I went camping! Finally!
This particular campout had multiple false starts. Two weeks in advance I planned to take my Dodge to a basic State Park on Father’s Day weekend. Alas, it was too rainy. (Also the Dodge is ailing. I joke that Detroit surreptitiously contacted the truck’s ECU and reported I was due to dump money into the vehicle. It’s like that beast has a clock to tell it when I’ve gone too long without a mechanic’s bill. I’m avoiding adding unnecessary miles to the Dodge while I wait on getting it repaired.)
Later, I planned for a short motocamping “test night”. (“Motocamping” is the hip trendy term for camping from a motorcycle, or so the YouTube glitterati imply.)
I was committed! My bike was pre-packed and ready to blast out the instant work ended. I’d hurriedly ride as far as I could and setup camp in the late evening after work. I’d return leisurely during Kwanzaa / Junteenth / Toyotathon. “Cleverly” packing the motorcycle in advance turned out to be a mistake. I’d gone through my wisely and carefully arranged “Dodge camping gear” and raided it for a subset of smaller lighter stuff. Thus, leaving my “truck camping preps” in shambles. Whoops.
On the allotted day it rained most of the day (which was expected). The weather report indicated it would mellow out in mid-afternoon. It didn’t. Disgusted, I threw in the towel and stayed home.
I made the right call! Riding a motorcycle in showers sucks. Setting up camp in dusk during rain would suck worse. Then, a brutal thunderstorm hit just after sunset! For motorcycle camping, I have a tent the size of a coffin and a thin sleeping pad. I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep. I’m glad I didn’t spend all night in a wet, fabric coffin, wearing out my back while being woken repeatedly by thunder!
Calling off campouts due to weather is new to me. I’ve been working on this novel concept I call “not beating yourself to death doing stupid shit“. It’s not my default setting and I’m still working on it. Age may encourage wisdom but sometimes I fight it.
The following weekend was still drizzling and I had too much accumulated homestead work to fret over camping. However, it unexpectedly turned sunny on Sunday. I wanted to “exercise” my “Jeep-Thing” vehicle and I elected to completely ignore “adulting” and go play. Mrs. Curmudgeon and I rode off into a humid but not-raining afternoon.
The story continues in my next post…