Yup, two days early. Sigh. We got there and it was windy, and cold. Then...it rained and got windier and colder. We thought we would stick it out. The rain stopped which was a good sign. It was dry enough so we pitched the tent and then the wind got all gusty gusty gusty so we sat in the car and ate cold turkey sandwiches for dinner. They were good but they were cold and in it was cold. Mr. A-go-go made up a ukulele song. He called it "The Crappy Camping Trip". I sang along and played my pocket Yahtzee. We couldn't decide if things were going to get worse or better. The forecast was totally off. The winds were about 40mph with gusts up to 60. The forecast said 10-12...they were wrong. We got into the tent around 8pm and thought maybe we would play a round or two of Uno. The wind knocked the lamp over spilling kerosene so we didn't have any light. It was cold so we crawled into bed and decided to sleep. Our thoughts were that if it got too cold we would move to the car and it mostly, probably, HAD to get better...right?
We fell asleep, warm and snug and then a gust blew through that was so fierce it felt like the tent poles were going to snap. Once it passed, a few more joined the party and we waited it out for a moment or two and then fell back to sleep. Soon enough, another gust knocked on our door. This one was accompanied by many handfuls of sand being tossed on top of the tent. We seriously thought at one point that the folks in the spot next door must have stood around us tossing sand just to mess with us. It wasn't them. It was freaky. Everytime a huge gust blew through I would "eeeep" and toss the blanket over my head because of course everything is safer with a blanket over one's head. For hours and hours we attempted to sleep whilst the wind played tag and it was always IT. We were lifted a few times and jostled many more and of course around 3am I really needed to pee, but that meant I would have to get dressed as in many layers and shoes and my coat and it was way too cold for that so I pleaded with my bladder to hold on until daylight and sure enough, at the crack of dawn we dressed in all our warmest clothes and ventured out for relief. It was 6am. It was still windy. It hadn't gotten better.
After a breakfast if icy milk and granola we decided to venture out for awhile. We would come back around lunch time to see how the wind was and to see if the rest of our party had arrived. We did some desert sightseeing and it seemed as if the wind was going away. Back at the camp no one else had arrived so Mr.A-go-go attempted to fix us some scrambled eggs and bacon. The wind would have none of that. From the stove being blown out to the sand that seasonned our food we felt completely and utterly defeated. We couldn't even sit around a nice warm fire without having it blow in our faces every which way. We each had a wee mugful of Chai and burrowed ourselves into our tiny red camp chairs. We were alone at the enitre site. Everyone around has had fled. Eventually we heard a "Hello" and turned to greet the park ranger checking us for our permit. He asked us if we had spent the night and then he point blank asked us "Why?" He actually laughed at us. It was crazy and he was right. Why were we still there? Well, we were there because we planned it and people were going to meet us and since no one knew exaclty when we thought we should stay and be good hosts. After the ranger left we decided to screw it and packed up our sad dusty, gritty vehicle in less than 15 minutes. We chucked the wood and left the tap water and a big note for anyone who eventually showed up. We were on our way home.
But...being the good folks we are, we spent a zillion dollars on a filthy payphone trying to call a friend to tell them NOT to come up, and no, we don't have a cell phone thank you very much. Eventually we connected and by that time Mr. A-go-go was in the worst mood possible and I was just feeling so so sad for him. I actually kind of enjoyed the nuttiness of the gusty wind. Sure I was exhausted but it was crazy and we still did it. Our moods mellowed on the drive home thanks to the thawed pink lemonade and cheese nips. Blue skies greeted us as we drove up our street and we even managed a parking spot right in front, things were good. It was sunny, there was no wind and we were home. All was swell until my bestest gal whimpered out of her doorway "I'm so sorry Roomie but..." huh? Sorry? Yeah we are too but we're home now. No worries, we're home and the she tells me why she is sorry, or rather she shows me....our garden got flooded. BIG TIME. It was a swamp. It was a mess. The plants were not happy but hey, we were home.
Home is a good place to be.
