The campout was lots of fun. It began with Nick coming out to greet us with "you brought a land yacht!" There were lots of tours of the "land yacht"--all ages. The great thing about this campout was the number of teenagers that came. We all loved it! We have great kids at our church.
The rangers came by to tell us there was a real bear problem and they emphasized the "no coolers anywhere the bear can see them" policy. So our RV ended up being the Bear Locker annex. And still at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning a bear found a pickup in the campsite next to ours where some people left a garbage bag in their truck and the bear had a great time picking thru the appetizers.
But that was nothing compared to Sat.night. As we were having our usual singalong after the potluck (thanks to Pastor Tom) we got word that a bear had invaded a campsite nearby--before dark! They had just finished eating dinner and as they got up from the table, the bear strolled in and clambored up on the table to eat their leftovers. We saw their video (one of them had the presence of mind to record the invasion). Very scary!
A family that is related to our people from our church attended with their new basset hound, Tank. He is a real sweetheart, only 15 months old. They've had him 10 days. He was rescued from a foster home where they blasted him with buckshot, tore his ear and one pad on one foot. He'd had surgery and they were still picking buckshot out of him. He was the nicest dog, fell in love with Tule and Elsie. Those short little legs and big feet managed to climb into the RV so he could be with them. And every walk saw all three together for their exercise. I can't imagine anyone treating such a sweet dog so viciously. Heck, I can't imagine someone treating a mean dog that way, let alone a young sweetie like Tank.
Aaron brought a half dozen dutch ovens and prepared dozens of yummy dishes over the weekend. It was a real education to watch him and it all smelled heavenly. Now I want to try some, too!
Saturday evening as the condo campers were leaving a boy rode up on a bike, burst into tears and asked for help because he was lost. A bit of creativity and reassurance got him home by dark. He sure asked the right group for help.
Sunday saw the church service under the trees and the potluck leftovers feast. Then we headed home for a good swim after unloading the RV. The dogs loved all the attention, but were happy to be home and so were we.
I don't think we've ever had this much excitement at a church campout. It was quite a weekend.
On the way home, Elsie found a new place to sit. After she scooted as far under my legs as she could, she poked her head up between my knees and sat there the rest of the way home.
