Logistical Fun

I just wanted to get down on paper a few funny logistical things from our trip.

Anytime we travel Pumpkin's gluten allergy becomes a concern.  Where will we be able to get food for her, etc?  All of the food was going to be provided by our cooking crew on this trip.  Ah, music to my ears because I love not having to cook.  Except that wasn't going to work out with Pumpkin.  I have to know the exact ingredients of everything that goes into her food.

Since we are fortunate enough to have a pop-up camper I had access to a fridge, stove top and a grill.  What we decided to do was find out ahead of time what all of the meals would be and then I would cook a gluten free version for Pumpkin in our camper.  This actually worked out really well, except for one thing.  There were a couple of meals at the beginning of the trip that would not be provided since the "kitchen" wouldn't be set up and ready to go yet.  I had spent so much time worrying about and preparing for Pumpkin's food, I completely forgot to pack food for us for those meals!  Luckily I was able to get some cereal for us at the camp store and I had brought just enough extra bread for sandwiches.

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At the end of the trip we had the option to leave Saturday night or stay through Sunday morning.  We kept hearing that the wind was going to pick up Saturday night and rain {possibly snow} was expected.  Originally we had planned to leave Saturday night, but when it came down to it we were just too tired to pack everything up {at least an hour and a half process} and drive the several hours home in the dark.  We thought we'd take our chances...big mistake!  Just after we all got into bed the wind picked up.  It howled all night long and was blowing so hard that Hubby was afraid if he got out of bed the wind was going to get up under the bed {remember pop-up camper} and destroy it.  I only dozed off and on through the night and Hubby didn't sleep at all.  However, we were glad that we didn't hear any rain.  We didn't really want to pack up a wet camper and then have to open it up again at home to dry it out.

Around 5 AM we played around with the idea of getting up and trying to quietly pack up the inside of the camper while the kids slept.  This would have been a good idea except that just after discussing it we both finally fell asleep.  So at 6:30 we woke up and got moving, just in time to hear the rain start.  At first it was just a light sprinkle so we hustled to get the kids up and moving and everything packed up.  Hubby dealt with the dumping all of the gray and black water and the rain started picking up a bit more.  The sky was so dark in all directions that we knew it wasn't going to let up, we were just going to have to pack up in the rain.  Obviously we did our best to keep everything dry, but when it finally came time to fold up the camper there was just no hope left.  Hubby had been out in the rain so long we was completely soaked and I now needed to be out in the rain to help him.  The first step of folding it up is removing the door.  Water just started pouring into the camper once that barrier was removed.  Then as we pushed the tent sides in to fold them up the water gushed inside the camper onto the beds {thank goodness we keep water resistant covers on them}.  It was just a wet mess.  Once we were finally ready to get on the road I managed to find some dry clothes for him and I to change into.  A good thing because the clothes we were wearing were as wet as if they had just come out of the washer.

We hoped that the bad weather was localized, but there was no such luck.  The drive home was several hours and the entire way we battled high winds, pouring rain, and snow in one spot.  This was certainly not an ideal drive on a couple of hours of sleep.  The storm was so widespread it was even raining at our home.  Eventually it stopped long enough for us to pop up the camper and let the tents dry out.  Unfortunately it had to be closed up again to keep it out of the rain before everything inside was dry.

That was all quite a little adventure.  Needless to say, we were fast asleep by 9 PM that evening.