This trip has been titled "My First Coon and The Fire That Wouldn't Burn".

This is no excuse, but many things have happened this year. These things have prevented us from camping and we decided last week that no matter what, we were going! When we started planning, the forecast was solid rain... 100% chance everyday!

At home on Sunday morning, we woke up to a couple of wild kids, ready to camp. We (as parents) decided we would take care of a few chores around the house before leaving. Teresa called the campground to make sure the newest member could stay with us. I was relieved to hear that dogs are allowed in the state park! This was Rusty's second trip and he really enjoys the outdoors. For those who are wondering, the dog is a whole 'nuther story that i will not cover here. Rusty is a pure bred Jack Russell Terrier and he is a L I V E W I R E !

Let me back up a second... the wife (let's call her T) has been driving me everywhere for the past couple of weeks. I cannot even move the vehicle in the parking lot! So, Sunday afternoon, we hitch the camper up, load everything in and we are off... T is driving. I am pretty sure this was planned and she intended to show me up when it came to backing in. I couldn't wait.

After arriving at the campground, our normal site was available, but i mentioned that we should try something else. I wanted a different view this time. We drove around the campground once and found a spot... now, SHE had to back in it. I got out and tried to help - she was all over the place! She finally got it backed in and i noticed that there wasn't any blacktop for our carpet. I know, sorry excuse but it worked. If she wasn't going to let me drive, she was going to back a few more times! When i mentioned there was no place for carpet and i plead my case, we pulled out to find a new site. The next site we chose was much better. A large site and the fire pit was away from the camper. If you have ever saw one of those "Curvy Road Ahead" signs along the side of the road, you will know how the backing up went into site number two!

Not much else to say... we set the camper up and everything went good until we saw the coon... but wait... i did, FINALLY use a handy little thing that everyone else already knows about. I purchased this little water spigot, and we used it to wash our hands. This kept the sink clean and i didn't have to empty the gray water tank as much. Very handy!

Ok, now for the coon story. I am a city boy and i don't like wild animals getting into my things. I don't like bugs and i don't want them invading my territory. I love Orkin! I like to camp with cable TV, hot showers, etc. One thing i really, really like to do is burn a big fire and i will stay up late to burn all the wood.

Rusty and i were sitting by the fire - around 10 p.m. - and we heard a noise. He didn't pay much attention to it at first. He sat on my lap, just enjoying the fire. All of the sudden, he jumped up, perked his ears and started barking. I looked, didn't see anything and immediately started throwing gravel off the side of the hill. As soon as i did, i could hear something running away.

Around 11 p.m., the folks in the camper next to us starting singing some hymns. They had a pretty large gathering of visitors and it was wonderful. I don't know the song they were singing, but the harmony was great. They had the bass, tenor, alto and all of that. You could tell they had sung together before.

A little later on, T came out to join me. We were sitting there chatting about the world in general and i told her Rusty and i saw a cat that evening. All of the sudden, she said "What's that?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw something... A RACCOON! I jumped up asking what's a coon, get it out of here - it is in between me and the camper... hahahaha! It was funny! My first coon, sharing it with T. Doesn't camping make alot of memories? When i jumped up, the coon didn't budge and finally he turned and went UNDER my camper. Not long after that, i mustered the nerve to go to my camper and sleep.