more ice, beer, and lottery tickets at the nearby Safeway and were finally on the road by around 11 AM. We took a route I'd never traveled before toward Newport past new freeway construction and mega churches until finally we ran out of the suburbs except of course for the mega-churches in Idaho. Soon we were climbing into the mountains, past pine forests and log cabins and here and there a gun show in the local school house.
At last we arrived at Priest Lake, and found our way to the campground. We had a beautiful spot with plenty of trees and not too far a hike from the bathroom, or should I say toilets, since there was no shower or bath. The women were freaking about the lack of shower facilities, but Tyler, who is always prepared, had a solar shower, which featured a tiny tent for privacy and a black water bag to collect solar rays.
I was really excited to set up our tent and see how it looked hooked to the back of the Honda. I visualized Joyce and I laying back in the nice snug Element gazing up at the stars through the rear sunroof. Then I noticed something I hadn't thought about. There was a curb at the end of the parking strip so that cars couldn't be run up into the camp site. I pondered it for awhile and calculated and finally I had Joyce guide me while I backed up as far as I could go. Then I set the tent up right at the edge of the pavement. Of course pounding the tent stakes in was tough going since there was some over spill of asphalt and gravel under the dirt at the edge of the curb, but I was persistent and we finally got the tent set up. Finally it was time to connect the tent to the Honda. I pulled on the straps and sure enough, they were just long enough. Just one problem. The cloth part was a foot short of covering the back end of the car. By this time I was drenched in sweat and had to sit down and have a beer. I contemplated my dilemma and finally I thought, we can just put a tarp over the gap. It won't be pretty, but at least it will close us in. I decided to pump up the expensive air mattress made just to fit our vehicle and to get the sleeping bags set up. The air pump plugged into the rear accessory outlet just fine, although I had to run the car to make it work. The mattress was really high quality and heavy duty, with cutouts for the fender wells on the sides,which made it about 3 and half feet wide in the middle. We'd have to stuff something in there because the Element doesn't have fender wells that intrude into the car. I inflated one side and then the other and when I attempted to put the mattress it place I discovered that it was too wide! It was time for another beer and some more contemplation!
We set the mattress in the tent, took off the tunnel that connected the car and fortunately the tent can be configured about three different ways. Finally, I was down to what I recognized to be the rain fly for the tent, but it was so hot and the tent was open with netting on the top to allow ventilation, so I decided to put the rain fly away, confident that it wouldn't dare rain.
As I was unloading the rest of things and putting them where Joyce directed I noticed an empty cottage cheese container. " What's this for", I asked? "That's for peeing in." Joyce said. "For peeing in?" "Yes, so we won't have to get up in the middle of the night." "You plan on peeing in a cottage cheese container?" "Just during the night. Not during the day." I went to the car and brought back a milk jug. "I brought this along for night time use. Now this is worthy of peeing in." "Well you can use your jug if you want, but I'm using the cottage cheese container."
That night Tyler was in charge of dinner. He was making corn bread and white chicken chili in two dutch ovens. He set out to get the charcoal going and Doug helped out with a blow torch. In about three and a half seconds they had the charcoal going. I have to say, it was the best corn bread I've had in my entire life. The chili didn't get warm enough with the coals, but by this time Tyler had a fire going and set the dutch oven on the fire grate and soon had it nice and hot. It was great, especially since I had brought some beano along.
That night we discovered another short coming of the expensive air mattress. it was only about 5 and a half feet long. When I lay down, I either had to have my head hanging off or my feet. When my feet hung off my lower back hurt, but when my head hung off my neck and upper back hurt. Then there was the cutout for the fenderwells. Three and a half feet may be OK for one person, but for two, you pretty much have to sleep on your side and turn in tandem. Since we were sharing a sleeping bag there was no going it alone. I had to tell Joyce when I wanted to turn and she had to comply, or end up hanging over the side.
Finally we got to sleep when I was awakened by a drop of water splashing on my face. I woke Joyce up. "Get up, we have to put the rain fly on the tent!" Fortunately, we had our head lights(small lights mounted to a headband) and were able to locate the rain fly. We had set the tent up at home and even tried out the rain fly, so we knew in general how it went. Of course at night in the rain it is a bit more difficult than at home in broad daylight. We weren't the only ones who had to fix a rain fly on their tent. Tyler was up putting the rainfly on their tent as well. Then Joyce and Tammy decided to hike to the toilet. Fortunately, there would be no use of the cottage cheese container that night!
The next morning I woke up and decided to go sit in my reclining folding chair. Tyler and Tammy were up, since Zander decided to wake up early, so we got a fire going and huddled around. Fortunately it had stopped raining, although it was overcast. We went across the way to Doug and Michele's campsite for breakfast. Doug showed us a boyscout trick for making omelets. He put an egg in a plastic bag along with cheese and whatever filling you like and put it in boiling water. In a little while you can open the bag and pour out a finished omelet with no mess.
The guys were heading off to fish and the women were going to stay back at the camp and spoil Zander and maybe go down to the beach if they felt like it. Doug managed to get the boat launched in spite of a brake on the trailer that kept hanging up. We cruised up lower Priest Lake and headed for Upper Priest Lake, which is connected by a shallow waterway. The water was smooth and we sped across the lower lake past the lakeside houses and a few boats with fishermen. Tyler, who had been to Priest Lake when he was a kid told us about the great places to pick huckleberries and a place with natural water slides at the far end of Upper Priest Lake. We navigated along the waterway between the lakes and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. It was very shallow and you could see the bottom much of the time. Finally we arrived at Upper Priest Lake and started fishing. Now Doug is an avid fisherman and he has about every device know to man to catch fish with. He has a GPS and a fish finder, down riggers, and tons of tackle. We could see the fish on the fish finder but couldn't entice a bite. Part of the problem was that you couldn't use live bait and had to use barb less hooks. You also couldn't keep bull trout or cut throat. Of course it didn't matter cause they weren't biting. But that's fishing. If you limited out every time you went out, it wouldn't be a challenge and everyone would be a great fisherman. Where's the fun in that? Anyway, it was just great being out on the boat with the guys and casting a lure and swapping fish stories. Finally, after about three hours it was time to head back. Just as we got to the lower lake the wind began to pick up. As we left the waterway we entered choppy water. The boat sped along, but the ride was jarring as we hit the choppy waves. Just as we arrived back at the boat launch it started to rain. This time the rain was more steady and when we finally got back to camp the women were nowhere in sight. We found them in our tent all clustered on the little bitty mattress.
Once again Tyler came to the rescue with a tarp and some rope. We rigged up a shelter and got a fire going and spent the afternoon clustered around the fire until the rain finally let up. That night was Doug's turn to cook and he made some tasty burgers for everyone followed up by smores and more beer. We all laughed as we recalled how Doug had punked Ashlynn the evening before. Joyce had brought along a set of walkie talkies and Ashlynn had taken one and had gone out into the woods and was clowning around. Doug took the other unit and after she had broadcast said, "This is the park ranger. We have some little girl playing around on our wave length. We need to find her." About that time Ashlyn came running out of the woods yelling, "Daddy, Mommy, the park ranger is on the walkie talkie and he's looking for me!" We all busted up, much to Ashlynn's embarrassment. We assured her that in years to come she would laugh about it. At least, none of us planned on letting her live it down. Finally, we all put our head lights on and headed for our tents.
Sunday morning broke sunny and bright, of course, since we were breaking camp and heading home. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time for the solar shower to heat up, so Tyler's mom invited the women over to their travel trailer for a warm shower. Of course, there was some consternation among other campers since Grant started the generator up pretty early, but in spite of that, the women returned with smile on their faces.
As we waved goodbye to Doug and Michele and Jacob and Ashlynn and packed up our gear we decided we'd have to try this again. Of course, we will bring a queen size mattress and a better pee jug next time.
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