Once again the great adventures, Jim & Sue/Elaine & Mark, set out to explore the world - or at least the world of ‘Up North’ Wisconsin. Heading out early on Tuesday, July 12th, Sue & Jim went to set-up camp at Two Lakes Camp Ground in Drummond, Wisconsin. A short 6.5 hr. drive into bear country. Upon arriving, Jim immediately called Elaine to say “It is going to drop to 45 degrees tonight, you’d better pack your long undies!”
Mark and Elaine set out the following day, strategically avoiding having to set up camp and the record low temperatures. Hey it worked last year, why not try it again. They donned shorts and T-shirts for the long drive, assuming it would warm up during the day. At the first rest stop, Elaine got out of the truck and said “#%*@ it’s cold out here!” She immediately put on her long sleeve hoodie.
Arriving at the camp ground the first thing they noticed was that there was hardly anyone there. Those that were, were all wearing long pants, sweat shirts and were huddled around roaring fires. This did not bode well, since it was the warmest part of the day. But hey, Mark & Elaine hiked in cold weather before. How bad can it be to camp in cold weather? Bundled in all the warm clothes they brought and buried under a comforter and a sleeping bag, they went to sleep to the sounds of loons on the lake, bull frogs on the shore and owls in the trees. The woods at night is an incredibly noisy place……
The four adventures awoke the following morning, cold and hungry, a treat of rain hung in the air. They didn’t catch any fish the previous day, because it was too cold, the moon was full, they had no live bait, the wind was coming from the wrong direction – pick any two. With no fish for breakfast, they sat down to eggs, potatoes, bacon and a couple of drops of rain. Sue & Elaine cleaned up the dishes, while Jim and Mark put up the rain tarps over the tents. So began the hokey pokey camping rain dance:
You put your right chair under the rain tarp, you take your right chair out, and then you shake the rain out. You put your left chair in, you take your left chair out, then you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what camping in the rain is all about!
Mark and Elaine set out the following day, strategically avoiding having to set up camp and the record low temperatures. Hey it worked last year, why not try it again. They donned shorts and T-shirts for the long drive, assuming it would warm up during the day. At the first rest stop, Elaine got out of the truck and said “#%*@ it’s cold out here!” She immediately put on her long sleeve hoodie.
Arriving at the camp ground the first thing they noticed was that there was hardly anyone there. Those that were, were all wearing long pants, sweat shirts and were huddled around roaring fires. This did not bode well, since it was the warmest part of the day. But hey, Mark & Elaine hiked in cold weather before. How bad can it be to camp in cold weather? Bundled in all the warm clothes they brought and buried under a comforter and a sleeping bag, they went to sleep to the sounds of loons on the lake, bull frogs on the shore and owls in the trees. The woods at night is an incredibly noisy place……
The four adventures awoke the following morning, cold and hungry, a treat of rain hung in the air. They didn’t catch any fish the previous day, because it was too cold, the moon was full, they had no live bait, the wind was coming from the wrong direction – pick any two. With no fish for breakfast, they sat down to eggs, potatoes, bacon and a couple of drops of rain. Sue & Elaine cleaned up the dishes, while Jim and Mark put up the rain tarps over the tents. So began the hokey pokey camping rain dance:
You put your right chair under the rain tarp, you take your right chair out, and then you shake the rain out. You put your left chair in, you take your left chair out, then you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what camping in the rain is all about!
The dance went on and on…… Between breaks in the rain, the campers fished (caught nothing), hiked, swam (Elaine repeats “#%*@ it’s cold out here!”), kayaked and ate copious amounts of treats: twizzlers, potato chips, Fritos, Oreos, crackers and cheese, you name it Sue brought it! They invented new games, such as ‘Guess how many holes there are in the pretzel squares?’ and ‘Picnic Table Boarding’.
They also went to the camp store, Bear Country Sporting Goods, because their BBQ butane lighter ran out of fuel. No lighter means: no stove to cook on, no grill to grill on and no campfire at night! Without hesitation, off Jim & Mark went to purchase the lighter. Now here you need to know that Bear Country Sporting Goods is a wondrous place, where you can purchase almost anything you can possibly want. Jim & Mark returned laden with amazing things: Oreo’s, worms, a new fishing lure, and wine. Of course everything, but the lighter! Undaunted, we searched Jim’s truck and found matches. These immediately became damp and were hard to light. So off Sue & Jim went to the magical store! Yes they too returned with wonderful things, but no lighter. We all voted to tough it out with the damp matches, because we couldn’t afford to buy anything more from the store and we wouldn’t remember the lighter anyway.
Finally on day three of camping, the sun came out! The temperature soared into the 90’s. The mosquitoes and biting flies appeared. Unfortunately, after 2 days of rain, the campers all got up on the wrong side of their air mattresses. To hear Jim tell it “Everybody was grumpy, but him!” So just to add that little extra measure of togetherness, the four of them all piled into Mark & Elaine’s motor boat, that seats three, to do a boat ride around Lake Owen. Surprisingly, this lifted everyone’s mood. The sun shown, the shores of the lake were pristine, eagles soared above us – life was good!
Making the most of their final full day in camp. They fished. The fish starting biting and many were caught – by Jim that is. They swam and Elaine did not turn blue. They kayaked. Sue even kayaked around Bass Lake by herself, while Jim, Mark & Elaine fished. Above and beyond all else, they took down the rain tarps!
