Lessons Learned From Near Perfect Camping Trip - Family Weekend Wrapup

No rain here!

This week's family adventure took us to our favorite campground, Indiana Dunes State Park.  What could go wrong?  Excessive worry could!  This past week I almost went nuts worrying about the weather.  This crazy week taught me something about being patient and going with the flow.

The problem is that our family loves camping (our oldest doesn't like camping and considers us liking camping a problem of a different sort).  Our last camping trip was last fall, so when spring came, we've eagerly anticipated our first chance to go - anywhere!.  We got our pop-up camper back from its winter storage, eager for a weekend trip.

The first weekend our pop-up was ready, the weather wasn't so good, and Darling Daughter wasn't feeling well anyway.  That's OK, we have next week.

Lupines

Next week the weather was worse.  But that's OK too, the extended forecasts for the following weekend appear good!  Let's make plans!  Good thing - the following weekend we have commitments that require us to stay home.

Once we made plans, the forecasts started changing.  Rain is creeping into the weekend outlook!  We've had rain before.  We can deal with that.  As the weekend approached, the chances of rain went up and down not unlike the stock market.  We implemented one of our plans:  checking different parks through the state and picking the region with the best weather forecast.  We chose Indiana Dunes because conditions looked most promising.  Additionally with the Dunes are in my home county, we could also have dinner with my mom and wish her a happy Mother's Day a week early.

Happy Camper!

Wouldn't you know it - shortly after we reserved a campsite, weekend outlook added a graphic with an exclamation point, the kind you see when severe weather is possible.  Now we've committed and we're at risk for the five of us stuck in our 144 square foot RV under a thunderstorm.  As if that's not tough enough, the comfort station (restroom and showers) are over 100 yards away.  Why choose this as recreation when we can stay home in a perfectly good house with indoor plumbing?

My productivity at work suffered as the week wrapped up because I continually monitored www.accuweather.com, weather.com, noaa.gov, and wgntv.com.  Looking too iffy.  This is relaxing?

We left first thing Saturday morning.  From the moment we arrived until time to leave Sunday after lunch, we had a near-perfect early May weekend.  We did leave early when we saw thunderstorms on the radar.  Smart phones with weather apps - how did we get by without them?

Pay phone missing?  There's an app for that!

With or without ideal weather, the lesson learned is to relax and let God's providence work itself out.  Hold on loosely to camping trips.  Don't worry about weather.  If we have to postpone or cancel a weekend camping trip, the important thing is that our weekends as a family are special, regardless if we are at a campsite or at home.  Our time is special just because, not because we pulled off a weekend trip.

Another Happy Camper!

We were blessed this weekend - that does help reinforce the lesson.  May I remember that next time it rains.  As parents, may all us realize that our family time is a precious commodity no matter where we find ourselves.