#camp time

[lightthewaybackhome]

Life's been rough, but I got to go to the country for a few days and touch grass. I went full Lizzie Bennet and tromped through the heavy dew in a long skirt and my combat boots. I was soaked, but it was so worth it.

[retrokid616]

fearne getting her bob ross on setting camp

[emily-reads-more]

Let the camp weekend commence 🌞🌳🌲

[travelsofabrokegirl]

Welcome to camp!!

[rawrzimon]

Warden to Sten and Alistair: Two bros, chilling in the hot springs, five feet apart cuz they’re not gay.

[wheres-all-the-tea-shots]

[thedaveandkimmershow]

Yesterday was an A-B-A day. It was a day that began a particular way, pivoted to another, and the returned to the way it began.

How'd that work?

Well, by starting and ending the day on camp time and squeezing some city time into the middle.

We were a little lazier yesterday, getting up around 830 in the morning. There was still plenty of morning after that, though. Time to appreciate the quiet of the morning because the weekend crowd has yet to arrive. So if you're just sitting, not even thinking, you'll not only feel the wind... you'll hear it too. The rustling of trees. The white noise of the individual leafs. Just sort of all around and no particular place at all.

In the morning, the heat of the sun prevails. Even when the wind picks up you can still feel the sun. There is no cold here.

Until night, that is.

Camp time was even moreso yesterday. Because even moreso than yesterday we're in no rush.

We.

Are in.

No rush.

Therefore, getting ready for the day plays all the way out until noon to the tune of birds chirping and birds chirping and birds chirping in the surrounding trees. Somehow... not annoying. It's just the soft sound of the place coming up on mid-day.

By the way, when I said the thing about getting ready, I'm pointing out that a process we handle in under an hour at home just took about four.

And we. don't. care.

😉

Now, yesterday was also a little bit of a work day. Some charting and business planning Kimmer's gotta do. Some logistics I've gotta look into.

So we head off to Starbucks.

I know, right?

That never used to be a thing in my experience. When we were away for Boy Scouts... we were nowhere near civilization. Or so it seemed.

Nowadays, we're never that far away from a Starbucks. And where there's Starbucks there's civilization.

City time.

We order a pair of drinks then settle in for some business planning. After that, she settles into some charting while I take a crack at how we're gonna get from LAX to Irvine when the time comes for us to leave. LAX because that's where we're dropping Big Foot the campervan. Irvine, since we can catch a free ride from there. Because we're actually leaving from SNA. John Wayne. Since we got inexpensive return tickets at that airport.

Of course getting from point A to point B always has a solution. In our case, we're looking for a quick trip that doesn't cost an arm and leg. Turns out, though, that's a tall order. So by the time Kimmer's done with her round of work, we don't yet have a solution on that leg of our trip. Bummer... but we'll look at it again later with fresh eyes.

After Starbucks we have to, have to, go to McDonald's for ice cream cones. We just have to.

And the ice cream. Is. Yummy.

Then it's off to the Walmart Supercenter for dinner supplies, some battery powered lamps, and wood... only we walk away with only the dinner supplies and lamps. So we head over to Stater Brothers a few blocks away, score the wood, then score a vanilla sweet cream cold brew for Kimmer's cousin, Derek, back at camp 'cuz it's just not fair that we get vanilla ice cream cones and he gets nothing.

So we get him the cold brew this time around and all is well. 😁😁😁

Now the reason I just walked you through all this detail is that that's city time. You've got stuff to do. You do it. Stuff comes up. You pursue that. And because there's always some kind of agenda, some form of a To Do list at play, time moves faster. It gets by you. Then suddenly you're looking at a deadline and then you've gotta make that deadline.

Which we did, by the way. Six pm to start dinner.

That was the B section of our day. The one in motion.

Now I said before our day followed an A-B-A structure. Well it did, kind of. We returned to camp time... but with neighbors. At least three massive RV trailers, one to our left, two to our right, pulled in for a family weekend starting a day early.

And yes. One big family. Lots of family. They set up a volleyball net that attracted a number of teens for some volleying around. There was some kicking of a soccer ball, throwing of a football. Adults had plenty of space to relax around various camp fires. There was even a hanging seat in which either relax... or twirl around and around and around. And, as night started to fall, strings of lights were hung around all the social areas, making the campground look very festive indeed, with a public soundtrack that included some rap, some classic rock (Foreigner, AC/DC), and some Hispanic music.

So very festive.

And we were smack in the middle of it.

Of course this actually makes sense with us leaving today... as more family members will slide into our spot this afternoon.

Against that backdrop, Kimmer and Derek conjured a lovely dinner, after which we enjoyed time around the campfire (except Kyle who took it quite personally that smoke from the fire always seems to find him), and then Kimmer 'n I took a nighttime stroll around the loop, noting that the sky was still a touch light, not black enough to see the majesty of stars, the Milky Way, even, like you can see in Death Valley. I did, however, manage to make out The Big Dipper. And I spotted those stars, three in a row horizontally that are part of some other constellation whose name escapes me.

When we got back, it was time for card games around the table in our campervan, Big Foot, complete with the two lights we picked up at Walmart and the fairy lights Kimmer keeps in a pair of clear plastic containers. Of course the evening's games strike quite the contrast to the fairy lights. The first game that shall not be named didn't last super long as we wound up simply reading most of the cards instead. And no, believe it or not, it wasn't that game.

The one we played afterward, though, is a variation on that game. Call it more family friendly. We played it the night before and, this time around, we split the cards in fours and got rid of all the ones each of us thought weren't funny enough.

The game, by the way, is Jeff Foxworthy's "Relative Insanity". And it always manages to leave us in stitches.

It was just Kimmer 'n me and the boys. Derek was relaxing by the campfire and managed to meet some of our neighbors in the process. I'm guessing they talked some RV life.

By the time we called it a night, it was around midnight. Cold.

But we're adapting.

🙂

[thedaveandkimmershow]

Yesterday was the official switchover to camping mode.

Oh sure, we wiled away most of the morning. Some of us teamed up on X-Boxes. Some of us took forever getting to the shower and then being in the shower. And then some of us were super productive buying groceries and supplies.

Early afternoon was spent packing our separate vehicles and tear-drop trailer before heading out before two and after two, each on our own route and timetable. I predicted we'd get to the area first... but to the camp site last. Because, you see, I know us.

In our defense, we made it to within ten miles of our destination before being distracted

By what were we distracted, you ask?

Well... by pretty flowers.

As Kimmer explained it to me earlier on the road, the heavy rains California endured in the fall of last year is giving rise to a super bloom, producing in the following spring, right now, in fact, millions of wildflowers that are creating a beautiful display of color that can be seen from miles away.

Which we saw from miles away..

Coming up to the town of Perris, California, I spotted a hill covered in yellow and orange wildflowers, I saw people wandering trails all over that hill, I saw cars parked on a dirt road toward the base of the hill and, by 'n by, I spotted a section along the side of the road ahead of us that connected to all of it.

So I found us a parking spot and we took a few minutes to walk up the hill, amongst the wildflowers, to indulge a bit of photography under the sun.

By the time we rolled into camp, it was around four-thirty. Kimmer's cousin and the boys were already there, of course. Just. Like. I. Said.

Because I know us.

Kimmer dove immediately into setting up and organizing our campervan for dinner and the subsequent evening.

Me, I set to creating a time lapse of the boys setting up their tent. Now the tent is a desert tent. Which means in a full blown sand storm it's never gonna leave the ground. So there's a bit of assembly required.

The boys did a good job, by the way, with a bit of supervision. It was their first time assembling it... so well done!

The rest of the evening was pretty low key. I think we ended up turning in around 930. Until then, the experience was that particular kind that's camping with friends and family. That is, friends and family you like.

It's more coordinating and collaborating. It's more sitting around the table just chattin'. It's moving from the table to chairs around the campfire and just chattin'. It's more together. Moreso than our city lives.

And time definitely moves differently here.

🙂