The Lstrs went camping this past weekend with another bunch of swell folks. Nothing extravagant, just a trip to a KOA about two hours away–somewhere off of 81 between Allentown and Harrisburg. It was a great time, except for all the rain. Late Saturday night, after seeing other tent campers pack up and leave, I decided it was time to take the family home and come back in the morning for the tent.
We have a good new tent, a Coleman instant tent, in fact, but no tent on earth, I’m sure, could have withstood the rains we experienced that night. It rained hard. Then harder. Then harder still. Then harder yet. Eventually, the water began seeping in through the seams.
I may post more later, but now–for reference–some useful links for next time:
1. My knot tying skills aren’t what they should be…this I know. I quit Boy Scouts just as we were getting heavily into the knot thing. Hopefully, I can pick up a few pointers here at iwillknot.com.
2. While it is nice to see the stars, I think a rain fly (despite what Coleman says) could be useful. I had planned to put a tarp up above the tent, but the site we ended up on didn’t have many trees. I think I need to put together a kit like this tarp and home-built pole collection from this camping how-to site. I like the use of galvanized spikes as stakes, perhaps with washers to grip the rope better. I may just fork out the cash for tarp poles instead of making my own, though.
3. We had great fun at the Swatara State Park’s fossil pit, and collected some wee fossil shells and what I am hoping is part of a trilobite. Its all late Ordovician-era, about 450 million years ago–more than old enough to blow our minds. I might investigate other local PA fossil-hunting locales. If so, these groups might help, but many of the links are outdated. Apparently, there are some outcroppings in Deer Lake, PA that might be worth visiting with the kids. It could also be a nice stop on the way to the Yeungling brewery tour.
UPDATE: For far, far future reference: small camping trailers. I particularly like the small Casita and Scamp trailers, with fold-down bunks to sleep four.