I went down the checklist and began to realize there wasn’t enough room to pack everything! So the process of elimination began. After 45 minutes of shuffling things around I finally got them all packed up. No kick scooters, no fishing rods, sorry, ladder golf and washer toss game both had to stay home, too. My wife and I barely had time to grab a quick lunch then it was time to pick up the kids. Unlike my wife, my kids were excited about the trip.
It was about 4:30 pm by the time we hit the road. It would take about 2 hrs and 40 mins to get to our camp site. We figured we would stop and have dinner at a Chinese restaurant, about 35 miles from the camp site. We should still arrive at the camp site before sunset (about 8:30 ~ 9 pm). I got this all figured out….oh, I was very sure of it!
The Friday afternoon traffic was very light, I supposed many people started their long weekend during the day. There was no traffic jam at all. We got to the restaurant right around 6:30 pm. We found this little gem on our last trip to Cincinnati, when we took the kids to an indoor water park. Chinese restaurants are everywhere in the Mid-West, but places that feature Taiwanese food are few and far between. 50 minutes later, after cleaning up 6 dishes we were all happy and on our merry way to our camp site. It was still plenty bright, finding the place and setting up the tent would be a breeze.
Some parts of the route to the camp site were off beaten paths so I drove at speed limit, 25 miles/hr at times. The estimated arrival time on the GPS showed 8:45 pm, still on schedule. The drive was fun since we had to go up and down the hills quite a few times. Central Indiana is about as flat as you can get. Our boys were going "weeeeee……" like it was a roller coaster ride.
Sure enough, 8:40 pm rolled around as we made our turn into the State Park, first the welcome sign then the park office building, we finally arrived! I turned off the GPS and began following the signs, looking for camp site numbers. "Beach Area", that wasn’t it….another "Beach Area"…..followed by "Boating Accessible"…then "1"…"2" ~ "6", what the heck? We checked the map printout and verified the road name and number were correct. I switched on the GPS and it was saying "arriving at destination", well, this destination didn’t look like any camp site to me.
We followed each sign but they only lead us to the lake front (called "beach") or a parking lot. There were no other RV’s, trailers, zero campers in sight! The sun was setting quickly by this time. I drove up to the front office and found it closed, "7 am to 7 pm" printed on the sign. We were told that the cellphones might not work since we were in the mountain area. We spotted a few people in the park and asked them for directions to the camp site. These folks were very nice and gave us the directions. The address I pulled was the south entrance office, we were supposed to be at the north end – the camp grounds!
We thanked the good folks and hurried out of the park. According to their directions, the north entrance was about 15 miles away, I should be able to catch the last few minutes of sunset and get the tent set up. The route was winding and narrow, the short stretch of 15 miles seemed endless. We came up to State Route 32, where was the "Old State Route 32" that the park folks told us? I started going through my list of "三字經" – although my wife didn’t understand them, she knew I was cussing. I looked at my watch, 9:35 pm, "where the 法克 is the camp site?", I muttered, my wife stared at me.
We pulled up alone side of a gas station, my wife went in to ask for directions, again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a sign "State Highway Patrol" – "we are saved!". Sure enough the gas station attendant couldn’t give the road names but the patrol officers sure could. We were only 3 miles from the park entrance, the "Old State Route 32" was another two overpasses away.
At 9:45, we finally arrived at the camp site, the place was packed with campers, just as I expected. Signs of life, hooray! It was nearly pitch black at our designated site, I could barely see the parking pad. I parked the car, took out the camping stuff and laid down the tent base tarp. More campers were arriving, a few were from our group. All of them got lost and just about every couple had arguments. One of the couple nearly turned around and went home.
Under the flashlight I put together the tent, hammered in the pegs, laid the cushions and sleeping bags. My wife had to take the kids and search for the nearest bathroom to get their teeth brushed. If the next two days were going to be like this, this would be our first and last camping trip for sure. I had my fingers crossed, but I was sure I’d get an earful from my wife sooner or later. "Is this your idea of family fun?!" yade yade ya…..
After about 10 minutes my wife and kids returned. "The spiders were this big…" my wife came back with our boys. "We should have booked one of the cabins…." my wife continued. What did I just say about getting an earful? I went and brushed my teeth, washed my face then headed back to our tent. It wasn’t comfortable even with the cushions and sleeping bag. I put the ear plugs in my ears, soon, the sound of the passing vehicles, the noise from partying crowds quickly faded, so was my wife’s voice. As uncomfortable as it was, soon I was….zzzzzzz.
original post date: May 22, 2009
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