Several years later, and 2 more children later, Ray and I began to get the itch to attempt to camp with a family of 7. Holding out for my desire to camp in a trailer, we started the hunt. Wanting to use our money wisely, we searched for a used trailer that would sleep 7. After looking at every lot within a 50 mile radius, we kept coming back to this super long, bumper pull, trailer for sale in the parking lot of a restaurant in Cleburne. We just couldn't get over the fact that all the other trailers we looked at were so much smaller, for so much more money, so we thought we would get the best deal, more trailer for less. We eventually called it the "Long, long trailer". (Like the Lucille Ball movie)
Anyway, We were so excited, but when Ray went to pick it up, he called me on the way home, stating that this was a huge mistake. This thing was so long, and so back heavy (it was a toy hauler), that even behind our heavy duty diesel expedition, it was swaying back and forth, giving Ray motion sickness on the way home!!!
We felt, we had better make the best of it, so we planned our first big outing. A canoe/camping trip, not to Cleburne State Park, that would be too simple, but to the Brazos river, flowing out at the base of Possum Kingdom Lake.
This first part of the trip, Ray was so excited about, because it screamed adventure!! I just wanted to scream. We were going to take our family of 7, ages 38 to 4, on a two day canoe trip, catch our food from the river, and TENT camp on the bank overnight.
Crud!! Tent camping one more time!
Anyway, the trip was supposed to be 20 miles long, but when the canoe outfitter saw our young family, they encouraged is to take out at the 10 mile point. Thank the Lord they did!! Anyway, we headed out mid morning, with sleeping bags, tent, and some astronaut food, I had purchased, just in case we couldn't catch anything on the river. Everything was in water tight containers, in case we flipped, Oh please Lord no!! The first day on the river was pretty good, alot of fun, but we caught only one fish.
Thank goodness for astronaut food and that we didn't have to"eat what we caught on the river!!"
That night, we found a camping spot, on the rocks, on the bank of the river. We settled in pretty good, but we were all sleeping in a 6 man tent, and there was seven of us, and if you know tents, six man really means only about 3 to 4 comfortably. Since we had to pack everything in on 2 canoes, Ray would not let us bring pillows. We had actually had a dry run through in our barn, all laying down in the tent to see if we could fit. Long story short, we were like pieces in a puzzle, and if one turned, we all had to turn. For some reason, Ruth was at my feet, and I had to lay on my side and bend my legs up to fit. We all made it through the night, most of us sleeping ok, but some of us, mainly me, not sleeping much at all. When we awoke the next day, the wind was picking up, and a storm was coming in. We had to get on the river and get off before the storm hit, we had about 7 miles left. I was aching all over, and thought it was from the miserable night of sleep in the tent, but quickly found out, I had fever. Yuck!
The river was flowing so slowly, and the wind was blowing against us, that we were paddling hard, just to flow down river!! If we stopped paddling, the wind would literally blow us back up river, against the current. No relaxing floating down river, that is for sure. Ray said, I had the look of misery, but I felt that it was a little like labor. I needed to keep paddling to get my family off the river before the storm hit, I felt horrible, and we had to keep going or else!!
We finally made it, and I can't tell you how thankful we all were to see the pick up point, where we were to meet our ride.
We all piled in the truck of the outfitter, and were so happy to be heading back to the trailer, where we would get dry, warm, and get a good night of rest!!
How exciting, we had survived the adventure part, and were now heading for the relaxing part, or so I thought!!
Enough for now, I will continue the story on the next post.
God bless, and Happy New Year,
JJ
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